NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier men's lacrosse team defeated Lasell, 9-7, on Saturday afternoon at Joanne Merrill Field to claim its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship in program history.
The Raiders won their fourteenth consecutive game to clinch the title and improve to 16-1 on the season. The Lasers bowed out with an overall record of 14-5.
Rivier got out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter as graduate student Michael Ference scored before senior Sawyer Hall tacked on two goals of his own.
Lasell responded with its first tally of the contest 3:09 into the second quarter as Nate Campbell found the back of the net to make it a 3-1 game. The Raiders' lead increased to four in the middle of the second with graduate Connor Eck and senior Chris Heitmiller recording their first goals of the game. The Lasers cut their deficit to three before the horn sounded for halftime, with Colin LeBaron finding the back of the net with 12 seconds to play.
The Lasers scored the first two goals of the second half to make it a 5-4 game. Eck registered his second goal of the game with 6:39 to play in the third to increase the Raiders lead to two. Scoring twice in a span of 50 seconds, Lasell's Jack Condon netted a pair of goals to tie the game up at 6-6 with 3:16 left in the frame. Senior Michael Zapatka gave Rivier the lead back with less than a minute to play in the third, making it a 7-6 game.
Eck capped off his hat trick 1:50 into the fourth to make it a two-goal game before Jack Condon had his third to bring the score to 8-7 with 8:37 remaining in regulation. Grad student Coby Mercier tucked in an insurance goal with 2:54 left to play to seal the victory.
Goalkeeper Sawyer Gagnon made 13 saves on 20 shots faced in his 14th victory of the season, the most in a single season for the graduate student.
Heitmiller recorded a team-high six points with five assists to his credit. Eck and Hall each finished with three points apiece. Graduate student Adam Hailey led the defense with two of the seven caused turnovers as junior Scott Miller reeled in the squad's most ground balls with four.
Zapatka was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player as Hailey, Gagnon, Ference, and Heitmiller made the All-Tournament Team.
The Raiders have earned the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The team will await the selection show, airing on Sunday, May 4 at 9:00 p.m. on NCAA.com, when the field will be announced.
