Stille, Weber combine for 10 goals

MANCHESTER, N.H. (April 10, 2012) – Junior midfielder Courtney Weber (Centerport, N.Y.) scored a career-best eight points on six goals and two assists on Tuesday night, but the Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team was defeated on the road, 19-15, by Southern New Hampshire in Northeast-10 Conference play at Larkin Field. Sophomore attacker Ellie Morin led SNHU with eight points as well, also on six goals and two assists.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 5-5 (3-3 Northeast-10), while Southern New Hampshire improves to 3-8 (2-6 Northeast-10).

Southern New Hampshire knocked the Ravens back on their heels early, claiming a five-goal lead over the opening 15 minutes. After Weber opened the scoring with a free-position conversion, SNHU ran off five straight goals and seven of the next eight to jump to a 7-2 lead on senior attacker Sara Halbich's free-position goal with 15:12 to play in the first half. Halbich had a goal and an assist on the 7-1 run, while senior midfielder Emily Mongeau scored three times.

Franklin Pierce would answer with a quick 4-1 spurt of its own that included two goals by junior attacker Ashley Lamagdeleine (Westfield, Mass.) and a goal and an assist from senior midfielder Mary Kate Stille (North Quincy, Mass.) to close the gap to 8-6. Freshman midfielder Ambra Maymon fired the final salvo of the first period with 56 seconds remaining to stake the Penmen to a 9-6 lead heading into the intermission.

After halftime, Franklin Pierce scored three of the first four goals in the second half, as well as five of the first eight, to close the gap to one goal on three separate occasions. Junior midfielder Lindsey Leach (Hamden, Conn.) put away a feed from Weber 4:05 into the second half to cut the lead to 9-8, while Stille finished a pass from senior defender Kim Jaksina (Townsend, Mass.) at the 8:07 mark to bring the Ravens within one again at 10-9. However, each time, Morin, who scored four of her six goals in the second half, would stop the bleeding for the Penmen.

With SNHU holding 12-9 lead with 20:51 to play, Franklin Pierce would make what would prove to be its final push of the game. Stille scored an unassisted tally with 19:27 remaining, and Weber followed just 28 seconds later, with her team-leading 26th goal of the season, as the Ravens trimmed the lead to 12-11 with 18:59 to play. But, Morin would respond just over a minute later with two goals within 51 seconds of each other, and Mongeau made it three straight to open up a four-goal lead for the Penmen with 15:55 to play, at 15-11. Franklin Pierce could not pull closer than two goals behind over the remainder of the contest.

After Weber for Franklin Pierce, Stille collected five points on four goals and an assist, while Lamagdeleine and senior attacker Brianna Nash (Oceanside, N.Y.) netted two goals each. Defensively, senior defender Kristen Norton (Sandown, N.H.) picked up five ground balls, while Jaksina led the team with three caused turnovers.

For SNHU, Mongeau added six points on five goals and an assist to support Morin's 6-2-1 effort. Halbich contributed two goals and one assist for three points as the only other SNHU player with more than two points. On the other side of the ball, Mongeau led the team with four ground balls and three caused turnovers, and also led all players by collecting eight draw controls.

Senior goalkeeper Jillian Bolduc (Atkinson, N.H.) made 19 saves against 38 shots on her goal and suffered the loss (5-4) in front of the net for Franklin Pierce. Freshman Kellie Renk stopped 10 of the 25 shots sent her way to earn the win (3-8) between the pipes for SNHU.

Southern New Hampshire held a 50-27 advantage in shot attempts and a 25-11 edge in draw controls in the game, while each team picked up 21 ground balls. Franklin Pierce was successful on 14 of its 22 clear attempts (63.6%) and went 3-for-6 on free-position shots (50%). SNHU went 11-for-15 on clear attempts (73.3%) and 5-for-15 on free-position opportunities (33.3%). The two teams combined to collect 10 yellow cards in the game, with five given to each team.

The Ravens returns to the field on Thursday, April 12, when they travel to New Haven for a Northeast-10 Conference contest. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Kayo Field in West Haven, Conn. Franklin Pierce next plays at home on Saturday, April 21 against Le Moyne at 11 a.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics).