Field Hockey: Raiders fall to JWU on Senior Day

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Field Hockey team dropped another one-goal contest this afternoon to visiting Johnson & Wales University, 4-3 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at Raider Field. The loss sends the Raiders to an overall record of 2-12 with a 0-7 mark against the conference while the Wildcats improve to 4-10 and 2-4 GNAC.

Prior to the start of the game, the Raiders honored their three departing seniors as Linsey Roth (Tyngsboro, Mass.), Mikayla Ramsdell (Salem, N.H.) and Emily Foster (West Lebanon, N.H.) were celebrated for their four years of service to the growing Field Hockey program.

The game got off to a fast start as the teams combined for five first half goals. The Wildcats scored the game's first goal in the 8th minute as sophomore Kerrianne Fagan (Bellingham, Mass.) threaded a pass to classmate Rachel DeVore (Beltsville, Md.) who knocked it home for her 1st goal of the season. Rivier came right back in the 15th minute. Junior Jaclyn Fraser (Wilmington, Mass.) was able to corral a loose ball in front of the JWU net and slap it past the keeper to knot things at 1. Ramsdell then gave the Raiders a lead as she was able to wrist one into the back of the net for her 2nd goal of the season. However the lead was short lived as JWU sophomore Erin Etsy (Gorham, Maine) dribbled down the middle of the field off the faceoff and fire a shot into the net to make it a 2-2 contest. The Wildcats then capped off the first half scoring and take a 3-2 lead into halftime as freshman Erin Robin (LaGrange, N.Y.) collected a pass from senior Adriana Scala (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) in the 32nd minute.

JWU then added an insurance goal in the 45th minute when freshman Jillian Miele (Wilmington, Mass.) netted her 5th goal of the season to give the Wildcats a 4-2 lead. Freshman Maegan Sheehy (Sabattus, Maine) trimmed the deficit to one as she was able to collect a pass from Roth off a penalty corner and score her 9th goal of the year and make it a 4-3 game with less than 3 minutes to play.

Foster made twelve saves on the afternoon to bring her career total to 370 while Wildcats senior Claire Nolan (West Bridgewater, Mass.) stopped six of the nine shots she faced on net.

Rivier will close out the 2018 campaign on Tuesday night as they host Albertus Magnus College in a 7pm non-conference contest. JWU will also be back in action on Tuesday night as they host Anna Maria College in a GNAC contest beginning at 7pm.