Men's Lacrosse Concludes 2022 Season With 14-7 Loss at Saint Rose

Albany, N.Y. (April 25, 2022) - In their final game of the 2022 regular season, the Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team battled against the Golden Knights of St. Rose College in a Tuesday afternoon conference contest. After a close battle through the early stages of the game, the Golden Knights used three unanswered goals in the second quarter to complicate matters for the Ravens, who ultimately fell by a final score of 14-7.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce finishes with a 6-7 record (3-7 NE10) to conclude the 2022 season, with St. Rose moving to 8-9 (3-7 NE10) overall.  

In the first quarter, the teams kept it even with balanced play. However, it wasn't until St. Rose Eddie Baker had the first goal of the game at 6:08. Pierce's Sean Daly (Kingston, Mass.) opened the scoring for the Ravens 31 seconds later, with the assist going to Caleb Ikkela (Onset, Mass.). Then, at the 10-minute mark, St. Rose went up 3 -1 on a tally from Cam Smith. Just under two minutes later, following a successful clear attempt by the Ravens, graduate midfielder Josh Dorr (Brunswick, Maine) followed up on his own missed shot and scored at 11:58, making it a one goal game at 3-2. In an attempt to take some wind out of the Ravens sails, Eddie Baker returned with a second goal with one second left on the clock.

The second quarter started off in similar fashion as the first, accelerating as time passed before the first goal eventually came from St. Rose three and a half minutes in, following a timeout by head coach Anthony Barone. Franklin Pierce responded quickly following a save in the defensive end, garnering a successful clear before Owen McCormack (Hampstead, N.H.) found the twine off an assist by Stephen Ell (Peabody, Mass.). However, St. Rose's Eddie Baker set out to extend the Golden Knight's lead with a pair of back-to-back goals at the 7:49 and 11:37 marks respectively. Baker would then add an assist on a goal from Cam Smith at 11:51 to grow their lead to 8-3.

Junior midfielder Sean Daly was able keep some momentum for Franklin Pierce with a goal at 12:55, cutting the Knights lead in half at 8-4. With 14 seconds remaining, however, Eddie Baker returned to complete his single quarter hat trick with his fifth of the game, providing the Golden Knights with a 9-4 cushion at the half.

After a quiet start to the second half, Saint Rose found the back of the net at the 8:43 mark from a shot by Cam Smith, his third goal of the contest. Shortly thereafter, Josh Dorr capitalized on a St. Rose turnover with his second of the contest with 4:40 left to play in the quarter. However, Cam Smith wasn't done for the Golden Knights, and answered with another goal just 20 seconds later to put the Knights up 11-5. The Ravens would enter the final quarter trailing 12-7 following goals from Nathaniel Girardin (Brunswick, Maine) and Owen McCormack to end the third.  

The fourth a slow, back and forth affair until the final three minutes of play saw the silence broken by Cam Smith, capitalizing off a feed from Eddie Baker with 2:53 left. Less than a minute later, the two would connect once more in reverse fashion, closing out the game 14-7 while holding the Ravens scoreless through the last frame.  

Franklin Pierce freshman goaltender Mike Masterpolo (Kingston, Mass.) made 16 saves on 41 shots in his seventh straight start between the pipes for the Ravens. Saint Rose starter Ryan Flemming turned aside 14 on 21 total shots faced in the win.