SEMIFINAL STORYLINE: The No. 4 Norwich University men's lacrosse team travels to top-seeded Emmanuel College for one of two Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
The Cadets and the Saints met once during the regular season as Emmanuel's Roberto Clemente Field. Senior Ian Mendoza (Mount Airy, Md.) scored the first goal of the game 1:57 into the first quarter, but it would prove to be the only offensive output for the Cadets as Emmanuel held Norwich scoreless for the rest of the game en route to the 7-1 win.
Emmanuel had six different goal scorers in the win, led by Donnie Litzelman with two goals. Tony Cibelli, Kaile MacLean-Daley and Chris Curtis all finished the game with a goal and an assist.
Norwich goaltender Mark Paradiso (Westford, Mass.) made 13 saves in the loss for Norwich, while Austin Lauzier recorded nine saves for Emmanuel.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Emmanuel posted a flawless 10-0 record in GNAC play to clinch the top seed in the 2014 tournament. The Saints' biggest game of the season was on April 19th in a battle of the final unbeaten teams, Emmanuel and Lasell. The Saints escaped Newton, Mass. with an 8-7 win. Emmanuel then downed No. 8 Johnson & Wales 13-3 in Wednesday's quarterfinal game.
The Cadets downed No. 5 Mount Ida College on Wednesday in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals. The two teams battled evenly for three quarters, but a 5-1 scoring advantage for Norwich in the second quarter made all the difference in the 11-7 win. Mendoza paced Norwich with five goals, while Paradiso aided the defense with 13 saves.
THE COACHES: Neal Anderson is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Norwich lacrosse team and holds a 5-43 all-time record. A two-time GNAC Coach of the Year, Anderson has led the Cadets to four straight GNAC postseason appearances, including two-straight GNAC championship appearances and the program's first championship title last season. The Cadets made their first NCAA Tournament appearance last season under Anderson's guidance.
Brendan McWilliams was named Emmanuel's first men's lacrosse head coach in 2010. The Saints played their first varsity lacrosse season in 2012, and under McWilliams' leadership, the team has quickly become a GNAC powerhouse with three-straight postseason appearances. McWilliams has a 27-22 all-time record at Emmanuel and has led the Saints to their first winning record (13-3) in 2014.
ABOUT THE CADETS: The Norwich senior class has advanced to the postseason in each of their four years with the program. This year, senior Ian Mendoza has reclaimed his role as the leading scorer, and has totaled a team-best 33 goals. Junior Seth Fuller (Wheaton, Ill.) leads the team in points, as he has a team-best 15 assists and 24 goals for 39 points. Sophomore Mike Lavery (Penacook, N.H.) has added 18 goals and six assists, while senior Ian Thomas (Barrington, R.I.) had scored 10 goals with six assists in just ten games played.
Senior Andrew Dustin (Canterbury, N.H.) paces the Norwich midfield with a team-best 78 ground balls. The Cadets' face-off specialist, junior Andrew Bracy (Carthage, N.Y.), has won 110 face-offs in 185 tries, good for a .595 winning percentage. In conference play, Bracy's winning rate jumps to 70.8 percent (76-103).
Defensively, a Norwich trifecta of junior Peter Troiano (Winchester, Mass.), senior Zach Maysonet (Clark, N.J.), and Timothy Seibert (Ephrata, Pa.) is responsible for over 40 percent of Norwich's 130 caused turnovers. Troiano leads the team with 21.
Senior netminder Mark Paradiso (Westford, Mass.) has started in 13 games this season and has totaled 133 saves in 243 shots faced for a .547 save percentage. He holds a goals-against average of 7.88 this season.
ABOUT THE SAINTS: Emmanuel has seven different players in double-figure scoring this season, led by sophomore Kaile MacLean-Daley with a team-high 29 goals. Points-leader Chris Curtis, a sophomore, has 25 goals and 14 assists for 39 points on the season, while freshman Tony Cibelli is close behind with 20 goals and 17 assists. Michael Rogers rounds out the top-four with 27 goals and six assists.
The Saints' midfield is paced by junior Jake Pickett, who leads the team with 81 ground balls and 132 face-off wins. He has won 58.1 percent of face-off attempts this season.
Freshman Chris Baglivi leads the Emmanuel defense with 38 caused turnovers. Sophomore Pat Heffernan is close behind with 30 caused turnovers, while freshman Brendan Gallagher has 22 caused turnovers.
Junior goaltender Austin Lauzier has started all 16 games for the Saints this season. He holds a league-best goals-against average of 5.75 and has 125 saves for a .613 save percentage.
WINNER ADVANCES: The winner of Friday's game will advance to the 2014 GNAC Championship game against the winner of the No. 2 Lasell/No. 3 Becker game. The championship will be played at the home of the highest remaining seed; it would be the third straight championship appearance for the Cadets and the first appearance for the Saints.
