NASHUA, N.H. - Rivier men's lacrosse captured its second straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title in just its second appearance in the championship game in as many years, rallying from a 6-3 halftime deficit to defeat Saint Joseph's (Maine), 8-7, Saturday afternoon at Joanne Merrill Field.
The top-seeded Raiders overcame the No. 6 Monks to complete a perfect 18-0 run through GNAC regular season and postseason play, marking the first unbeaten conference campaign and highest win total in program history.
Rivier killed off an early two-minute unnecessary roughness penalty, but Saint Joseph's kept the pressure on with the game's first two goals off the sticks of Nicolas Michaud and Joseph Kiedaisch to build a 2-0 lead with 4:23 remaining in the first quarter. The Raiders capitalized on their first extra-man opportunity as
Conor Walsh finished a feed from
Aiden Conley to cut the deficit to one. Michaud responded off a Rivier turnover following the ensuing draw control, netting his second of the frame to give the Monks a 3-1 edge after one.
The Raiders gained momentum from a Conley strike, as he scooped up a ground ball after drawing a slash and rifled a shot into the top corner to cut the deficit to 3-2 and put Rivier on the man advantage with 13:33 remaining in the half.
Owen McDuffie won the next faceoff, and the Raiders settled into their offensive set against the Monks' man-down unit, where
Andrew Nee eventually buried the equalizer with 13:00 remaining. The Monks locked in defensively down the stretch of the half, forcing four turnovers and keeping the Raiders off the board while capitalizing on the other end with three straight goals from Brandon Cavicchi, Noah Schaeffer, and Aidan Byrne to carry a 6-3 lead into the halftime break. The deficit matched Rivier's largest of the season and marked the biggest since it trailed 9-6 against Norwich on March 4.
Rivier flipped the script in the third quarter behind a dominant defensive stretch that opened with a forced shot clock violation. After the clear,
James DelPrete finished to cut the deficit to 6-4 before taking over as a distributor, setting up
Mason Schultz and Conley for back-to-back goals to even the score at 5:45. The pressure only intensified from there as the Raiders forced their fifth turnover of the quarter, leading to Nee finding
Henri Brochu on the crease for the go-ahead tally. Just over a minute later, Nee connected again, this time feeding
Liam Conley on a bounce pass, who buried a shot just in front of the clear line to extend the lead to 8-6. Rivier's defense controlled the frame, forcing seven turnovers and holding Saint Joseph's to four shots with only one on goal.
Jake Dernier stood tall in the Monks' net, turning aside four shots over the opening seven minutes of the frame to keep Saint Joseph's within striking distance. His fourth save sparked a quick transition the other way, where Michaud capped a tic-tac-toe sequence in front to complete his hat trick and trim the deficit to 8-7. Rivier remained composed down the stretch, controlling possession over the final minutes. With the shot clock winding down, DelPrete forced Dernier into his fifth save of the quarter, resetting the clock and allowing the Raiders to bleed it down to 15 seconds before the Monks were granted one final opportunity. The Monks earned a clean look in front of the break in the final seconds, but
Jake Lydon came up with a clutch stop, matching Kevin Wood high to seal the victory for the Raiders.
Aiden Conley led the offensive surge with two goals and two assists for four points, along with a ground ball. Nee and DelPrete each posted one goal and two assists, with Nee also adding four ground balls. Walsh contributed a goal and an assist, while Schultz and Brochu, and
Liam Conley each added a goal to round out the scoring support.
On the defensive end,
Luke Armano and
Colin Foley paced the unit with two caused turnovers apiece. McDuffie controlled the faceoff X, going 12-of-16 (75%) and securing a game high seven ground balls. Lydon stopped four shots in the winning effort.
As a team, Rivier outshot Saint Joseph's 43-26 and held a 21-11 advantage in shots on goal. The Raiders also controlled the possession battle, finishing with edges in ground balls (30-20) and caused turnovers (10-8), while executing efficiently in the clearing game at 20-of-21 (95.2 percent) compared to Saint Joseph's 18-of-23 (78.3 percent).
Lydon was named Tournament Most Valuable Player following his late-game heroics in net. McDuffie, Schultz, Walsh, and
Logan Layton were all selected to the All-Tournament Team in recognition of their performances throughout the championship run.
With the win, Rivier claims the GNAC's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship, as the Raiders will await their tournament fate.
