JWU and Norwich Earn GNAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament Victories, Advance to Friday's Semis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Third-seeded Norwich University and fourth-seeded Johnson & Wales University both earned first-round victories as the 2016 GNAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament got underway on Wednesday. Norwich handled sixth-seeded Rivier University, 19-11, while JWU topped fifth-seeded Mount Ida College, 14-9. Norwich gets set to travel to second-seeded Lasell College on Friday in the GNAC Semifinals at 3:30 PM, while JWU will take on top-seeded Emmanuel College in Boston on Friday at 7:00 PM.

#4 JWU 14, #5 MOUNT IDA 9
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Johnson & Wales University men's lacrosse team has accomplished a number of feats during its three-year existence. The Wildcats can now check win a GNAC Tournament game off the list. JWU scored five-straight second-quarter goals on its way to a 14-9 victory over Mount Ida on Wednesday.

Records:
Mount Ida: 9-9
Johnson & Wales: 10-8

JWU Statistical Leaders:
Max Stone: 4 Goals, 1 Assist
Sam Sears; 2 Goals, 1 Assists
Erik Lindaas: 2 Goals, 1 Assist

Of Note:
Johnson & Wales lost both of its GNAC Tournament games prior to Wednesday. Last season the Wildcats were upset at home, 7-6, by Norwich and lost 13-3 to Emmanuel in 2014. JWU travels to Emmanuel on Friday for a 7 p.m. semifinal game. The Wildcats dropped an 11-7 decision to the Saints during the regular season.

Six different Wildcat found the back of the net in the first quarter with Sam Sears' (Baltimore, Md.) goal capping the scoring on a man-up goal with just 24 second left in the period. Sears had his second-multi goal game in a row and has scored 21 of his 38 points in the last eight games.

A Wyatt Sullivan goal at the 6:30 mark pulled the Mustangs within two, 6-4, but sophomore attacker Max Stone (Burlington, Conn.) took over the game from there. The GNAC Player of the Year candidate scored all four of his goals in the final 6:22 as part of a 5-0 JWU run. He was a force towards the end of the first half as his last three goals were scored in the span of 2:30. The Wildcats took an 11-4 lead into the half.

Stone was one of five Wildcats to score two or more goals. Freshmen Erik Lindaas (Milford, Pa.) and Ben Farrell (Dowingtown, Pa.) as well as Sears and sophomoreAnthony DeMarche (East Longmeadow, Mass.) found the back of the net twice. For DeMarche it was his first multi-goal game of the season and the first since he tallied two goals versus Anna Maria last year.

Johnson & Wales had a 42-27 advantage in ground balls and Hunter Guzzo (Wantage, NJ) won 18-of-25 face offs. Goalkeeper JC Guido (Miller Place, NY) made 16 saves, just one off his season-high.

The Mustangs did outscore the Wildcats, 5-3, in the second half to shrink the margin, but JWU was in control of the game. Sullivan tied Stone with a game-high four goals. Lucas Stralka had two goals and two assists for MIC. 

Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications.

#3 NORWICH 19, #6 RIVIER 11
NORTHFIELD, Vt.  – Senior attackman Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.) scored four goals with classmate Jimmy Warden (North Andover, Mass.) putting up four points on three goals and an assist to lift the No. 3-seeded Norwich University men's lacrosse team past No. 6-seeded Rivier University, 19-11, in the first round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament.

With the win, the Cadets advance onto the semifinal round and will take on No. 2-seeded Lasell College on Friday, May 6 for the 3:30 p.m. matchup. Rivier wraps up the 2016 campaign at 10-7 overall.

Norwich opened the contest with a goal from freshman Cody Moore (Canton, N.Y.)before Rivier scored four straight to tie and take the 4-1 lead at the 9:12 mark. The Cadets would score back-to-back goals from sophomore Josh Jenkins (Centennial, Colo.) and Warden to cut the lead to one. Both teams would trade a goal before Norwich scored seven straight over the course of two quarters as McCarthy scored the Cadets' 11th goal to record his 100th career points milestone.

Trailing 11-5, Rivier got back into the contest on a pair of goals, but the Cadets would match that before the half as Warden recorded the hat trick to give Norwich the 13-7 advantage at the break.

Rivier looked to get back into the action in the second half, pulling off 16 shots in the stanza but would only find the net four times in the final 30 minutes as the Cadets tallied six more goals on 13 shots.

Seven different Cadets collected one or more points in the win, while Rivier was led by sophomore Tyler Tambouris (Hooksett, N.H.) and senior Kyle Graham (Londonderry, N.H.) with three goals as Tambouris picked up a pair of assists in the loss.

Freshman goalie Ian Kriger (Burlington, Mass.) earned his ninth win of the year after turning away seven shots out of the 18 shots faced, while senior Clark Plummer (Londonderry, N.H.) came up with eight saves out of 27 shots faced for Rivier. Sophomore face-off specialist Jack Dwyer (Shelburne, Vt.) won 20-of-33 on the 'X' as Rivier's senior Cody Lynch (Salem, N.H.) came up with 12 wins out of the 32 attempts.

Norwich outshot Rivier 41-32 and came up with 47 ground balls to the Raiders' 21. The Cadets, who scored a season-high 19 goals tonight, went 3-for-7 on the extra man opportunities as Rivier had just 1-of-2 on the night.

Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communications.

First Round - Wednesday, May 4
Game 1: #4 Johnson & Wales 14, #5 Mount Ida 9 | BOX
Game 2: #3 Norwich 19, #6 Rivier 11 | BOX

Semifinals - Friday, May 6
Game 3: #4 Johnson & Wales at #1 Emmanuel - 7PM
Game 4: #3 Norwich at #2 Lasell - 3:30PM

Championship - Sunday, May 8
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner