NORTHFIELD, Vt. - After a dramatic comeback in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon, the Norwich University men's soccer team continues its pursuit of a GNAC Championship when it visits second-seeded Rivier in the GNAC Semifinals on Tuesday night in the first tournament game between the two sides since 2016.

In the Quarterfinal
Both the Cadets and Raiders advanced to the semifinals in penalty kicks. For Norwich, they fell behind early as third-seeded Regis converted off a corner kick in the twelfth minute. After the Cadets pressed for most of the first half and into the second half, they tied the game in the 88^th minute with Cameron Albrecht (Albuquerque, N.M.) finding Diego Fuentes (Valencia, Spain) for the tying goal. The stalemate held through both sudden-death extra periods, sending the contest to the shootout, where Sharmarke Hassan (Burlington, Vt.) scored the winner, and Tyler Ziminski (Huntington, N.Y.) held serve to send Norwich through.

On the Rivier side, they held the territorial edge to open their contest against seventh-seeded Emmanuel. In the 20^th minute, Kamar Matthew-Murray opened the scoring to give the Raiders the halftime lead. After some back-and-forth out of the break, the Saints tied the game in the 58^th minute directly off a goal kick. Rivier pressed, but Saints keeper Logan Silva stood tall down the stretch with three saves to send the game to overtime. Neither team mustered much offense in the extra periods, sending the game to penalty kicks, where Luiggi Ferreira sunk the walk-off winner.

This Season's Meeting
The Raiders ended the season going 7-0-4 since September 27, with one of those wins coming on Sabine Field on Oct. 15. Matthew-Murray opened the scoring in the first minute of play, and Rivier never looked back. They added a second goal in the 21^st minute and a third in the second half en route to a 3-1 victory.

Tale of the Tape

Norwich	Stat Category	Rivier
8-4-5 (6-4-2 GNAC)	Record	8-4-7 (8-2-2 GNAC)
1.59	Goals Per Game	1.42
0.88	Goals Against Average	1.05
12.0	Shots Per Game	12.9
0.53	Shots on Goal Percentage	0.45
.797	Team Save Percentage	.800
6	Shutouts	5

 
Norwich Leaders
Up front, the Cadets are led by Fuentes with seven goals and five helpers for 19 points. Right behind him is Shea Perkins (Carl Junction, Mo.) with six goals, and he is tied for tenth in the GNAC in points. Gabriel Cantarero (Annapolis, Md.), Christian Grubic (Montvale, N.J.), and Daniel Hennessey (Dubai, U.A.E.) have also found the back of the net several times.

Rivier Leaders
The Raiders boast a deep attack, led by Tanner Keenan, who has six goals and two assists. Keenan is closely followed by Alejandro Quezada with four goals and three assists, and David Perreira with four goals and three assists, while Vincent Arsenov leads the team in assists with five.

Goalkeeping
Kirk Rodgers (Lebanon, Ohio) anchors a Norwich defense that has allowed a GNAC-best 14 goals in the regular season. Rodgers also sits in the top two in the conference in save percentage (.800), goals against average (0.85), and total goals against (11). For Rivier, Logan Clough has carried the load and is also tops in the GNAC in every major statistical category, sporting a .797 save percentage and a 0.93 goals against average.

The Cadets and Raiders will battle under the lights of Joanne Merrill Field on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. for a berth in the GNAC Championship game, where the victor will meet the winner of the semifinal contest between the University of Saint Joseph and Saint Joseph's College of Maine happening simultaneously in West Hartford, Conn.