Eck’s Late Heroics Lift Men’s Lacrosse Over Emmanuel (Mass.), 14-13

BOSTON, Mass. – Connor Eck found the back of the net on a feed from Michael Zapatka with 2:10 remaining in regulation to push Rivier men's lacrosse in front of Emmanuel (Mass.) for good, helping the Raiders secure a 14-13 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) North victory at Roberto Clemente Field on Wednesday night.

Rivier improved to 8-6 (6-2 GNAC) and 3-1 against divisional opponents. The Saints fell to 5-10 (5-4 GNAC) with a 3-2 divisional ledger.

Emmanuel took an 8-5 lead into halftime as Cole Cloney completed a hat trick over the opening 30 minutes of action for the Saints. Four different Raiders scored in the opening half, with Coby Mercier finding twine twice.

Riv came out of the break and tallied four straight goals to take its first lead of the night, 9-8. Chris Heitmiller scored two goals in 36 seconds, both on the man-advantage and both assisted by Mercier, to cut the deficit to one. Zapatka's goal at 12:05 made it a tie game before Michael Ference scored 1:04 late to give the Raiders the lead. Parker Williams secured a tie game at the end of the third quarter as he scored with six seconds left in the period on an assist by Adam Hailey to make it 11-11 with 15 minutes to play.

After Cloney scored his fifth of six goals with 6:24 left in regulation, making it 12-11 in favor of the hosts, Connor Eck would find the back of the net for the first time just over a minute later to tie the game at 12-all. Mercier would score exactly a minute later to regain Rivier's lead. Cloney was able to net his sixth goal of the contest with 3:08 left to tie the game at 13-13 before Eck made no mistakes on his try with 2:10 left, which proved to be the game-winner.

Mercier led the way offensively with six points coming from three goals and three assists. Jeffrey Potter tallied two goals and three assists in the victory, while Heitmiller had a hat trick. Eck and Zapatka finished two goals and one assist each.

Adam Hailey had one caused turnover and two ground balls on defense.

Sawyer Gagnon earned his fifth win in net this year, posting 15 saves on 28 shots faced.

Riv won the faceoff battle, taking 18 of 30 in the game with Owen McDuffie going 13-for-19. McDuffie finished with a team-best nine ground balls as a result.

Rivier went 15-for-15 on clear attempts in the contest while scoring three goals on three man-up opportunities.

The Raiders will look to ride this momentum into its Senior Day game against GNAC North foe, Norwich, on Saturday, April 20 at 1:00 p.m. at Merrill Field.