RINDGE N.H. (April 28, 2021) – The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team used a pair of five-point performances from freshman midfielder Conor Rooney (Wilmington, Mass.) and senior attack Mike Alibrandi (Holliston, Mass.) as the Ravens beat the College of Saint Rose 13-8 in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship – First Round Wednesday afternoon at Sodexo Field.

With the victory, the Crimson and Gray (5-6) advance to the NE10 Quarterfinals and have a game on the road with no. 1 nationally-ranked Le Moyne College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The NE10 Tournament win was the Ravens first since 2015, six years ago to the date when they defeated Assumption University 9-5 at home on Sodexo Field. The Golden Knights season ends at 1-8.

Rooney scored five goals in the game off eight total shot attempts with three consecutive scores coming in the third quarter while Alibrandi's five assists doubled his season total from five to ten and he set the single-game program record for most assists in a single game.

Junior attack Patrick Mulhern (Pembroke, Mass.) tallied two goals and one assist. Senior midfielder Josh Dorr (Brunswick, Maine) chipped in two goals himself. Freshman goalkeeper James Heitmiller (Nashua, N.H.) made a career-high 18 saves to pick up his fifth win of the season.

For Saint Rose, midfielder John Loughlin put home three goals. Ryan Fleming took the loss in net (1-7) stopping nine shots in the cage.

The Ravens cracked the scoring column at the 8:20 mark as Rooney corralled a pass in the slot, made a move to the net, and dropped the ball just under the goalie's stick into the bottom corner of the net. Saint Rose tied it back up using a Jack Pemrick angle shot with 4:11 left in to go in the first quarter.

Franklin Pierce racked up the next four goals including an Alibrandi to Rooney connection when Alibrandi found Rooney waiting on the side of the net for the low man-advantage goal making it a 5-1 Raven lead with 10:04 left until the intermission. Alibrandi assisted on Mulhern's first goal of the contest to give the Ravens their biggest edge in the early going at 6-2. Jordyn Marchiano dropped home his first of the game as the Golden Knights trailed 6-3 at halftime.

Saint Rose got hot in a hurry in the beginning stages of the third quarter to even the contest at 6-6. Jack Pemrick carried over the end of the second momentum banging in a man-advantage goal. Loughlin tied the game himself with back-to-back goals coming two minutes apart as the game was 6-6 with 12:11 left in the third.

On the ensuing face-off, sophomore Aidan Geary (Pembroke, Mass.) tilted the game in the Ravens favor when he won the face-off, picked up the groundball, and streaked down the left side feet from the cage then ripped a one-timer into the net for his first career collegiate goal.

Geary's face-off goal was the spark plug of six straight goals as the Ravens began to pull away. Following the Geary score, Rooney went to work himself stringing together three consecutive markers to expand the Raven lead to 10-6. Alibrandi had a hand in the next two goals dishing off the ball to open teammates to double up Saint Rose 12-6. Alibrandi assisted on the last Pierce goal of the game to complete the Raven win.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). 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://fpuravens.com/store). You can also follow the men's lacrosse team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPUMLacrosse) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpumlacrosse).