NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team picked up its fourth straight victory after holding off Johnson & Wales University's (JWU) second half rally for the 13-10 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) win on Saturday afternoon at Sabine Field.

Prior to the contest, seniors Matt Flaherty (Portland, Maine), Ryan Dart (Greenfield, Minn.), Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.) and Pete Soonthornprapuet (Pelham, N.H.) were all recognized for their success with the program over the course of their four-year career at Norwich.

Norwich (7-7, 5-1 GNAC) opened the contest scoring four unanswered goals, three straight coming from McCarthy in a span of three minutes. JWU (8-8, 4-3 GNAC) would get on the board at the 7:48 mark of the first quarter from freshman Ben Farrell (Dowingtown, Pa.) with sophomore Max Stone (Burlington, Conn.) picking up the assist.  The Cadets responded with back-to-back goals by McCarthy and senior Jimmy Warden (North Andover, Mass.), who will return next season for his fourth year of eligibility in the sport.

The Wildcats would put up their second goal on the board but only to be outdueled as the Cadets responded with a pair of goals each time. JWU would put the ball into the back of the net with under two minutes remaining before the horn sounded the end of the first half with the Cadets ahead 8-3 at the break.

Norwich would open the second half with its ninth goal of the game after Warden ran full field before pulling the trigger for the 9-3 lead. The Wildcats responded with Stone scoring back-to-back to cut the deficit down to four. Norwich would close out the third quarter with McCarthy finding freshman Dylan Avery (South Burlington, Vt.) open on the left side of the goal for the easy chip-in to make it 10-5 after 45 minutes of play.

Both teams would score a pair of goals in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter with Norwich still ahead, 12-7, but the Wildcats, who were serving a penalty, would put together back-to-back man-down goals before adding two more to make it four straight and trail by just two goals with 3:51 to play in the game.

Norwich played hard defense, converging the ball handler with pressure, before forcing the turnover and carry the ball down to its offensive end. From there, the Cadets would set up a perfect play as Flaherty, positioned near the left box, fed McCarthy the ball as he cut pass his defender through the middle and drilled the ball past the JWU goaltender for the 13-10 score. JWU looked to even up the score in the final minutes, but the shots sailed high and wide as Norwich held on for the win.

McCarthy would lead the Cadets with six points on five goals and an assist as sophomore Ian Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.) and Warden collected two nets with Warden picking up an assist on the day.  Sophomore Jack Dwyer (Shelburne, Vt.) went 13-of-27 on the faceoffs, while classmate Thomas Carlson (Amston, Conn.) led the defensive efforts with four caused turnovers and freshman goalie Ian Kriger (Burlington, Mass.) collected 15 saves on 25 shots for his seventh win of the season.

Stone would end the day with four goals to lead the scoring category for JWU. Freshman Erik Lindaas (Milford, Pa.) found the net twice as four other Wildcats scored a goal. Senior defender Julian Bandereck (Topsfield, Mass.) forced four turnovers as sophomore JC Guido (Miller Place, N.Y.) collected 10 saves on 23 shots in between the pipes.

Norwich will wrap up the season with a pair of conference games on the road. The Cadets will take on Lasell College on Wednesday, April 27 for the 4 p.m. contest before closing the regular season at Rivier University on Saturday, April 30 at 1 p.m.