NASHUA, N.H. – May 1, 2024 – The South Division second seed Dean College men's lacrosse team earned a hard fought 13-11 road victory at North Division top seed Rivier in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinals Wednesday evening.

For the second game in a row, the Bulldogs avenged a regular season loss to their postseason opponent. Rivier defeated Dean 13-8 in late March in Nashua.

The Bulldogs (13-4) push their win streak to six in a row and will make Dean's first appearance in a GNAC title game when the team travels to Saint Joseph (Conn.), the top seed of the South Division, for the GNAC Championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Blue Jays earned a spot in the title game with a 7-6 victory over Lasell in today's other semifinal game. Rivier falls to 11-7.

Dean senior Alec Speirs (Old Lyme, Conn.) had four goals and an assist as the game's leading goal scorer. Senior Diego Alvarez-Segee (Saugus, Mass.) posted a game best seven points on three goals and four assists to reach 100 points for the season. First-year Manny Alvarez-Segee (Saugus, Mass.) contributed two goals and an assist. Four other Bulldogs had a goal apiece. Senior Tyler Benedetto (Jupiter, Fla.) came up clutch at the faceoff dot by winning 19-of-26. He added 12 ground balls.

Senior Michael Ference (Salem, N.H.) led Rivier with three goals and an assist. Senior Connor Eck (Franklin, Mass.), junior Michael Zapatka (Newington, Conn.) and graduate Jeffrey Potter (North Bennington, Vt.) each finished with two goals.

Dean first-year Elijah Beland (Augusta, Maine) made 12 saves in the win, while senior Sawyer Gagnon (Gorham, Maine) had 10 stops for the Raiders.

The teams traded the first two goals of the game, before Rivier rattled off the next three with two coming from Eck for a 4-1 advantage. Speirs halted the run to trim the deficit to 4-2 with less than six minutes to go in the quarter. Zapatka gave the Raiders a 3-goal lead less than a minute later. The Bulldogs finished the frame strong with the Alvarez-Segee brothers making a big impact. Diego had two goals and an assist, while Manny had a goal and an assist in the final 3:15 to pull Dean even at 5-5 after 15 minutes.

The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game, nearly seven minutes into the second quarter, when Diego set up junior Jaden Wise (Belchertown, Mass.) for his first tally of the contest. Speirs then put Dean in front by a deuce exactly one minute later. Rivier put an end to the 5-goal run by Dean with a score from senior Coby Mercier (Boscawen, N.H.). Dean scored the final goal of the half from junior Jason Richard (Holden, Mass.) for an 8-6 Bulldogs lead at the break.

The Raiders tied the game with two quick goals, including a man-up tally from Potter, 2:36 into the third quarter. Rivier took its first lead since 5-2 when Ference notched his second goal of the game. Trailing 9-8, the Bulldogs once again finished strong with three consecutive goals to close the frame for an 11-9 advantage.

Less than five minutes into the final quarter, Ference found the back of the net to cut the Dean lead to 11-10. Speirs answered with his hat trick goal to put Dean back in front by a pair. Rivier came within a goal once again with less than six minutes to play. The Bulldogs held a lot of possession down the stretch and added an insurance goal with 55 seconds to play off the stick of Speirs.