SYRACUSE (April 1, 2017) – The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team traveled to Ted Grant Field on Saturday afternoon for a Northeast-10 Conference contest against no. 3 nationally-ranked Le Moyne College. The Dolphins bested the Ravens by a 10-4 score as FPU fell to 3-3 and 1-3 in league play while the Dolphins improved to 8-1 and 5-1 versus conference foes.

The nationally-ranked Dolphins recorded 46 shots as the Ravens could only muster 15 against their defensive unit. Le Moyne also held the advantage in groundballs and in the turnover department. Justin Kesselring and Brian Rogers paced the offensive attack with three goals each while Riley Larson chipped in a goal and an assist.

For Franklin Pierce, Ben Lassow (Mansfield, Conn.) racked up two goals and Sean Delea (Hampstead, N.H.) manufactured a goal and an assist.

Rogers scored the first goal of the game as he drove to the right of the crease and fired a running shot past Raven goalie Connor Wacksman (Guilderland, N.Y.). A few minutes later, Delea corralled a pass in front of the cage from teammate Jake Castorf (Holbrook, N.Y.) who was behind the net. Delea then buried a top shelf snipe to knot the score.

Riley Larson regained the lead for Le Moyne by diving towards the crease and sneaking the ball past Wacksman. Kesselring added his 20th marker of the year off a jumping feed Tom Koster. With 13 seconds left in the first period, Luke Tracy (Pelham, N.H.) brought the Ravens within one as he tallied his seventh goal of the campaign.

The second began with both teams swapping possessions and shot attempts until the Dolphins broke through eight minutes into the stanza on a Bailey Wilkinson score to bump the lead up to 4-2.

With under two minutes to go Raven defender Robert Meyers (Pompton Lakes, N.J.) forced a turnover, scooped up a ground ball and completed a clear attempt. The ball eventually found Ben Lassow's stick as he turned the corner and rifled a shot home to bring the deficit back to one as the game headed into the intermission with a 4-3 score in favor of Le Moyne.

In the third quarter, Larson connected with Kesselring on a behind the net, catch and shoot shot to increase the Dolphin advantage to 5-3 at the 13:55 mark. 40 seconds later, Rogers poured in his second goal of the game to give the hosts a 6-3 lead and then Matt Hutchings grew the lead to four at 7-3 with a gino.

The Ravens needed to stop the Dolphin momentum and Ben Lassow rose to the challenge with a bouncing goal which would count as their final goal of the game. The remaining 11 minutes of the third went scoreless and the Ravens trailed 7-4 after three.

In the fourth and final quarter, the hosts tallied three unanswered goals as Kesselring and Rogers tallied their third score of the game with Hutchings second gino sandwiched in-between to clinch the win for the Dolphins.

Wacksman stopped a season-best 15 shots in the setback while Jack Sweeney moved to 8-1 on the year with four saves in the Dolphin victory.  

The Ravens remain on the road this coming Wednesday when they travel to Assumption for a 4:00 p.m. NE10 duel.

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). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).