MEN’S LAX DOWNS JWU IN GNAC QUARTERFINALS, 13-3

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College men's lacrosse team downed Johnson & Wales University, 13-3, Wednesday evening in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Quarterfinals at Roberto Clemente Field. The Saints extend their program-record winning streak to 13 games and improve to 13-3 on the year while the loss ends the inaugural season at 4-13.

Both squads got off to a slow start before EC freshman attack Donnie Litzelman (Exeter. N.H) broke the ice with the game's first goal at the 8:49 marker to pull the hosts ahead, 1-0. JWU's freshman attack Ryan Fabiano (Bel Air, Md.) evened the score at 1-1 exactly four minutes later, finishing a feed from freshman middie TJ Consiglio (New Fairfield, Conn.).

Emmanuel close the quarter strong as sophomore middie Michael Rogers (New Haven, Conn.) put EC on top for good with his 27^th goal of the year to make it 2-1 with 2:18 remaining in the first. Litzelman followed up with his second goal of the action with 1:13 to play, giving the Saints a 3-1 cushion at the end of the first.

Sophomore middie Chris Curtis (Ashland, Mass) bumped the lead to 4-1 with his 24^th goal of the year to open the second quarter scoring but the Wildcats answered as Consiglio netted his 16^th marker of the season to make it a 4-2 game with 9:53 left in the first half.

EC sophomore attack Kaile MacLean-Daley (Moretown, Vt.) found the back of the net followed by a goal from freshman attack Tony Cibelli (Westboro, Mass.) to give the Saints the momentum heading into halftime leading 6-2.

Emmanuel put the game away in the third, outscoring the Wildcats 3-0 to take a comfortable 9-2 advantage into the final frame with goals from two markers from MacLean-Daley as well as another Cibelli score.

Curtis made it 10-2 with his second goal of the game with 10:53 left in the game before Cibelli followed suit with his second goal of the action to make it 11-2.

Wildcats leading scorer Tyler Thompson (West Chester, Pa.) had been held scoreless for 52 minutes before netting his 22^nd goal of the year to bump the score to 11-3. Emmanuel closed the evening with two more goals coming from junior attack Ryan Sabuda (Indianapolis, Ind.) and freshman attack Tommy Dion (Westwood, Mass.) to account for the 13-3 final.

EC outshot JWU by a commanding 61-20 margin.

Junior goalie Austin Lauzier (Bedford, N.H.) picked up his 13^th win of the year making five saves in 49 minutes of action while junior Justin Byers (Indianapolis, Ind.) played the final 11 minutes and made five saves.

Junior Jack Pettine (Foxboro, Mass.) registered 16 saves while senior Mike Russo (Chelmsford, Mass.) made two saves for the Wildcats.

The win for Emmanuel marks just their second postseason victory in the program's three-year history and their first-ever home playoff win.

The Saints advance to the GNAC Semifinals and will play host to #4 Norwich University on Friday, April 25 at 7:00 PM. The Cadets eliminated the Saints from the 2013 GNAC tournament en route to the 2013 GNAC Championship. In their meeting earlier this year, EC came away with a highly contested 8-3 victory.