Lions handle the Raiders another loss

(Boston, MA) The Rivier College Men's Soccer team worked their way through a first half 0-0 tie with Emerson College but fell in the end as the Lions won 7-0.

Rivier was led by senior central defender Cam Williams (Lisbon, NH). Williams took charge of the backline and Rivier leaned on their defenders through the first half. The back four – Williams, Nick Paquin (Manchester, NH), Kevin Murray (Manchester, NH) and a combination of Lucas Palma (Bristol, CT) and Mike Colby ( anchored a stellar defensive first half for Rivier. Any opportunities that worked their way through were handled strongly by first year goalkeeper Bryar King (Berlin, NH) – including a sparkling diving save in the 33rd minute on a ball that fell to Emerson's Cory Walls from a scrap in the air on a corner kick. Wells found the ball sitting 14 yards from goal and struck a well hit shot to goal and King reacted quickly, diving to his left to snare the shot. King also handled another close in shot later in the half, knocking it wide for a corner.

Freshmen midfielder Danny Connelly (Bedford, NH) constantly looked to get on the ball and try to trigger a Rivier offensive movement. His strong play on the ball gave some legs to brief movements forward for the Rivier team. Although the team struggled to muster a lot of offense in the first half, they worked tirelessly on defense, with strong efforts from the outside midfielders, senior Corey Oliverio (Londonderry, NH) and the combination of Palma and Colby.

Rivier had a sluggish start to the 2nd half and paid the price at the 3 minute mark, conceding a goal. The shot took a tough deflection and changed direction to find its way into the back of the net, leaving keeper King with little chance to react.

Late in the second half with roughly 20 minutes to play forward Carl Ghannad (Salem, NH) and midfielder Aramis Velez (Lowell, MA) fought together to gain control of a forward ball. Emerson's central defender was able to strip the ball but Velez and Ghannad worked to repress the ball, created a turnover and combined for a quick pass from Velez to Ghannad, but the ball got away as he bore down on goal and the Raiders best chance of the day rolled into the Emerson keeper's possession.

Connelly was again a live wire for the Rivier attack. Throughout the 2nd half he was constantly working to be available on the ball. Connelly's half was highlighted by four spirited individual attacking runs. Twice he was able to break down one and two defenders and work his way to a one vs one with the final defender, only to be narrowly denied working his way by. Connelly was able to register one shot on a good passing play late in the 2nd half.

As the game closed down, Williams continued to drive the team. On the day, the score did slip away from the Rivier team, but Williams stood out as one of the best players on the field, and his work rate was exceptional.