Men's lacrosse tripped up by Rivier, 7-4

Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team could only muster four goals on 33 shots, in a 7-4 defeat to Rivier University in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Sabine Field.

The Cadets outshot their opponents 33-22, but only put 12 of those attempts on target, and saw Rivier goalie Clark Plummer (Londonderry, N.H.) finish with 15 saves in the cage. Norwich falls to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in conference play, while Rivier improves to 11-3 on the year and 3-3 in the GNAC.

After eight minutes battling back-and-forth for possession, freshman attacker Michael Cashman (East Kingston, N.H.) would feed a pass to teammate Ian Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.) on the left side of the crease to drill in the ball past Plummer into the top left corner of the cage to give Norwich its first goal of the game. Rivier would respond five minutes later when Cody Lynch (Salem, N.H.) put one into the back of the net from Kyle Graham (Londonderry, N.H.) to make it 1-1 after the first period.

Norwich would score back-to-back goals from seniors C.J. Dolan (East Sandwich, Mass.) and Seth Fuller (Wheaton, Ill.) for the 3-1 advantage with 8:39 remaining in the stanza. The Raiders would cut the deficit after a Tyler Tambouris (Hooksett, N.H.) goal to make it a one-goal game a minute later. After several opportunities to score, the Cadets would make one of the many shots count when Fuller drilled in the shot to extend NU's lead to two. With 58 seconds remaining in the half, Tambouris would score his second goal of the game for Rivier as the Cadets held on to a tight 4-3 lead at the half.

Norwich struggled to maintain possession in the second half, collecting just seven ground balls to Rivier's 12 in the third period as the Raiders had Tambouris score his third goal late in the third period to even up the score at four goals apiece. The Cadets would tack on eight shots in the frame, but none of them would land in the back of the net.

The fourth period resulted in three straight goals on seven shots from Rivier as the Cadets struggled to find the net, despite the seven shots in the frame as the Raiders held off Norwich's late attack for the 7-4 win.

Norwich's goalkeeper Ryan Fecteau (Danvers, Mass.) would play 58 minutes in between the pipes, coming up with six saves, before serving two of the minutes in the penalty area midway through the second half. Rivier's Plummer would put up 15 saves for his 11th win of the season. Senior faceoff specialist Andrew Bracy (Carthage, N.Y.) would win nine of the 14 attempts on the faceoff for NU.

Prior to the game, 11 seniors; Bracy, Dolan, Fuller, Fecteau, Cullen Boyle (Wilbraham, Mass.), Victor Bill (Nazareth, Pa.), Jon French (Bow, N.H.) Peter Troiano (Winchester, Mass.), Tim McAfee (Queensbury, N.Y.), Andrew Beechinor (Andover, Mass.), and Fred Knapp (Stratford, Conn.) were all recognized on Senior Day.