NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University men's lacrosse team found themselves in an early hole on Saturday evening and, despite a late push, was unable to climb out, falling 17-7 to Emmanuel College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) bout at Sabine Field.

Jake Marcotte (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) led the Cadets offensively with a six-point performance, scoring twice and assisting on four goals.  Drew Fleury (Nashua, N.H.) also tallied two goals while adding an assist.  Case MacDonald (Burke, Va.), Chris Smith (Dawsonville, Ga.), and Christian Rainis (Wynantskill, N.Y.) each netted a goal, with James Raymond (Tracy's Landing, Md.) picking up an assist.

From the opening faceoff, Emmanuel took control of the contest.  The Saints stuck quickly, with Cole Cloney finding the back of the net twice within the first three minutes.  They continued their aggressive attack, netting three more goals before closing out the opening quarter with a man-up tally from Braxton Bragg to make it 6-0.

The Saints did not slow down, tacking on five more goals to push their lead to 11-0.  Norwich finally broke through in the closing moments of the half when Fleury found Marcotte with just one second remaining in the second quarter, giving the Cadets some momentum heading into halftime.

Emmanuel opened the second half by extending their lead to 15-2, but Norwich responded with a strong finish.  MacDonald fired home a goal late in the third quarter off a feed from Marcotte, giving the Cadets their second tally of the night.  The fourth quarter saw a flurry of late scoring, as Rainis capitalized on an unassisted opportunity before Marcotte connected with Fleury on a man-up strike to make it 15-4.

Just minutes later, Marcotte and Raymond linked up for another goal before Fleury added his second of the night on an assist from Marcotte.  Smith capped the scoring for Norwich with a man-up goal in the final minute, bringing the final score to 17-7.

In goal, Mason Dils (Watervliet, N.Y.) stood tall under heavy pressure, making 16 saves while playing all 60 minutes.  Defensively, he also added three ground balls and a caused turnover, while Nicholas Wolfgang (New Port Richey, Fla.) and Ronan Scott (Bridgewater, N.J.) each forced a turnover as well.

Despite the loss, the Cadets showed resilience in the closing minutes, outscoring the Saints, 5-2, over the final nine minutes of play.  Norwich will look to carry that momentum into their next match-up when they return to Sabine Field on Tuesday, Apr. 1, for a 4:00 p.m. contest against New England College.  The Cadets will then hit the road to take on Regis College on Saturday, Apr. 5.