Men's Lacrosse: Raiders Earn No.3 Seed In the GNAC Playoffs after dropping the Saints, 16-10.

THE LEAD:  Rivier University scored four straight goals to open play and never looked back en route to a 16-10 victory over host Emmanuel College on Wednesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse action at Roberto Clemente Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED  

· The Raiders got a pair of first quarter goals from first year Connor Eck (Franklin, Mass.) to take a 3-0 lead into the second quarter, holding the Saints scoreless until sophomore Ryan Castle (Boxford, Mass.) got the hosts on the board to make it 4-1 with 14:09 to play in the half.

· Castle and junior Colin Dickinson (Barre, Vt.) scored back-to-back goals to pull EC to within a 5-3 score with 11:18 on the clock but Emmanuel would never get any closer throughout the action as Rivier controlled the tempo throughout the remainder of play.

· Over the final 10 minutes of the second quarter, the Raiders outscored Emmanuel with a 3-2 flurry to close out the stanza powered by two goals from first year Michael Ference (Salem, N.H.) to five Rivier the 8-5 halftime lead.

· After trading goals to open the third to make it 9-6, Rivier scored six consecutive goals to put the game out of reach at 16-6 with Ference and first year Coby Mercier (Boscawen, N.H.) each finding the net twice in the flurry.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

·  First year Sawyer Gagnon (Gorham, Maine) made 13 saves to earn the win and move to 2-2 on the year for Rivier while EC goalie Eric Anderson (Sparta, N.J.) also made 13 saves in defeat  to fall to 1-3 in net.

·  Ference finished the night with a game-high six goals.

· The Raiders dominated in transition as they went 27-30 and came away with 16-29 faceoffs. 

UP NEXT

·   The squads will square off again for the third time this season on Saturday, May 1 in the GNAC Quarterfinals. Rivier earns the No. 3 seed and will host the No. 6 Saints in Nashua, N.H. with the game time to be determined.