The Rivier University men’s lacrosse team got off to a good start at Norwich Univeristy on Wednesday night.

The finish? Not so good at Sabine Field in Northfield, Vt.

Freshman attackman Connor Eck (pictured) and Dylan McSparren got the Raiders off to a 2-0 lead but they eventually fell 19-8, returning to Nashua with a 1-1 record on the young season.

The Raiders gave up three straight Norwich goals before Jacob Enwright scored with 12:21 left in the half to even the game at 3.

However, five straight Norwich goals gave the hosts an 8-3 lead and the Raiders never recovered, trailing 9-5 at the half, and 13-7 after three. Norwich scored six of the seven fourth quarter goals.

McSparren had a hat trick to go with an assist, while Eck had a pair of goals, giving him 10 for the season.

Others in the scoring column for the Raiders were Michael Ference and Colby Mercier (both with a goal, assist) and Enwright (goal). Cole Perreault added an assist while Riv keeper Ben Fitzpatrick had 13 saves.

For Norwich, now 3-1, (2-0 GNAC)Russell Gilligan had five goals while Mitchell McKay added four to lead the win.

ECK WINS AWARD

It wasn’t all bad news for the Raiders yesterday. Eck, the first year attackman from Franklin, Mass., was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference’s Rookie of the Week after he scored eight goals in the Raiders’ 18-7 win over St. Joseph’s of Connecticut last Saturday at Merrill Field.

The freshman also had a perfect shots on goal average after 12 attempts and his eight goals also set a new program record for the most goals in a game.

Rivier’s next game is Saturday at 11 a.m.in Boston at Emmanuel College. Their next home game is next Wednesday at 7 p.m. vs. St. Joseph’s of Maine.