NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier men's lacrosse team, powered by a nine-point performance by graduate student Michael Ference, beat JWU (Providence) by a final score of 15-4 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinal round matchup on Saturday afternoon at Joanne Merrill Field.

The Raiders, the number one overall seed in the conference tournament, improved to 14-1 overall and extended their winning streak to a dozen games. The Wildcats bowed out of the playoffs with the loss to finish the campaign with a 7-9 overall record.

After the Wildcats found the back of the net seven seconds into the game, Rivier responded with four consecutive goals spanning less than two minutes of action to take a 4-1 lead with 6:26 to play in the first. JWU slowed the Raiders' momentum with a goal to make it a two-goal game at the 6:00 mark.

The Raiders scored twice in the opening 8:41 of the second quarter to jump out to a 6-2 lead as seniors Sawyer Hall and Trevor Reilly each notched their only tallies of the day. The Wildcats would score before the end of the half to keep the game close at 6-3 going into the intermission.

Rivier used a six-goal surge in the third with two goals from Ference, one off the stick of sophomore Noah Zeman, and three from graduate student Connor Eck to outscore JWU, 6-1, and take a 12-4 lead into the final 15 minutes of play.

Eck scored his fourth straight goal and fifth of the game on a man-up opportunity in the opening 30 seconds of the fourth to make it a nine-goal game. Senior Michael Zapatka scored twice in the final 5:13 of the game to give the Raiders an 11-goal advantage to help punch the team's ticket to the GNAC semifinal round for the second straight season.

Eck and Ference each finished with five goals as Ference and classmate Coby Mercier each tacked on four assists additionally. At the faceoff dot, Zeman went 9-for-12 (75.0%) as the team won 14 of 22 (63.6%) faceoffs in the game. Graduate defender Adam Hailey recorded a team-best six ground ball pickups while causing four turnovers. Five separate Raiders caused two turnovers each in the victory. Graduate goalkeeper Sawyer Gagnon made eight saves on 12 shots to earn his 12th victory of the campaign.

Rivier went a perfect 22-for-22 on clears while outshooting JWU 48-24, with 29 shots landing on target. The Raiders' also beat the Wildcats in the ground ball effort, 40-24.

The Raiders will face Saint Joseph (Conn.), the No. 2 seed in the South Division, in the GNAC Semifinals on Tuesday, April 29 with the opening faceoff set for 7:00 p.m. from Joanne Merrill Field.