Anna Maria Falls to Norwich in GNAC Quarterfinals

NORTHFIELD, Vt.—Ten different players scored to lead the No. 1 Norwich University men's lacrosse team to a 19-6 win against the No.8 AMCATS of Anna Maria College in the quarterfinal of the 2013 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament. 

With the win, the Cadets win their tenth-straight and improve to 10-3 on the season, while AMCATS close out their season at 6-10. 

The top-seeded Cadets will face No. 5 Emmanuel on Thursday. Emmanuel upset No. 4 Saint Joseph's by a score of 9-8 to advance to the semifinal.

Ian Thomas (Barrington, R.I.) led Norwich with a team-best effort of four goals and two assists.  Seth Fuller (Wheaton, Ill.) contributed three goals and three assists, while Ian Mendoza (Mount Airy, Md.) added three goals and one assist. Arron Canarelli (New Hartford, N.Y.) added two goals and two assists. Six other Cadets also tallied goals in the win.

Jason Baker led the AMCATS with three goals and an assist.  Scott Henry scored twice, and Lucas Stralka recorded a goal and an assist.

Norwich scored six unanswered goals in the first quarter and tacked on another to start the second quarter before Anna Maria registered its first tally with 12:09 left to play in the first half.  Norwich added five more goals and Anna Maria tallied two as the Cadets held a 12-3 advantage at halftime.

The Cadets opened the second half with a five goal run.  The AMCATS outscored Norwich 3-2 in the fourth quarter, but Norwich walked away with the 19-6 win to advance to the conference semifinal.

Norwich goaltender Mark Paradiso (Westford, Mass.) recorded three saves in 45 minutes of action before giving way to Ryan Fecteau (Danvers, Mass.) who also tallied three saves. Anna Maria goaltender Joseph Morris registered 10 saves in the loss as the Cadets held advantages in shots-on –goal (29-12) and total shots (44-17).

Norwich face-off specialists Nate Fortezzo (Branford, Conn.), Andrew Bracy (Carthage, N.Y.) and Brett Sewing (Brattleboro, Vt.) combined to win 25 out of the 29 face-off attempts on the afternoon.  As a team, the Cadets rank third in Division III in team face-off winning percentage. 

Doug Delpha (Felts Mills, N.Y.) totaled a game-high eight ground balls for Norwich, while Chris Summers led Anna Maria with five.

Release courtesy of Norwich Sports Information.