FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

#1 Norwich 16, #8 Anna Maria 2
NORTHFIELD, Vt. - With their eighth win in a row and second over Anna Maria in less than a week, the top-seeded Norwich University men's lacrosse team advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals with a 16-2 defeat of the AMCATS on Saturday afternoon. 

Anna Maria got on the board first when senior Malik Griffith collected an unassisted goal three minutes into the game. The Cadets responded with full force, however, putting up three unanswered goals and six in the quarter to jump out to a 6-2 lead early. After another Malik Griffith goal midway through the first quarter, the Cadets held Anna Maria scoreless for the remainder of the game. 

Norwich scored three times in the second quarter to head into the halftime break with a 9-2 lead, an advantage that would prove to be more than enough to allow the Cadets to cruise through the second half towards the 16-2 final score. 

The defensive unit for the maroon and gold stepped up in a big way on the afternoon, as the Cadets were credited with 17 caused turnovers and only allowed 26 Anna Maria shots all day. The combination of Ian Kriger (Burlington, Mass.) and Brandon Milburn (Bridgewater, N.J.) only allowed two goals on 14 shots faced, making a total of 12 saves on the afternoon. 

Ian Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.) led the Cadet offensive attack with five goals on the day, while Cody Moore (Canton, N.Y.) collected three goals of his own. The Norwich faceoff unit dominated their opponents, going 17-21 on the day including a perfect 13-13 mark in the first half. 

With the win, Norwich moves into the GNAC Semifinals matchup against the #4 seeded Monks of Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on Wednesday, May 2. The Monks advanced to the Semifinal round after defeating the #5 Rivier Raiders on Saturday by an 11-10 final score in a game that took three overtime periods to decide. The Cadets defeated the Monks during their regular season meeting by an 11-8 final score on April 21.

As the #1 overall seed in the tournament, the Cadets will host the Monks on Wednesday, with a start time that has yet to be determined. 

Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communications. 

#6 JWU 14, #3 Mount Ida 8
NEWTON, Mass. – Just three days after losing a one-goal game at Mount Ida, the Johnson & Wales University men's lacrosse team returned to face the Mustangs in the opening round of the GNAC Tournament. It was a different result on Saturday as the Wildcats defeated Mount Ida, 14-8, in the GNAC quarterfinals.

Records:
Mount Ida: 8-9
Johnson & Wales: 7-11

Statistical Leaders:
Eric Russo: 2 goals, 4 assists
Sam Sears: 4 goals, 3 assists
Thomas Lyons: 3 goals

Of Note:
JWU moves on to face the number two seed Lasell on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the semifinals. JWU lost to the Laser, 13-5, during the regular season.

Thomas Lyons and Sam Sears scored in the final three minutes of the second quarter to send JWU into the half up 7-5.

Mount Ida got the first three goals of the third quarter, but it was all Johnson & Wales from there.

Max Stone scored both of his goals to put JWU up 9-8 then Lyons found the back of the net as did Ben Farrell to stake the Wildcats to an 11-8 advantage. Eric Russo scored his second goal and Sears added two insurance goals to seal the victory. Sears scored a career-high four goals and tied his career-high with seven points.

Keeping the Mustangs off the board for the final 26 minutes was JWU goalkeeper Bradley Morris, who turned away 13 shots, including all four in the fourth quarter.

Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications. 

#4 Saint Joseph's 11, #5 Rivier 19 (3OT)
STANDISH, Maine – Junior attack Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) scored with 1:59 left in the third overtime to lift #4 Saint Joseph's College (10-8) past #5 Rivier University (6-10), 11-10, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Lacrosse Tournament Quarterfinal at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.

PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:

With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to the second round of the GNAC Tournament and will play at Norwich University on Wednesday in a semifinal slated to begin at 7:00 PM. The top-seeded Cadets toppled #8 Anna Maria College, 16-2, in other quarterfinal action this afternoon.

For Rivier, the loss signals the end of the 2018 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Saint Joseph's held a 10-8 lead after Finn scored an unassisted goal with 6:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Rivier senior attack Liam Ryan (Dorchester, Mass.) scored twice in the closing five minutes to send the game to overtime.

Both goalkeepers made game-saving stops during extra play, as SJC senior Connor Trainor (Franklin, Mass.) made an outstanding save on an Eric Guinasso (Pelham, N.H.) attempt with 1:39 left in the second OT period and Rivier junior Matt Cloutman (Peabody, Mass.) registered an incredible stop on a Tyler Retalic (Framingham, Mass.) shot with 3:14 remaining in the third extra frame.

The conference counterparts traded goals in the first quarter as the contest stood at a 2-2 tie heading into the second stanza. Saint Joseph's freshmen Glenn Dion (Pembroke, N.H.) and Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) scored 35 seconds apart to lift the hosts to a 4-2 lead with 12:37 left in the second frame, but the Raiders responded with three unanswered strikes and went on to secure a 6-5 edge heading into halftime.

The Monks regained the lead with goals from Puleo and junior Dan Cunningham (West Islip, N.Y.) early in the third period and senior Matt Donnell (Watertown, Mass.) countered a pair of Guinasso markers with a man-up goal to knot the game at 8-8 going into the final frame.

