Lions trip up Raiders in WLax Home Opener

(Nashua, NH) The Rivier College Raiders dropped a hard fought 16 – 14 GNAC Conference game to Emerson College today at Raider Field. In a tight contest with a score-line that saw the teams tied at five different points over the game as they wrestled to pull away from one another, the visiting Lions were able to use a six goal run starting at the 11:55 mark in the 2nd half to pull away from the home team. Rivier fought back to tie the game up with 4:58 left to play, but Emerson was able to pull away with the win down the stretch.

Rivier was able to jump out to a 3 – 2 lead halfway through the 1st half on goals by Rebecca Wichens (sophomore, Tyngsboro, MA), Jessica Amaral (sophomore, E. Providence, RI), and Lauren Brett (junior, Otisfield, ME). Emerson answered with a pair of goals from Tracie Lombardo. Rivier pushed their lead to 4 – 2 with a nice individual rush by Brett. After Emerson had tied the score at 4, Amaral put Rivier back ahead with a nice cut to get open and Hannah Wyatt (sophomore, Merrimack, NH) fed her from behind the net and Amaral converted. Wickens and Wyatt would add two more tallies in the final minute of the 1st half half to stake Rivier to a 7 – 4 lead at the half. Wyatt's strike, with 18 seconds left, was a nice goal, with Savannah Neuwirt (freshmen, Newbury, NH) feeding her from behind the goal with a nice pass, and Wyatt making a nice shift to get in on goal and finish the opportunity. Mackenzie Flagg contributed five saves in the 1st half in goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders and Lions traded pairs of goals to open the 2nd half and Rivier with a 9 – 6 lead. Emerson added another pair of goals, to cut the Raiders lead to 1 goal. Rivier's tenth goal was scored on a strong shot from Brett that trickled through the Emerson goalie. Brett was set-up on a nice assist from Wickens after a good series of passes in the attacking zone by the Raiders. Shortly after Brett's strike, Rivier added two more goals in a 2 minute span with Wickens and Brett finding the back of the goal on a pair of assists from Wyatt. That propped Rivier's lead up to 12 – 8 with 12:24 left to play.

Over the next 3 minutes, Emerson's Chelsea Philips took over the game. She scored five goals and buoyed a six goal charge by Emerson that saw them take a 14 – 12 lead with 9:13 left to play. Rivier regrouped and was able to battle back with two quick strikes at 5:08 and 4:58, by Wyatt and Wickens respectively. Wickens goal was a great individual effort after she picked up a ground ball and ran it up field before connecting with her shot to tie the game. Emerson took the lead again at 3:26,15 – 14, on a goal by Mackenzie Johnson. But the Raiders would battle back, and with 2:00 minutes left to play, Brett was fouled and earned a free position attempt to tie the score. The Emerson goalie, Emily Saeger, was able to make the save and keep the two goal margin. 17 seconds later, Philips continued to be a thorn in the Raiders side and tucked away her seventh goal of the game, and a two goal cushion for the visiting Lions, 16 – 14. The Raiders continued to press and generated another quality scoring chance with Amaral firing a testing shot on goal with 1:25 left, but again Saeger answered with a save. Including the shots by Brett and Amaral, Rivier was able to put four quality shots on goal over the last 5 minutes, but they could not get one through.

The Raiders fought for 60 minutes today but they came up two goals short. The two teams traded scoring runs in a 19 goal 2nd half, and in the end, it was the six goal run Emerson put together and clung to, to close out the game.

Rivier returns to action at Simmons on Tuesday, March 27th at 7:00 pm in another GNAC Conference game.