Mid-game Surge Propels Saints Past Norwich in GNAC Quarterfinals, 16-5

THE BASICS 

Score: 
Emmanuel 16 – Norwich 5

Records: 
Emmanuel College Saints (13-5, 9-1 GNAC)
Norwich University Cadets (6-12, 4-6 GNAC)

Location: Boston, Mass. – Roberto Clemente Field

Date: Saturday, April 29, 2023

THE LEAD – After falling behind 2-1 in the opening minutes of play, top-seeded Emmanuel College scored 13 unanswered goals to cruise past No. 8 Norwich University, 16-5, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse Quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Clemente Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cadets won the opening faceoff and found the back of the net just 42 seconds into the contest to go up 1-0 before Emmanuel senior Ryan Castle (Boxford, Mass.) evened the score just over a minute later at 1-1.
• NU junior Tyler Seidel (Centreville, Md.) helped the visitors regain the lead, briefly, at 2-1 on his team-leading 34^th goal of the campaign with 11:56 to play in the quarter before the Saints scoring barrage began minutes later.
• First year Cole Cloney (Medfield, Mass.) and Castle opened the flood gates, each scoring two goals over the next six minutes of play to give EC a 5-2 cushion with less than four to play in the first.
• Junior Thomas Quigley (Marblehead, Mass.) got into the scoring column with the Saints' sixth goal of the day before Castle closed out the quarter with another finish to give the hosts a 7-2 edge through one.
• Emmanuel dominated the second and third quarters, outscoring the Cadets by a combined 6-0 margin, including five before halftime. Cloney enjoyed a three-goal quarter in the second including a pair of man-up strikes while Castle and first year Samuel Yan (Cranston, R.I.) accounted for the other markers.
• After the break, first year Ryan Etzo (Bedford, N.H.) made it a 13-2 game with the only goal of the third quarter, finishing a feed from senior Derek DelVecchio (Saugus, Mass.).
• Senior Colin Dickinson (Barre, Vt.) capped the 13-goal run with a finish early in the fourth to bump the lead to 12 at 14-2 before Seidel ended the surge with his second of the game with 10:35 to play to move the score to 14-3.
• The Cadets went on a mini-surge, scoring three straight to get the deficit back to within single digits at 14-5 before Emmanuel closed the door with goals by junior Robert Favuzza (Saugus, Mass.) and Castle to account for the 16-5 final.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Castle finished the day with a game-high nine points on six goals and three assists to put him at 66 points on the year, tying the Emmanuel single-season points record set by Chris Curtis '16 in 2016.
• Quigley also made some history with a five point day on a goal and four assists, moving him to 67 career assists which also surpasses Curtis as Emmanuel's all-time assist leader.
• Cloney added five goals, marking the third time this year he's registered five scores for the Saints.
• Senior Randy Castle (Boxford, Mass.) improves to 13-3 on the year in goal, making 10 saves on the day to give him 211 on the year, a new EC single-season record.
• NU goalie Luke Boland (Tolland, Conn.) stopped 13 shots for the Cadets and wraps the year at 4-6 between the pipes.
• The Saints held the Cadets to 1-for-10 on man-up opportunities including a three-on-six player penalty kill during the third quarter while EC went 4-for-8 with the extra man.

UP NEXT

• The Saints move on to the GNAC Semifinals and will host No. 5 Dean College in the next round of the tournament on Tuesday, May 2 with the start time still to be determined.