THE KEEPERS:

Trainor totaled 10 saves in goal for the Monks while Cloutman stopped 16 attempts in a losing effort for the Raiders.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held advantages in shots (51-42), ground balls (41-35), and caused turnovers (15-8) and successfully cleared the ball on 18 of 21 attempts with 11 face-off wins. Rivier was 15-21 on clear attempts and won 16 face-offs.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

·         Finn scored three goals on 13 shots with five ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers

·         Puleo added two goals and three assists with five ground balls

·         Donnell netted a pair of tallies

·         Retalic and senior Brendan Barrett (East Sandwich, Mass.) registered a goal and an assist apiece

·         Senior Tom Lisiecki (South Boston, Mass.) was a force on defense and recorded three ground balls and five caused turnovers

·         Senior Liam Skinner (Irving, Texas) chipped in with eight ground balls and three caused turnovers

·         Sophomore Shane Forse (Kalamazoo, Mich.) was 11-26 on face-off attempts and picked up three ground balls

LEADERS – RIVIER:

·         Ryan scored three goals off 13 shots and added an assist with a pair of ground balls

·         Junior Rob Fullerton (Wilmington, Mass.) scored a goal with three assists

·         Guinasso and Joe Kelland (Watertown, Mass.) netted a pair of goals apiece

·         Junior A.J. Gearin (Lunenburg, Mass.) was 10-19 on face-off attempts with five ground balls

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the triumph, Saint Joseph's is now 7-3 all-time versus Rivier University, a team the Monks defeated by a 12-11 margin at the SJC Athletics Complex in the regular-season finale on Wednesday. For the Monks, the postseason victory is the program's first since the Monks topped Becker College, 10-8, in a GNAC Tournament quarterfinal on April 26th, 2011.

Now 10-8 on the year, the Monks are assured a winning season for the first time since 2011.

Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications. 

#2 Lasell 15, #7 Emmanuel 5
NEWTON, Mass. - Senior Austin Tomasetti (Elmsford, N.Y.) tallied a team-high seven points, including his 100th career assist, as second-seeded Lasell College posted a 15-5 victory over seventh-seeded Emmanuel College Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse quarterfinal game at Grellier Field.

Defending GNAC champion Lasell improved to 9-6 overall with its sixth straight victory and advanced to a GNAC semifinal game on Wednesday, May 2, at 4:00 p.m. against sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University. The Wildcats advanced with a 14-8 upset victory over third-seeded Mount Ida College. Emmanuel completes its season at 3-13.

Tomasetti notched his 100th assist with 8:13 remaining in the first quarter, connecting with junior Austin Shindoll (Denver, Colo.) on an extra-man opportunity for a 5-0 lead. The senior is tied at 20th in Division III, averaging 2.50 assists per game.

Senior Matt White (Falmouth, Mass.) and juniors Ryan Madden (Hingham, Mass.) and James Torosian (Lynn, Mass.) each contributed two goals apiece in the victory for the Lasers.

The Lasers dominated the first quarter, gathering a 6-0 lead including two man-up scores. Lasell continued to capitalize on extra-man opportunities, going 4-for-6 in the game. The Lasers have 21 extra-man goals on 48 attempts, and sit at 12th in Division III with a .438 man-up percentage.

Emmanuel's Matt Katon (East Falmouth, Mass.) added the first of two on the afternoon minutes into the second quarter, finding the scoring column to cut Lasell's lead to 6-1. Tomasetti and junior Liam Gillis (Reading, Mass.) answered with two goals to give the hosts an 8-1 margin at halftime.

Lasell continued to pad the lead with the first four goals of the third stanza. Freshman Andrew Fidalgo (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored twice midway through the quarter, giving the Lasers a 12-1 lead, their largest of the game. The Saints would add three in the fourth quarter, but were unsuccessful in their comeback efforts

Sophomore Ben Werner (Boxford, Mass.) went a game-high 11-15 at the face-off X, as the Lasers controlled 16-of-24 face-offs.

Sophomore goalie Ryan Janovic (East Lyme, Conn.) stopped eight shots in the victory, while Emmanuel goaltender Austin Rosenberg (Ronkonkoma, N.Y) made 13 saves.

Next Wednesday's semifinal matchup is a rematch of the April 4 regular season game, when Lasell downed Johnson & Wales 13-5 in Providence.

Courtesy of Brian McLoughlin, Lasell Athletic Communications student assistant.

Quarterfinals - Saturday, April 28
Game 1: #1 Norwich 16, #8 Anna Maria 2 | BOX
Game 2: #4 Saint Joseph's Maine 11, #5 Rivier 10 - 3OT | BOX
Game 3: #6 Johnson & Wales 14, #3 Mount Ida 8 | BOX
Game 4: #2 Lasell 15, #7 Emmanuel 5 | BOX 

Semifinals - Wednesday, May 2
Game 5: #4 Saint Joseph's Maine at #1 Norwich - 7:00 PM
Game 6: #6 Johnson & Wales at #2 Lasell - 4:00 PM 

Championship - Saturday, May 5
Game 7: at highest remaining seed 

Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement. 

– #TheGNAC –