Men's Lacrosse Concludes Season at Rivier During GNAC Semifinals

NASHUA, N.H. – The South Division second-seeded University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team saw its 2025 season come to a close in heartbreaking fashion, dropping a hard-fought contest against North Division top-seeded Rivier University (Rivier), 10-9, during the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals Tuesday night at Joanne Merril Field in Nashua, N.H. With the result, the Blue Jays ended their 2025 campaign 9-8 overall, while the Raiders improved to 15-1 overall and advanced to Saturday's GNAC Championship for the first time in program history.

KEY MOMENTS

• Rivier would grab the early lead, scoring at the 11:30 mark to take a 1-0 edge.
• USJ responded a minute later, as graduate student attack Kevin Carr (West Hartford, Conn.) converted a man-up chance, tying the game at 1-1 with 10:23 on the clock.
• The Blue Jays took full advantage of another man-up opportunity later in the quarter, as graduate student attack Ryan Paltauf (Southbury, Conn.) picked out classmate Evan Baden (Burlington, Conn.) who rifled a shot into the net, establishing a 2-1 USJ lead at the 7:30 mark.
• The USJ defense would utilize stellar play to maintain the lead, as netminder Trey McCann (Simsbury, Conn.) produced numerous fine saves to keep the gap at 2-1 entering the second.
• However, Rivier took full advantage of a USJ two-minute locked-in penalty, scoring two goals to retake the lead, 3-2, with 13:39 left in the half.
• D'Amato responded with his second goal of the game at the 10:19 mark, before senior midfielder Christian Decker (Bristol, Conn.) gave the Blue Jays the lead, 4-3, with a strike at the 4:15 mark.
• The Raiders fired right back though, closing the half by scoring two unanswered goals to hold a slim 5-4 edge entering the halftime break.
• After a hard-fought start to the third quarter, Rivier extended the gap to 6-4 with a goal at the 3:55 mark.
• Senior midfielder Luke von Borstel (Massena, N.Y.) won the ensuing face-off and rushed down the field before firing a shot into the net, cutting the gap to 6-5.
• However, the Raiders struck again to close out the third, holding a 7-5 edge entering the fourth.
• Decker would immediately cut the gap to one, 7-6, after converting a man-up goal at the 14:45 mark.
• However, Rivier would rattle off three straight goals, furthering the disadvantage to 10-6, with 5:44 left to play.
• USJ would try and mount a comeback though, as Baden would find the back of the net at the 3:48 mark, closing the score to 10-7.
• D'Amato continued the comeback attempt, scoring at the 2:34 mark to cut the deficit to 10-8.
• USJ continued to fight, as sophomore midfielder Matthew Wurszt (Wilbraham, Mass.) would spin past the Rivier defense before slotting the ball into the net, closing the score to 10-9 with 30 seconds left to play.
• Von Borstel would win the ensuing faceoff again, but the Blue Jays could not test the Rivier goalkeeper in the closing seconds, as Rivier escaped with the victory, 10-9.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Paltauf and D'Amato paced the team with three points each.
• Paltauf dished out a team-high three assists.
• Decker, Baden and D'Amato all scored two goals each.
• Sophomore defender Vinny Pusateri III (Fitchburg, Mass.) corralled a team-high five ground balls.
• Graduate student defenseman CJ Denson (West Hartford, Conn.) caused three turnovers to pace the team.
• McCann played all 60 minutes in the cage, recording 11 saves.

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