WORCESTER, Mass. (April 28, 2021) – It was an upset win on the road for the Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team on Wednesday afternoon, as the Ravens wrapped up the regular season with an 11-9 win over No. 14 nationally ranked Assumption at Brian Kelly Stadium. Junior attack Savannah Ernst (American Fork, Utah) scored five goals, including the 100^th of her career, while senior Casey Butera (West Milford, N.J.) made a career-high 16 saves in net to lead the Ravens to the Northeast-10 Conference victory.

With the win, Franklin Pierce finishes the regular season at 6-2 (6-2 NE10), while Assumption drops to 7-3 (7-3 NE10). The victory allowed the Ravens to leapfrog the Greyhounds in the standings, before both teams begin play in the NE10 Championship with the quarterfinal round on Friday. Franklin Pierce is the third seed in the Northeast Division and will host sixth-seeded Saint Michael's at 4 p.m.

Ernst got the scoring started early and gave the Ravens a 1-0 lead just 76 seconds into the game, off an assist from sophomore Gabby Oswald (Nedrow, N.Y.). Junior Jill Good followed with two straight for Assumption to give the Greyhounds the lead. Junior Kaitlyn Daly (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) then picked up her first of three tallies in the game in response, to level the game at 2-2.

Good scored her third of the game with 12 minutes to go in the half to give the Greyhounds a 3-2 lead, but Franklin Pierce would answer with a four-goal run. Senior Caroline Lounsbury (Franklin, Mass.) started things with an assist from junior Megyn Ayotte (Guilford, Vt.), who then added a goal of her own on a free-position shot. Daly and Ernst added the second two goals of the run to give the Ravens a 6-3 lead.

Assumption would score one more goal in the first half with 3:24 to go. Sophomore Isabella Jackson was the recipient of a pass from fellow sophomore Claire Desilva to bring the Greyhounds back within two headed for the second half.

The Ravens started the second stanza with another 4-0 run. Ernst scored her third goal of the game 20 seconds into the half, followed by Daly with her third of the day as well. Junior Morgan Baxendale (Orchard Park, N.Y.) assisted on both, and then added her only goal of a five-point day (1-4-5). Ernst added another 6:26 into the half to make the lead 10-4 for the Ravens.

Assumption scored five of the game's final six goals over the final 24 minutes to make things interesting, but the hole proved too deep. The late comeback was not enough for the Greyhounds, and a late insurance marker from Ernst helped the Ravens preserve the two-goal victory.

Ernst (5-0-5), Baxendale (1-4-5), Daly (3-0-3) and Oswald (0-3-3) all had at least three points on the day for the Ravens, and Daly led all players with seven drawn controls. Sophomore Amelia D'Urso (Katonah, N.Y.) led the defense with four ground balls, while junior Jacklyn Keane (Framingham, Mass.) added three ground balls and caused a game-high three turnovers.

Assumption got three goals from Good, three points from sophomore Jenna Joseph (1-2-3) and a pair of goals from senior Allison Foley, but no other Greyhound had multiple points. Junior Lauren Jakobs matched D'Urso's four ground balls, while senior Grace McDermott had the only two caused turnovers of the day for Assumption.

Butera (2-1) had a career day in the Franklin Pierce crease, as she stopped 16 of 25 shots to backstop the Ravens to the victory. Her counterpart, junior Allie Collins (6-3) worked the crease for the Greyhounds and made 11 saves on 22 shots in the loss.