NASHUA, N.H. - The fifth-seeded Norwich University men's lacrosse team pushed top-seeded Rivier University to the brink on Wednesday night, erasing a seven-goal second-half deficit and forcing the Raiders to answer late before falling, 13-11, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals at Joanne Merrill Field.
Despite the result, Norwich closed its season with one of its strongest efforts of the spring, nearly completing a dramatic rally against the nation's top defensive team and previously unbeaten defending GNAC champions.
Norwich finishes the year at 9-8 overall and 7-4 in conference play, while the program's run to the GNAC Semifinals marked its deepest postseason advance since the 2022 campaign, when the Cadets captured the conference championship. In his first season at the helm, Head Coach
Dylan Curry guided Norwich back to the semifinal round and helped the program take a significant step forward against one of the league's most challenging schedules.
The Cadets received another big night from their top offensive group.
Drew Fleury (Nashua, N.H.) led Norwich with six points on four goals and two assists, while
Jake Marcotte (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) added five points on two goals and three helpers.
Christian Rainis (Wynantskill, N.Y.) and
Case MacDonald (Burke, Va.) each scored twice, and
Nicholas Wolfgang (New Port Richey, Fla.) posted a goal and an assist.
Jackson Forbes (Merrimack, N.H.) and
James Raymond (Tracy's Landing, Md.) each contributed an assist.
Norwich came out sharp and struck first just 70 seconds into the contest, as MacDonald finished unassisted to open the scoring. The Cadets doubled the lead less than five minutes later when MacDonald buried his second of the quarter off a Marcotte feed, giving Norwich an early 2-0 edge and putting immediate pressure on the top seed.
Rivier answered with a decisive burst midway through the opening frame. After Aiden Conley got the Raiders on the board, Rivier strung together four more goals over the next six minutes, including an extra-man tally and two more unassisted finishes, to surge in front, 5-2.
Norwich stopped the run late in the quarter when Fleury converted off another Marcotte assist with 1:10 remaining, trimming the deficit to 5-3 heading into the second.
The second period settled into a more defensive rhythm. Rivier managed the lone goal of the first 14 minutes of the quarter, extending its lead to 6-3 on Conley's fourth tally of the night. Fleury responded in the closing seconds, scoring unassisted with just five seconds left before halftime to keep the Cadets within striking distance at 6-4.
The game turned in the opening half of the third quarter, when Rivier appeared to seize full control. The Raiders scored five times in a span of less than eight minutes, stretching the margin to 11-4 and putting Norwich in its deepest hole of the night.
However, the Cadets never folded.
Fleury ignited the response with an unassisted goal at the 4:45 mark of the third, and Wolfgang added another with 1:05 left in the quarter off a Forbes assist to give Norwich life entering the final period.
That momentum carried directly into the fourth. Fleury opened the quarter with a man-up goal off a Marcotte assist, cutting the deficit to 11-7, but Rivier answered just 12 seconds later to halt the surge and restore a five-goal cushion.
Even then, Norwich kept coming.
Marcotte started the final push with 6:02 to play, finishing from Fleury to make it 12-8. Rainis followed with back-to-back goals in a span of 78 seconds, first off a Raymond assist and then from Fleury, bringing the Cadets within 12-10. Marcotte struck again with 2:54 remaining, finishing from Wolfgang to suddenly pull Norwich within a single goal at 12-11.
With the pressure mounting and the Cadets threatening to complete one of the most remarkable comebacks of the season, Rivier found the answer it needed. Conley scored his fifth goal of the night with 1:39 remaining to provide the Raiders with a critical insurance marker, and Norwich was unable to find another breakthrough in the closing stretch.
Rivier held only a slight 42-39 edge in shots and a 23-22 margin in shots on goal, while Norwich was excellent in transition, finishing 20-for-22 on clears compared to Rivier's 17-for-22 mark. The Raiders narrowly led in ground balls, 32-25, and faceoffs, 16-12.
Ryan Magararu (Newtonville, Mass.) was again a major factor for Norwich, winning 12 faceoffs and collecting seven ground balls.
David Myers (Hainesport, N.J.) also scooped up seven ground balls, while Fleury and Rainis added three apiece. Defensively, the Cadets forced nine caused turnovers, with
Liam O'Neill (Hingham, Mass.) pacing the group with two.
In goal,
Mason Dils (Watervliet, N.Y.) turned in another strong performance to close his junior season, making 10 saves across the full 60 minutes of action. Dils finishes the year with eight victories and continued to anchor the Norwich defense throughout another strong campaign in net.
Norwich also accomplished something no other team has managed this season. Rivier entered Wednesday allowing just 4.38 goals per game, the best mark in NCAA Division III, and Norwich once again became the only team to reach double figures against the Raiders, following up its 10-goal effort in an overtime regular season loss with 11 more in Wednesday's semifinal.
Wednesday's contest also marked the final collegiate game for
Drew Fleury,
Robert Carr (Amsterdam, N.Y.),
Parker Fleury (Nashua, N.H.), and
Alex Johnston (Franklin, Tenn.), capping a senior class that helped guide Norwich to another standout spring and one of the strongest seasons in recent history.
Rivier, which improved to 17-0 overall, advances to host sixth-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine in the GNAC Championship on Saturday after the Monks upset second-seeded University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 8-6, in the other semifinal.
