Luke McDermott scores four times on only four shots taken

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. (April 27, 2013) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team shook off a two-goal deficit late in the third quarter and rallied to score five of the final six goals to close out its 2013 season with a satisfying 12-10 win at Pace in Pleasantville, N.Y. on Saturday.

The Ravens closed out their season with a 5-8 overall record and a 4-7 mark in the Northeast-10. The win total is tied for the second highest in program history for a single season, as the 2010 squad also posted five victories in Rick Senatore's first year at the helm.  Franklin Pierce's 2013 senior class leaves as the all-time winningest group in program history as it tasted victory 20 times over four seasons. Prior to the class' arrival in 2010, the program had won just 17 times total from 1998-2009.

"I'm really happy for all these guys," head coach Rick Senatore said. "These guys have been through a lot this year with injuries and some tough breaks in games and practice, but they just kept battling the entire time. This program can learn a lot from this win and we have the guys who will put it to good use preparing for next season."

Freshman Luke McDermott (New Milford, Conn.) and junior Bryan Bourque (Goffstown, N.H.) had outstanding offensive days for the Ravens. McDermott scored four times and Bourque chucked in three goals, including a tally with 1:16 left in the third quarter to spark Franklin Pierce's comeback from a 9-7 deficit. 

Bourque, who was one of the players pressed into a more significant role this year due to those injuries and responded quite nicely, was questionable for Saturday's game as he missed some time during the week nursing an injury of his own. After Pace knotted the score at 10-all midway through the fourth quarter, Bourque stepped up once again with a nice drive to the net and depositing a shot into the back of goal to put the Ravens on top for good at 11-10 with 3:28 remaining.

McDermott scored a pair of markers in the fourth quarter, including his first one three-and-a-half minutes into the frame to tie it at 9-9, and then dumping in an insurance tally with 1:18 remaining to put Franklin Pierce up by two. McDermott's four tallies were a season-high and snapped a three-game scoreless drought. He also logged a perfect shooting percentage by scoring four times on just four shots taken.

The Ravens rang up 36 shots, including getting a team-high nine from sophomore Erik Kelly (Tewksbury, Mass.), who scored the Ravens' other goal of the fourth quarter.

Pace totaled 48 shots and put 30 on net, but Franklin Pierce sophomore goalie Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.) was more than up to the challenge of backstopping his team to victory by making 20 saves to run his record to 5-8 on the year. His 20 stops marked the second-straight game and the fourth time this season he made at least 20 saves. Denman made eight saves in the third quarter to keep the Setters from running away with the game and allowing the Ravens' offense to gain its footing to spark the closing surge. He also stopped five shots in the final period.

Pace switched goalies with a little more than 23 minutes remaining in the game and Franklin Pierce made the Setters pay for the substitution by lighting up Conor Brophy with six goals on 11 shots faced to tag him with the loss.

The Ravens also went 3-for-5 in man-up opportunities during the game as they were one of the top teams in the nation in that category all season long. Franklin Pierce ranked among the league and national leaders with 28 man-advantage goals on 73 opportunities for a 38.4 percent success rate. Freshman Casey Burnett (Windham, N.H.) and sophomore Kevin Dargin (Littleton, Mass.) each threw in a man-up marker in the first half, while McDermott added one in the third quarter.

The teams swapped goals in the first half, but Pace got a late tally from Matt Gebhart in the closing seconds of the second quarter to tie it at 5-5 and gave the Setters momentm to go on top in the third quarter. Gebhart scored twice, while William Scioscia netted a game-high tying four goals.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)