(Newton, Mass.) The Rivier University Men's Soccer team's season came to an end this afternoon as the top seeded Lasell College earned a berth in the GNAC Semi-Finals with a 5-1 win. Rivier finishes the 2013 season with a 4-12-1 record while Lasell improves to 14-3-1.
Michael Thomas (York, Pa.) scored for the Raiders and Alex Armstrong (Wakefield, R.I.) added an assist on the afternoon.
Five different players found their way onto the score sheet for Lasell, led by senior forward Mike Skelton (Conway, N.H.) 17th goal of the season. Patrick McCarthy (Weymouth, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season, Lance Mayo (Cambridge, Mass.) netted his second of the year, Lawrence Fagan (Weymouth, Mass.) scored his second of the year, and goalkeeper Miguel Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) added his first career goal from the penalty spot for the Lasers.
The Raiders opened the game with a very defensive mind-set, dropping nine and ten men behind the ball and containing the Lasers GNAC leading offense by forcing them to score from distance while looking to spring counters when the opportunity arose. Gary Archambault (Auburn, N.H.) made five saves in the opening 30 minutes of play for Rivier as the Lasers created quality chances but they were unable to find a goal.
Lasell broke through the Raiders defense in the 37th minute when a Lawrence Fagan corner curled into the box. After an initial header was unable to find the mark and Rivier's attempt to head the ball clear, Conor Fitzgerald (Marshfield, Mass.) nodded the ball back across the face of the goal and McCarthy came crashing in to head home the opening goal of the match. The Raiders were able to hold off the Lasers for the final eight minutes of the first half, and trailed 1-0 at intermission. Lasell held a 19-3 advantage in shots in the first 45 minutes, but thanks to eight saves from Rivier's Archambault the Lasers lead was only 1-0.
Rivier drew level in the 54th minute when Michael Thomas headed home a ball that was flicked across by Alex Armstrong to tie the match at 1-1. The Lasers answered in the 62nd minute when a blast from
Lance Mayo from the top left corner of the 18 yard box beat Archambault to put the hosts back in front 2-1.
Skelton scored his record-breaking goal on a header in the 74th minute, heading the ball home after another Lasell attempt was deflected to him on the back post. Skelton's tally gave the Lasers a 3-1 advantage and forced Rivier to chase the game in hopes of recovering from their two-goal deficit.
Fagan's tally in the 76th minute on an assist from Mayo put the game out of reach, and after a Lasell player was taken down in the in the 87th minute, Colmenares calmly beat Archambault from the penalty spot for the final 5-1 margin.
Colmenares recorded a pair of saves for Lasell, while Archambault stopped 11 shots, several in acrobatic fashion, to keep River in the contest.
Lasell will advance to the GNAC semifinals on Wednesday November 6th when they will host fourth-seeded Norwich University at 1:30 p.m. at Taylor Field.
