MEN'S LACROSSE FALLS IN GNAC SEMIS TO NORWICH, 13-8

NORTHFIELD, Vt.—Junior Ian Mendoza (Mount Airy, Md.) scored four times to lead the top-seeded Norwich University men's lacrosse team to a 13-8 win against No. 5 Emmanuel College in the semifinal round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament.

The win is the 11^th-straight for the Cadets, who improve to 11-3 overall.  The Saints see their season come to a close at 7-10.

Norwich will advance to the 2013 GNAC Championship game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. against No. 2 Mount Ida College.  The Mustangs downed No. 6 Becker 13-3 to advance to the championship game, which will be held at Howard Field.

In addition to Mendoza, the Cadets saw three goals and an assist by sophomore Seth Fuller (Wheaton, Ill.) and two goals and three assists by junior Ian Thomas (Barrington, R.I.). Freshmen Connor Roberts (St. Albans, Vt.) and Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.) both netted two goals apiece.

Ryan Sabuda and Kaile MacLean-Daley recorded two goals each for the Saints.  Justin Kelly added a goal and two assists, while Justin Jaskolski and Michael Rogers tallied a goal each.

Emmanuel netted the first goal of the game at the 12:16 mark of the first quarter, but Norwich responded with a goal by Fuller two-and-a-half minutes later to even the score at 1-1.

The score remained tied until Norwich's McCarthy netted a man-up goal with 13:27 to play in the second quarter.  Norwich took a 3-1 lead 17 seconds later on a goal by Thomas, but the Saints battled back with two goals of their own at 9:48 and 7:01 to even the score at 3-3.

Fuller, McCarthy and Roberts rounded out the first half by netting goals in a span of 3:10 to give the Cadets the 6-3 lead entering halftime.

The Saints cut Norwich's lead to two at 6-4 and again at 7-5, but from there the Cadets scored six-straight goals spanning two quarters and held the 13-5 advantage with 12:27 left to play in the game. Emmanuel tacked on three goals to end the game setting the 13-5 final. 

Junior goaltender Mark Paradiso (Westford, Mass.) totaled 15 saves in net for the Cadets, while Emmanuel netminder Austin Lauzier recorded 11 saves for the Saints.

Norwich face-off specialist senior Nate Fortezzo (Branford, Conn.) won 15 of 22 attempts on the afternoon.  He also led the team in ground balls with 10. Jake Pickett led the Saints with six ground balls and seven face-off wins. 

*Release provided courtesy of Norwich University Sports Information.