Simpson’s Seven Spearheads AMCATS Win

Paxton, Mass. – Senior attack Blake Simpson (Warwick, RI) scored a game high 7 points, including 5 goals to lead the Anna Maria men's lacrosse team to a 19-6 Great Northeast Athletic Conference win over visiting Rivier College tonight on AMCAT field. With the win Anna Maria improves to the .500 mark in both conference and overall record (6-6, 3-3 GNAC) while Rivier drops to 4-6, 1-4 GNAC).

Along with Simpson's big night senior Mike Saulnier (Wrentham, Mass.) added 6 points (3G, 3A) and both Joshua Smith (Mendon, Mass.) and Brad Peterson (North Kingstown, RI) contributed 4 points (2G, 2A). Net minder Andrew Ellis (Fitchburg, Mass.) recorded 5 saves for his sixth win of the season.

Pacing the Raiders was freshman Marc Arricale (Billerica, Mass.) with 3 goals and 2 assists along with Danny Hooper (Wakefield, Mass.) and Shawn Donovan (Tewksbury, Mass.) who each added a goal and an assist. Junior Chris Benoit (Blackstone, Mass.) made 16 saves in the loss.

Anna Maria held Rivier scoreless in the first period en route to a 9-0 lead. Chris Summers (Long Valley, NJ) opened up the AMC scoring with back-to-back unassisted goals. Peterson and Simpson each added a pair of goals while Saulnier and freshman Josh Smith (Mendon, Mass.) added singles. Freshman Connor Fabrycki (Sturbridge, Mass.) picked up his first collegiate goal with 1:28 remaining in the first period.

Rivier scored their first goal of the game next at 11:12 of the 2^nd period; Arricle converted a Danny Hooper pass for the goal. The Raiders could only muster one more goal of the period, the AMCATS held a 13-2 lead at half.

Anna Maria continued their dominance in the second half outscoring the Raiders 6-4 over the final 24 minutes. First-year player Allan "Nalla" Mugisha (Burlington, MA) also scored his first collegiate goal with 7:01 remaining in the game.

Anna Maria returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Emmanuel College for a GNAC match-up at 12:00pm