Rivier's Payton Kender (42) embraces a teammate after the Raiders fell to Rhodes College in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse tourney Wednesday at Merrill Field. (Courtesy photo by Erin Stanton/Rivier Athletics)

NASHUA – The Rivier men’s lacrosse program saw its historic undefeated season come to a close Wednesday afternoon, falling to Rhodes College, 16-8, in the NCAA First Round at Joanne Merrill Field.

The Raiders wrap up the year at 18-1, setting program records for both longest winning streak and most victories in a season. Rivier also became the first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men’s lacrosse program to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated following conference play.

“It’s great to have the program where we have it, but we’re always looking to improve and elevate the program from where it is,” Raiders coach Jay Delanoy said. “Today didn’t do that. We got matched up with a really good lacrosse team. … We battled as long as we could battle; that’s all we could do today.”

“It was an absolute great battle,” Rhodes coach xxxxx said. “Rivier, you don’t get to 18-0 accidentally. Absolutely great team. I loved (his team’s) performance…There’s no shortage of fight in our team. They’re absolute warriors.”

With the victory, Rhodes improved to 13-6 and advances to face No. 1 nationally ranked Tufts on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Medford, Mass.

Rhodes came out fast with two goals in a 15-second span, first from John Mori before Lucas Pagilarulo followed immediately after an Ihsan Omer faceoff win to give the Lynx a 2-0 advantage with 12:44 remaining in the opening quarter. Mason Schultz answered less than a minute later, finishing a feed from Connor Walsh to cut the deficit to one. Walsh then found the back of the net himself with 8:54 left in the frame to even the score at 2-2.

Jake Lydon came up with a strong stop on Pagilarulo in front of the crease, but a defensive miscue led to a breakaway finish from Gavin Nagle that put Rhodes back in front, 3-2. Both defenses settled in from there as the Lynx carried the one-goal lead into the second quarter. Rhodes managed to limit the Rivier opportunities by blocking five shots in the period.

Rhodes struck first in the second quarter as Charlie Carmouche found the back of the net to restore the Lynx’s two-goal lead before Aiden Conley answered with 13:15 remaining in the half to bring Rivier back within one. Omer won the ensuing faceoff, leading to a long-range goal from Andrew Murphy moments later. Nagle followed with his second tally of the game on a man-down opportunity, scoring from his backside after falling to the turf to extend the lead to 6-3. Conley added his second goal of the afternoon at the 8:33 mark to cut the deficit to two, but Rhodes closed the half on a 4-1 run to take a 10-5 advantage into halftime.

Henri Brochu provided Rivier with a spark coming out of halftime, cleaning up a shot from Conley that rattled the woodwork to cut the deficit to 10-6 at the 13:32 mark of the third quarter. Rhodes answered by scoring four of the next five goals to regain control and carry a 14-7 lead into the final frame. Conley recorded his fourth goal of the game for Rivier’s lone tally in the fourth quarter, while the Lynx added two more goals down the stretch to secure the 16-8 victory.

“To have another opportunity to go out there and play together was all we wanted,” Lynx standout Andrew Murphy said. “We’re just earning more games.”

Which is what the Raiders, who had only five seniors, always want. Conley matched the game high with five points behind four goals and one assist while adding three ground balls. Walsh recorded one goal and two assists to go along with one ground ball. Brochu finished with two goals and one ground ball and Schultz chipped in with an assist.

Colin Foley led the Raiders defensively with five caused turnovers. Noah Zeman went 9-of-19 at the faceoff X and collected a team-high four ground balls. Lydon finished the afternoon with eight saves.

“Looking back on the year, what means the most is the guys that showed up every day,” Raider Scott Miller said. “That’s probably what stands out to me the most. We had a lot of people to mesh together, and we meshed together.

“Walking off that field today, really no regrets.”

Now Rhodes heads to take on perhaps the top team in the tournament, Tufts.

“Looking forward to taking a swing at the No. 1 team in the country,” Cameron said. “If you want to get to that level, you’ve got to beat some teams….We’re fortunate to get Round 2.”

That was a round the Raiders were in last year. They have a team that will have plenty coming back.

“We’ve been here twice,” Delanoy said. “The goal is to be here a third time.”

(Telegraph Staff Writer Tom King contributed to this report.)