Men’s Soccer Clinches Playoff Berth with 6-0 Win Over Mitchell

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Five different goal scorers contributed to the Rivier men's soccer team's 6-0 victory over Mitchell on Saturday at Alumni Field in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

The win marked the first time since the 2016 season that the program has qualified for the GNAC Tournament.

With the triumph, the Raiders moved to 6-5-6 (4-4-5 GNAC), while the Mariners fell 2-13-1 (2-10-0 GNAC).

Rivier got on the board early and often. First-year Kamar Matthew-Murray opened the scoring as he found twine off a ball played into the back post. Fellow first-year, Alejandro Quezada, struck just over six minutes later with a shot from the top of the box that found the top left corner of the net to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead.

Rivier kept applying the offensive pressure coming out of the half. Quezada earned his third point of the day after he found sophomore Aldo Vespro who buried the feed in the 59th minute to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead. Vespro scored again 13 minutes later, increasing the Raiders' lead to four.

First-year Arthur Dias and sophomore Mitchell Ward each snuck one past the Mariners' keeper in the final minutes of the game to cap off the victory. 

Sophomore goalkeeper Logan Clough logged two saves in the contest and earned the combined shutout with senior Steven Swiderski.

The Raiders conclude their regular-season with a date with GNAC foe, Emmanuel (Mass.), at Merrill Field in their Mental Health Awareness Game. Kick-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct.  29.