Rivier's Coby Mercier (11) looks to make a move on a couple of Emmanuel defenders during this past weekend's GNAC quarterfinal win over the Saints. (Courtesy photo by Brian Todd)

NASHUA – These are suddenly good times for the Rivier University men’s lacrosse team as well as the Raiders softball squad.

In lacrosse, The Raiders had suffered three straight losses, but recorded two straight wins over Emmanual College to reach the semis of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

The Raiders (4-4) had dropped three in a row, but beat Emmanuel last week, 16-10, to earn the right to host the Saints in the GNAC quarterfinals this past weekend and came away with an 11-8 playoff win.

Now the No. 6 Raiders will visit No. 3 Norwich in the semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m.. Riv lost to the Cadets back on April 15 at Merrill Field by a 12-6 score.

“Wednesday is a great opportunity for our team to get another shot at a very talented and well-coached Norwich team,” Raiders coach Jay Delanoy said.

In Saturday’s huge playoff win, the Raiders trailed 4-1 after the first quarter and 8-6 after three periods but scored five unanswered goals in the fourth period by Coby Mercier, Alan Cozzolino (man up), Dylan McSparren (man up), Michael Ferrence (unassisted) and McSparren (Ference asssist).

McSparren, who along with Mercier led the way with two goals and two assists, scored the go-ahead game winner with 6:06 to go.

“We struggled out of the gates but we showed a lot of heart and solidarity to do what we got done as a team in crunch time,” Delanoy said.

Matty Babb also had two goals for the Raiders, while Ference had two goals and assist. Connor Ek and Jacob Enwright also scored single goals.

This was Riv’s second playoff win for the program, both coming at home. The Raiders after years of trying finally hosted a playoff game in 2019 and won.

Riv grabbed 21 ground balls to Emmanuel’s 13, and the visitors went 0 for 5 in man-up situations, while Riv was 2 for 8. Sawyer Gagnon had 14 saves for the Raiders, playing the entire way. Colin Dickinson had three goals to lead Emmanuel.

SOFTBALL IN PLAYOFFS

Meanwhile, the Raider softball team finished the regular season at 7-3, 5-3 in the GNAC, and as the No. 5 seed will visit No. 4 Albertus Magnus on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

This past weekend the Raiders wrapped up the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Lasell. In the 9-4 opener, Nicole Capra went 2 for 4 with a double and four RBIs with Nicole Verrette getting the complete game win in the circle, striking out 10, walking two while giving up four runs on seven hits.

In the nightcap, Raiders leadoff hitter Kasey Smith went 3 for 3 and reached base all four times with two runs scored.

Smth scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on an RBI ground out by Kayla Miles, who had a hit and two RBIs in the game. She singled in Smith for an insurance run in the seventh.

Emma Rousseau went 2 for 4, and the big performance on the mound was by Raider Kellie Kennedy. She allowed just the one run on eight hits over seven innings, with six strikeouts and no walks.

Rivier and Albertus Magnus did not face each other in the regular season.