PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN BERTHIAUME '24

STANDISH, Maine – Sophomore Coby Mercier (Boscawen, N.H.) scored a man-up goal with 1:52 left in the second overtime period to lift Rivier University (12-3, 7-2 GNAC) past Saint Joseph's College (4-12, 2-7 GNAC), 11-10, in a thrilling double-overtime Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Wednesday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Monks trailed 1-0 a minute into the game but rattled off four unanswered tallies – including a pair from freshman Calvin Heline (Amesbury, Mass.) – and held a 5-4 edge going into the second stanza.

In the second period, the Raiders received two goals from sophomore Michael Ference (Salem, N.H.) and another from freshman Nicholas Tavares (Danvers, Mass.) to secure a 7-5 cushion at intermission.

St. Joe's kicked off the third quarter with another four-goal scoring run, a streak that included a trio of tallies from junior Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.), to stake a 9-8 lead going into the final frame.

Rivier freshman Chris Heitmiller (Nashua, N.H.) lifted his team to a 10-9 edge with goals scored at the 11:53 and 3:11 marks of the fourth quarter, but SJC junior Zavier Balzano (Otisfield, Maine) scored off a Timothy Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) assist with 28 seconds left in regulation to force extra play.

The Raiders held a 6-1 lead in shots in the two overtime periods combined.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (37-34), shots on goal (26-18), ground balls (36-32), caused turnovers (9-7), and face-off wins (16-9) in the losing effort.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC senior Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) made seven saves in the setback while Rivier sophomore netminder Sawyer Gagnon (Gorham, Maine) turned away 16 shots in the triumph.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Goodfellow tallied three goals, three assists and seven ground balls
• Lacy scored three goals with three ground balls
• Heline netted a pair of goals and Wyatt LeBlanc (Arundel, Maine) added two assists
• Sophomore Adam Enscoe (Rochester, N.H.) was 11-for-17 on face-off attempts with six ground balls

LEADERS – RIVIER:

• Ference scored three goals with two assists and a pair of ground balls
• Heitmiller added three goals and an assist with three ground balls
• Tavares netted three goals with three ground balls
• Freshman Parker Williams (Limington, Maine) contributed with five ground balls and two caused turnovers

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 9-4 all-time versus Rivier University. The setback snaps the Monks' four-game winning streak versus the Raiders, a string that began during the 2018 campaign.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will play at University of Saint Joseph on Saturday in a GNAC contest set to begin at 6:00 PM.

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