Eddie Noonan with game-high 8 shots for the Ravens

WALTHAM, Mass. (April 19, 2014) – Junior midfielder Erik Kelly (Tewksbury, Mass.) threw in two goals to spark a furious second-half rally by the Franklin Pierce University men’s lacrosse team on Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough as Bentley hung on for a 6-3 win in Waltham, Mass.

The Ravens fell to 6-6 overall and 4-6 in the Northeast-10, while the Falcons improved to 7-5 and 7-3 in league play.

Both of Kelly’s markers came in the third quarter after the Ravens had fallen behind 5-1. His first tally came at the 7:02 mark, and his second was a man-up goal with 3:06 left in the frame. His two goals were part of a 16-11 edge in shots for Franklin Pierce in the final 30 minutes.

Despite getting it to within a pair of goals, Franklin Pierce could not dump in any more in the fourth quarter. While the Ravens came up empty, Bobby Hinds was able to put it out of reach with 4:51 to go with a goal for the Falcons.

Franklin Pierce finished the game with a 31-27 lead in shots, including a game-high eight from junior Eddie Noonan (Foxboro, Mass.). Hinds had seven attempts to lead Bentley, while his two goals also set the team pace during the evening.

His first goal of the game came with 5:24 remaining in the opening quarter to answer Alex Connolly’s (West Newbury, Mass.) opening marker, and touch off a string of five-straight goals for the Falcons.

Cutler Dimond followed Hinds with a goal 50 seconds later, and Brendan Murphy tallied the only goal of the second quarter. Matt Brigham scored less than 90 seconds into the third, and Dimond rallied three minutes later with a goal to put Bentley up by four.

Josh Baker made 13 saves in goal to backstop the Falcons to victory, while his counterpart, Franklin Pierce’s Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.), turned aside seven despite suffering the setback.

Franklin Pierce has a midweek bye, but will return to action next Friday when the Ravens close out the regular season by playing host to Pace at 7 p.m. on Sodexo Field in Rindge.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s lacrosse, please visit the team’s page at http://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 http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)