SYRACUSE, N.Y. (4/22/23) – The Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse team could not climb out of a 6-0 first quarter hole against top-ranked Le Moyne College on Saturday afternoon, resulting in a 22-7 loss to the Dolphins at Ted Grant Field.

Franklin Pierce slides to 4-9 (1-8 NE10) overall on the season, while Le Moyne continues to sit atop the national rankings with a new 13-0 (9-0 NE10) mark on the season.

Le Moyne scored six in a row in the opening 15 minutes of play, lining up behind a pair of goals from graduate Sam Lambert and junior Joey Pezzimenti in the first frame. The Dolphins would then extend their advantage to 9-0 with the first three goals of the second quarter, with Pezzimenti completing the hat-trick. Then, at the 7:40 mark of the period, graduate Joe Nutting (Amherst, N.H.) finally put the Ravens on the board with his 31^st goal of the season, with the assist going to senior Caleb Ikkela (Onset, Mass.). Over the course of the final six minutes of the half, the host Dolphins would pile on another four strikes to place the Ravens at a 13-1 disadvantage entering the second half.

To open the third quarter, the Ravens wasted no time in trying to find their spark again. Senior Sean Daly (Kingston, Mass.) would kick-off the second half scoring just 2:01 in with his 20^th goal of the season, unassisted. However, the Dolphins would extinguish the early flame with another four unanswered goals, hoisting their lead up to 17-2. In an effort to salvage some of the momentum, however, the Ravens ended the quarter on a high note as Joe Nutting and Caleb Ikkela would each score their second goals of the game 24-seconds apart, sending Pierce into the fourth trailing 17-4.

Through the first five minutes of the final period, the two teams would trade quick 2-0 runs with freshman midfielder Connor Henchey (Bellingham, Mass.) scoring his first collegiate goal, unassisted. Very shortly after, senior Eric Bua Jr. (Revere, Mass.) would bring the score to 19-6 in favor of the Dolphins with his 9^th goal of the year, assisted by Connor McCormack (Hampstead, N.H.).

Le Moyne would still add another three goals before the final horn, while Sean Daly scored his second of the game to bring the action to a close with the 22-7 final score.

Sophomore goalkeeper Mike Masterpolo (Kingston, Mass.) took the loss as the Raven starter after making 16 saves on 38 Le Moyne shots, moving to 4-7 on the season. Three different goalies saw time for the Dolphins, with Matt Vavonese earning the win (13-0).

Men's Lacrosse has one more to go on the 2023 spring season, which will be this coming Tuesday, April 25^th versus The College of Saint Rose (5-10, 3-5 NE10) at 4:00 p.m. from Sodexo Field.