Men’s Lacrosse Shuts Down NEC, 11-7
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rivier (7-6, 5-2) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
|
New England Col. (3-9, 2-1) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
HENNIKER, N.H. – Behind hat trick performances from Michael Ference and Coby Mercier, the Rivier men's lacrosse team powered past New England Col. in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) North contest at Don Melander Field on Saturday evening.
With the win, the Raiders improved to 7-6 (5-2 GNAC). The Pilgrims fell to 3-9 (2-5 GNAC) in the setback.
After falling behind in the opening 2:14, Rivier scored two goals in seven seconds to take its first lead of the contest. Sawyer Hall scored at 10:29 on a feed from Michael Zapatka before Noah Zeman won the next faceoff and raced down the field to fire home an unassisted strike.
The Raiders' lead grew to four goals as Coby Mercier, Zapatka, and Jeffrey Potter scored the opening goals of the second quarter. In the final 3:22, NEC would rally to score three consecutive goals of its own to bring it within one yet again going into halftime.
In the third frame, Ference scored two goals sandwiched around a Pilgrims tally to give Riv a 7-5 lead after 45 minutes.
Mercier scored twice in the fourth quarter, including on a man-up opportunity at 7:45, to help Rivier pull away and jump back above .500.
Ference recorded five points in the contest followed by Zapatka and Mercier's four-point outings. Potter, Hall, and Zeman rounded out the scoring efforts.
On defense, Adam Hailey forced three turnovers and secured two ground balls. Cole Perreault had three ground balls and two caused turnovers to his credit.
Sawyer Gagnon made five saves in between the pipes in his fourth victory of the season.
The Raiders won 19-of-21 faceoffs in the matchup, with Owen McDuffie going a perfect 10-for-10 while Zeman went 9-for-11.
Rivier won the ground ball battle, 42-18, with McDuffie grabbing seven and Zeman nabbing five.
The Pilgrims were more than doubled in shots taken as Rivier took 42 to the hosts' 20.
The Raiders will finish their three-game road stand on Wednesday, April 17 in a GNAC North battle with Emmanuel (Mass.) at 7:00 p.m. at Roberto Clemente Field.
