RINDGE, N.H. (4/15/23) - The Franklin Pierce Men's Lacrosse team played their hearts out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon for Senior Day at Sodexo Field, competing with the No. 2 Adelphi University Panthers in a hard-fought, 14-8 loss in Northeast-10 Conference play. 

With the loss the Ravens dropped to 4-7 (1-6 NE-10) on the season. Adelphi, meanwhile continue their undefeated streak and improves to 13-0 (8-0 NE-10) on the year.  

The first quarter was highly competitive with a balanced effort from both teams. Adelphi struck first via a goal from Joseph Duchnowski that was unassisted. From there, the Ravens answered by scoring two goals of their own, courtesy of senior attacker Owen McCormack (Hampstead, N.H.) and sophomore midfielder Jackson Hale (Kensington, N.H.), granting Pierce its first lead of the game, 2-1. From there, both teams went go on scoring runs, with the Panthers eventually working their way back ahead on two consecutive strikes. Then, the Ravens would strike back with a three-goal run, with senior midfielder Sean Daly (Kingston, Mass.) cashing in twice and fellow senior Caleb Ikkela (Onset, Mass.) also finding the back of the net. Joseph Duchnowski would then put the Panthers within one at the conclusion of the first frame. 

The second quarter was low scoring, but Adelphi came out on top after outscoring the hosts 3-1. The lone Raven strike would come off a somewhat accidental shot by senior midfielder Nathaniel Girardin (Brunswick, Maine), which found its way through Panther goalkeeper Dylan Renner. Girardin's goal would make the score 7-6 in favor of Adelphi at halftime. 

By the third quarter, the Panthers had begun to find their groove and pulled away from the Ravens, scoring five goals, three of which came from the stick of Logan Tucker to bring his team-leading totals to 34 this season. Caleb Ikkela would also score his second of the afternoon for the Raven's only goal of the third quarter.

With Pierce trailing 12-7, the fourth quarter was another low-scoring stanza for both sides. Adelphi would strike two more times, but would see Pierce score once more thanks to Jackson Hale with the Ravens a man-up, finalizing the score at 14-8 by the final horn.

This game was also a goalkeeper showdown between Dylan Renner of the Panthers and sophomore Mike Masterpolo (Kingston, Mass.) of the Ravens. Masterpolo would make 13 saves off a staggering 52 opponent shots, 27 of which were on goal, with many of those saves showcasing the athleticism of the sophomore goalkeeper. Masterpolo drops to 4-6 following the loss, while Dylan Renner moves to 13-0 on the season, stopping 9-of-17 shots faced.  

Men's Lacrosse will go on the road for their next two contests, with their next bout coming up against Northeast-10, Granite State rival Southern New Hampshire University in Hooksett, New Hampshire on Wednesday, April 19^th at 4:00 p.m.