The president of Rivier University, Sister Paula Marie Buley, came over to congratulate Raiders men’s lacrosse coach Jay Delanoy on the Joanne Merrill Field turf with a big hug on Saturday after the Raiders won their second straight GNAC men’s lacrosse title, an 8-7 heart-stopper over Saint Joe’s of Maine.

“You did it again!” she exclaimed. “And with a whole new group of guys!”

There were some role players back from last year, but basically no one who had seen tons of regular time. Delanoy and his staff had to mold everything together and it’s pretty clear this group, with lots of underclassmen, exceeded the staff’s expectations.

“It’s a combination of our small group of leaders, there’s a few seniors and some juniors that are great leaders,” Delanoy said. “Then we’ve got a ton of freshmen and sophomores, their work ethic is surprising from this generation (chuckling). They’re willing to work, they want to learn, and they do everything we ask them to do.”

“It’s a whole new group of guys,” Raider sophomore James DelPrete said. “It’s nice putting up numbers on kids, letting everyone get in.”

Sister Buley, or Sister Paula, as she is known all over campus, has to be happy. Her men’s lacrosse program is bringing people to the campus and see the beautiful Linda Robinson Pavilion hig on The Hill – there’s never a Riv tourney game that isn’t packed – and her coach brings in recruits and, as one alum put it, “does it the right way.”

His players love him. He teaches lacrosse, but also life lessons. There is no accomplishment, however small, that goes unnoticed by him and his staff.

Or strategy. The Raiders were flailing, down 6-3 at halftime and having problems solving the Monks zone defense.

“Our coaches came in and he had the words that we needed, and we produced,” Raider Mason Schultz said. “Shout out to Coach Delanoy, he’s always there for us.”

And Delanoy’s staff is there for him and his players as well. While Rivier’s offense got untracked, the Raider defense had just shut down the Monks in the second half, holding them to one goal and keeping them off the board for a 22-minute span.

In this game, that’s hard to do. But as Delanoy said, Riv defensive coordinator Ruppy Hailey found a way.

“If you want to understand our defense, you have to talk to Ruppy Hailey,” Delanoy said. “It’s all his. I trust him with it and it works. We try to beat it in practice, and we seldom do.”

This is the program that one Jay Delanoy has built.

“He’s brought it down from the dirt,” DelPete said. “It’s lots of him, recruiting and everything.”

So a kid like Liam Conley can come in off the bench an score what proves to be the game winner.

“I’ve been like the twos, I go in when someone’s like hurt or something, I’ve just been enjoying every rep I get out there,” Conley said. “Just trying to put one in.

“It’s phenomenal. It kind of means a little bit more when you get some reps in and do stuff.”

Once again fans showed up for a Rivier men’s lacrosse tourney game, Saturday’s GNAC Finals at Joanne Merrill Field. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

How far has this group come? They managed to stare adversity in the face and level it. At the half that 6-3 deficit yesterday felt like 16-3 to many.

“We’ve been through it,” Delanoy said. “We had two overtime games this year (Norwich and Saint Joseph’s of Connecticut in the regular season), and we had some other games where we had quarters that were not good in any way,” Delanoy said. “And we used those opportunities to bounce out and figure out how to get back to what we do. Just have to re-do what we do and find a rhythm.”

Delanoy invited his school president to tonight’s NCAA Selection Show viewing, when the whole team will be gathered. She accepted, depending on the time, and then motioned to the awaiting reporter.

“Go have your day in the sun,” she said.

It shines bright on Jay Delanoy and his program. As it very well should.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X @Telegraph _TomK.