Rivier's Connor Eck had a lot to react to during Rivier's 13-8 win over Dean College on Monday at Merrill Field. (Courtesy photo by Nick Grace/Rivier Athletics)

NASHUA – The Rivier men’s lacrosse team used key performances from Coby Mercier and Sawyer Gagnon to stop the streaking Dean Bulldogs for a 13-8 win in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Monday evening at Merrill Field.

The Raiders evened out their record at 4-4 and improved to 2-1 in GNAC play while the Bulldogs fell to 6-2 (2-1 GNAC).

Dean, winners of their last six games, bolted out to a quick 2-0 advantage just 1:31 into the contest as Shawn Beebe and Jaden Wise scored on two of the first three Dean possessions. Michael Ference buried a feed from Mercier 3:34 later to make it a one-goal game. Dean’s Manny Alvarez-Segee made it 3-1 on an unassisted tally before back-to-back goals from Michael Zapatka tied it at 3-3.

M. Alvarez-Segee scored again in the opening five minutes of the second to give the Bulldogs the lead back. With 5:04 left in the half, Zapatka completed his hat trick bid to tie the game as the first of five straight Raiders goals, as Sawyer Hall, Connor Eck, Chris Heitmiller, and Mercier each provided goals down the stretch to make it 8-4 in favor of the hosts at halftime.

Dean cut the deficit to three after the third quarter as Diego Alvarez-Segee, Owen Brine, and Aidan McCarthy each scored while Riv could only muster two goals.

Mercier, Ference, and Eck scored the first three goals of the fourth to blow open the Rivier lead, 13-7. Despite a late goal from Dean, the Raiders held on for the victory, their first in GNAC North Division competition this season.

Mercier finished with eight points as he tacked on five assists to his hat trick performance. Zapatka tallied four points while Heitmiller recorded three points. Parker Williams led the way on defense with three caused turnovers. Both Adam Hailey and Joseph O’Reilly came away with four ground balls. Standing tall in net was reigning GNAC Goalie of the Week, Gagnon, who registered 15 saves on 23 shots.

Rivier went 16-of-19 (84.2%) on clears while outshooting the Bulldogs, 39-33.

Up next, the Raiders will head to Standish, Maine for a Thursday afternoon showdown against Saint Joseph’s (Me.) at 4 p.m.

Newsletter