Jeff Potter had four assists in Rivier's 16-13 win Saturday over Albertus Magnus. (Photo courtesy of Rivier University)

NASHUA — The Rivier men’s lacrosse team got their first GNAC win of the season on Saturday, downing Albertus Magnus 16-13 at Joanne Merrill Field thanks in part to five goals each by Michael Ference and Nicholas Tavares.

The Raiders (5-2, 1-1 GNAC) got the game started with a goal from Boscawen’s Coby Mercier at 13:40 in the first quarter. Jon Olson found Matthew Hutchings who buried a Falcons goal. Salem’s Ference shoved in a Raiders goal shortly after to put the Raiders up 2-1.

Albertus put away three goals in a row earned by Zaheim Wilkins and two from Hutchings with an assist from Olsen on the first. Rivier then gained a goal back, scored by Ference at 1:52 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Tavares rocketed in his first goal of the day with an assist granted to Jeffery Potter (four on the day) for the Raiders. Eleven seconds later, Rocco Albanese answered back with a Falcons goal and an assist from Tyler Landsiedel. Hutchings earned his fourth goal of the game at 12:49 in the second quarter.

With the Raiders trailing by two, Tavares knocked in a Riv goal with an assist from Mercier. Olsen, Derek Ralston, and Hutchings from Albanese scored three straight goals for Albertus Magnus, to increase their lead 9-5. Nashua’s Chris Heitmiller muscled by the Falcons defenders to add on an unassisted Raiders goal. Tavares tapped in two of his own to finish out the second quarter, with assists credited to Connor Eck and Potter.

Heitmiller recorded a goal when the Raiders were man down early in the third quarter. Hutchings put in another for the Falcons, with an assist from Wilkins. Ference would score again for Rivier to tie the game at 10-10. Wilkins ran past the Riv defenders tossing in a goal for Albertus Magnus. Potter took an open shot resulting in a Raiders goal at 8:10 on the clock. A couple minutes later, Potter fed the ball to Eck who put away a Rivier goal. Falcons’ Bailey Kirwin took advantage of the man up opportunity, earning his first goal of the game with an assist credited to Hutchings. Ference scored the final goal of the quarter, putting the Raiders ahead by one.

In the fourth quarter Rivier tacked on three goals to secure the win. Mercier earned the first goal, Ference from Potter with the second, and then Tavares from Ference with the final goal. Albertus Magnus pushed in one goal this quarter from Olsen.

Albertus Magnus fought hard and had the Raiders trailing for a good portion of the game. Rivier locked in for the fourth quarter to secure the win.

Sawyer Gagnon (Gorham, ME) of Rivier recorded 10 saves today. Dane Walsh saved 13 shots for Albertus Magnus.

Rivier will travel to face Norwich University on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Northfield, Vermont.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

RIVIER 3, LASELL 1

RIVIER 3, DEAN 0

It was a double win day for the Raiders at the Muldoon Center, as the win over Lasell was close (23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22) and they cruised past Dean (25-12, 25-14, 25-18) to improve to 14-9, 9-2 GNAC.

Lasell took the first set after capitalizing on all Raider errors. They struggled on the serve racking up eight service errors in the first set, along with eight attack errors. Riv did settle in and limit the mistakes through the next three sets to finish the match.

Jack Normandin topped all players in this one with 18 kills. He also had the second-highest digs in the game with 11. Sokunbuth Ly was just behind him with 15 kills and a kill percentage of .414. Senior Thomas Miller had a game-high 12 digs. Ethan Soltis came in late in the first set to take over as setter and finished the match with 41 assists.

The Lasers kept each set close by feeding Theo Zaharewicz and Brenden Joyce. Zaharewicz had a team-high 16 kills. Joyce finished with 12 kills, along with four aces, eight digs, and five blocks. Jesus Garcia had a match-high in assists with 45.

Match two saw all new faces for the Raiders and was started with a celebration of Miller, who is the team’s only graduating student-athlete this season. Each set was easily handled by the Raiders as they hit for .351 compared to Deans .034.

Miller was all over the place, racking up numbers in all statistical categories. He was second on the team in kills with eight, adding five aces, 19 assists, and seven digs. Matthew McCloskey topped Riv and contest in kills with nine. He also had a game-high seven service aces.

Mattew Diamond finished with a match-high 13 digs from his Libero position.

Rivier men’s volleyball will be back in action Tuesday in the Muldoon Center against AIC at 7:00 PM.