CALDWELL, N.J. (3/4/23) - The Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse team earned a 13-7 road victory over Caldwell University in non-conference play on Saturday afternoon, rallying behind a seven-goal performance on the field by graduate attacker Joe Nutting (Amherst, N.H.).  

The Ravens are now 3-1 this season, and have posted consecutive wins while outscoring opponents 29-14. The Cougars, with the home loss, are now 1-2 overall on the season.  

Caldwell would be the first ones to strike gold in the contest, but the Ravens would not wait long to climb into the lead for good. At 8:34, just over two minutes after the Cougar's opening goal, senior Nathaniel Girardin (Brunswick, Maine) put Pierce on the board with a shot from out high, which would then be followed with Nutting's first of the game at 7:19 to make it 2-1 Ravens. With five minutes left to play, and the score tied at 2-2, Pierce would close out the half with goals from seniors Sean Daly (Kingston, Mass.) and Owen McCormack (Hampstead, N.H.) to carry a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.

In the second stanza, it was not only all Franklin Pierce, but all number 23 in crimson. In total, Joe Nutting would score five of the Ravens six goals in the period, with the odd-one out belonging to Girardin for his second of the game, boosting Pierce to a 10-3 advantage out of the first half.

The third quarter was an evenly split between the Ravens and Cougars, but the Raven lead would be strong enough to hold off the hosts from dealing any real damage. To open the frame, Sean Daly would double-down for his second goal of the afternoon, unassisted, before Joe Nutting would finish his dominant day with his seventh of the game. When all was said and done, the Ravens would still be in command by a 12-5 moving into the fourth.

For the only time on the afternoon, Caldwell would manage to outscore the Ravens in the final period by a 2-1 score, but would not show any signs of a potential comeback. Senior defender Eric Bua Jr. (Revere, Mass.) would score the final goal of the game for Pierce, extending his goal streak to three games with his fourth of the season.

In between the posts, sophomore Mike Masterpolo (Kingston, Mass.) improved to 3-1 on the season after making 15 saves on 22 total shots faced. On the other end of the field, Tim Livingston took the loss for the Cougars with 15 saves on 27 shots faced, before receiving relief from Nicholas Mele who surrendered one goal on one shot seen.

Men's lacrosse will open Northeast-10 Conference competition with a road matchup at Assumption University on Saturday, March 18^th with faceoff at 1:00 p.m.