Ikkela Scores Career-Best Five Goals, Men's Lacrosse Fends Off AIC for a 10-8 Win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Franklin Pierce (4-3, 1-2) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
|
American International (2-6, 0-3) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (3/28/23) – The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team picked up their first in-conference victory of 2023 on Tuesday afternoon, defeating American International College (AIC) on the road by a 10-8 score at Abdow Field.
With the win, the Ravens halt a two-game skid and improve to 4-3 (1-2 NE10) overall on the spring. The Yellowjackets have now dropped five straight, and fall to 2-6 (0-3 NE10) on the season.
AIC got on the board first as graduate Rusty Stone found the back of the net at the 10:14 mark. Three minutes later, Pierce responded with the equalizer from senior attacker Caleb Ikkela (Onset, Mass.), who would then go on to score three in total through the first quarter to help Pierce take a 3-2 lead. To end the quarter, senior Sean Daly (Kingston, Mass.) capitalized on a man-up opportunity with his sixth of the season, and then connected with graduate Joe Nutting (Amherst, N.H.) with 00:03 left on the clock to bring the Ravens into the second leading 5-2.
In the second stanza, the Ravens outscored the hosts by a 4-3 margin which included strikes by Eric Bua Jr. (Revere, Mass.), Nathaniel Girardin (Brunswick, Maine), Connor Rooney (Wilmington, Mass.) and Caleb Ikkela to bring the game up to a 9-5 score at the half.
The entire second half only featured four combined goals between both teams, with the lone Raven tally belonging to Ikkela for his career-best fifth goal of the contest. AIC's Rusty Stone would also add on another pair of goals through the final 30 minutes of play, with the odd goal out going to freshman Dylan Seymour for the Yellowjackets.
Sophomore Mike Masterpolo (Kingston, Mass.) turned aside 9-of-17 shots faced to claim his fourth win of the season (4-2), while Hayden Gaudette took the loss (2-6) for AIC after stopping 17-of-27 shots faced. In total, the Ravens outshot the Yellowjackets 42-30 and finished the afternoon 2-for-3 on man-up chances.
The Pierce men's lacrosse team will return to action on Wednesday, April 5th when they host in-state rival No. 11 Saint Anselm College at Sodexo Field for a 4:00 p.m. faceoff.