Men’s Lacrosse Notches Another Win in Conference play

WEST HARTFORD, CT: The Rivier men's lacrosse team traveled to the University of Saint Joseph's this afternoon for another conference battle. The Raiders were able to get the better of the Blue Jays, picking up their fifth win in GNAC play.

THE BASICS:

- Date: 4/16/22

- Score: Rivier 16, USJ 10

- Records: Rivier (10-3, 5-2 GNAC), USJ (5-8, 2-5 GNAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

-  The Blue Jays would take a 3-2 lead into the second quarter after two goals from Evan Zimnoch and another from Matt Guerin. The Raiders two goals came on man-up opportunities by Connor Eck (Franklin, MA) and Jeffery Potter (N. Bennington, VT).

- The second quarter saw the Raiders outscore USJ 6-3, giving them the halftime lead of 8-6. Coby Mercier (Boscawen, NH) started the second off by tying the game up at three. Evan Baden, Guerin, and Zimnoch would score three goals in a row to give them back the lead at 6-3. However, Rivier would go on a five-goal run to go on top for the first time in the contest. Potter started the Raiders run along with Eck, two goals by Michael Ference (Salem, NH), and the last goal of the half was scored by Nicholas Tavares (Danvers, MA)

- The second half started with the Raiders putting in another three unanswered goals. Mercier, Eck, and Chris Heitmiller (Nashua, NH) would push Rivier's lead to 11-6. Ryan Paltauf would break the Raiders eight-goal streak with his first of the day. Eck and Mercier would notch one more each. In the third quarter, Noah Mocksfield and Guerin would put in the other two scores for the Blue Jays.

- The fourth consisted of four goals, three of which came from the Raiders, and the last of the game came from USJ. Sawyer Hall (Windham, NH) finished on a shot for his first of the game, with Tavares scoring the last two goals. Zimnoch finished the scoring off with the last goal of the contest to get the 16-10 final.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Sam Tibbets (Gray, ME) made his first start in net for the Raiders. He picked up his first collegiate win with 18 saves.  

-  Eck finished with a game high 4 goals and 1 assist.

-  Mercier and Tavares both had 3 goals, with Tavares also tallying 1 assist and Mercier racking up 3.

UP NEXT:

- Rivier men's lacrosse will be back in action next Wednesday when they travel to Saint Joseph's College for a 7 pm bought.

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