Rivier's Coby Mercier (11) looks to make a move on a couple of Emmanuel defenders during last year's GNAC quarterfinal win over the Saints. (Courtesy file photo by Brian Todd)

NASHUA – Youth is definitely being served by the Rivier University men’s lacrosse team.

The Raiders will begin their season Saturday at Keene State University, and if you’re looking for multi-year experienced players, forget it.

But, if you’re looking for talent and players who got valuable experience in an abbreviated season last spring that saw the Raiders reach the GNAC semis, you’ve come to the right place.

A whopping 16 freshmen will join 13 sophomores and only a couple of juniors. The one senior expected to be on the squad had to back out due to an injury, job interviews and very heavy academic workload.

That’s youth, for certain.

“They’re very energetic, very eager and willing to learn,” Raiders longtime coach Jay Delanoy said, admitting he’s never coached a team with no seniors. “Even though there’s a learning curve from the high school level to the college level, these kids are all about getting done everything they can so we can get where we want to be.

“Hopefully we can make (the youth) an advantage by having younger legs everywhere we go.”

The Raiders have been at it since the last week of January, but really, what’s it going to be like once the bell rings without seniors?

“I think it’s going to be great,” Delanoy said. “We’ve got three captains of high character and are good leaders, so it doesn’t matter what the year is next to the name on the roster.

Leading the team are sophomore middie Matt Babb of Windham, Me., junior attackman Jeff Potter of North Bennington, Vt.and Merrimack’s Jacob Newman, a junior defenseman.

“All the sophomores played quite a bit last year,” Delanoy said. “Six return with conference honors given to them at the end of last year as freshmen.

“There’s building blocks there, we were young last year with just four seniors. We definitely have the talent; we don’t really have the experience under our belt, but we have a lot of potential we can cash in on, I think.”

Those returnees getting the postseason honors last year were sophomore returning goalie Sawyer Gagnon (Gorham, Me.), soph middie Coby Mercier (Merrimack Valley alum), soph defensemen Adam Hailey of Salem and Rob DelPrete (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) and soph middie Alan Cozzolino of Hamden, Conn. Sophomore attackman Connor Ek, who scored some key goals last year.

This team, Delanoy said, is good in the transition game from defense to offense, and is solid in set six-on-six. It just, in Delanoy’s opinion, needs some fine tuning.

The GNAC is a mystery because of COVID, and many teams may have graduated big pieces. But with extra years of eligibility, roster situations are unknown, but the opposition Delanoy will learn more about as the Raiders go along; the protocols are also much less stringent.

Delanoy feels the freshmen are very receptive to what the sophomores are telling them about last year “to get everyone rowing the boat in the same direction.”

The Raiders are also taking advantage of the fact lacrosse has certainly moved to being the near dominant spring sport at the high school level, especially with Division I power Bishop Guertin around. Former Cardinal Chris Heitmiller, a midfielder, is among the key freshmen, along with midfielders Windham’s Sawyer Hall, Mike Zapatka (Newington, Conn.) and Oscar Wolfe (Westfield, Mass.). Much is expected, too, from rookie defensemen Oyster River alum Ethan Todd and Parker Williams (Limington, Me.).

Other locals on the Raiders are sophomore middie Zach Gauthier (Nashua South), soph goalie Ryan Palmer (North), and frosh middie Luke Panyanouvong (South).

Last year the Raiders played nine games, including two playoff games and were home for a GNAC playoff game for the second year in a row. They beat Emmanual 11-8 in that game but fell at Norwich 14-6 in the conference semis.

This year, a more normal schedule.

“We scrambled to fill about four games, and we’re still going to get 16 games in,” Delanoy said. “We’re going to go every Wednesday-Saturday once we start. Two games a week every week.”

The $4.5 million Linda Robinson Pavilion was built just a few months before COVID hit, so the Raiders are just now reaping the benefits.

“It’s enormous,” Delanoy said, adding that administrative support has been a big boost as well. “The facilities are way up at the top of anything and everything in our conference.”

And that’s the goal the Raiders have as a team as well.