RINDGE, N.H. (April 30, 2021) -- It was a tale of two halves on Friday afternoon at Sodexo Field, in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship. The Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team did enough in a strong first half to ensure the team would not be bitten by a lackluster second half. The Ravens used a seven-goal afternoon from junior Savannah Ernst (American Fork, Utah) to pick up the program's first-ever postseason victory, 15-7, over visiting Saint Michael's.

With the win, Franklin Pierce, the Northeast Division's third seed, improves to 7-2 and advances to Monday's divisional semifinal. The Ravens will travel to take on second-seeded Saint Anselm at 7 p.m. With the loss, sixth-seeded Saint Michael's sees its season draw to a close at 0-10.

The Ravens took care of things in the first half on Friday, as they surrendered the first goal, to junior Jordy Fenton on a free-position, but then scored the next eight on the way to a 10-2 halftime lead. Ernst scored six of her seven goals in the eight-goal run, which spanned 19:53, while junior Megyn Ayotte (Guilford, Vt.) netted a hat trick and senior Caroline Lounsbury (Franklin, Mass.) dished out four assists. After junior Kelsey Bush got one back for Saint Michael's, junior Kaitlyn Daly (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) set up fellow junior Morgan Baxendale (Orchard Park, N.Y.) with 2:18 remaining to cap Franklin Pierce's 10-goal stanza.

The second half played much more evenly, with each side scoring five times as the Ravens went on to the 15-7 victory. Fenton added two more for Saint Michael's in the second half, while senior Ashley Turner put home a pair. Ayotte notched her fourth goal of the day for the Ravens, while Ernst finished off her seven-goal day.

For Franklin Pierce, Ernst (7-0-7), Ayotte (4-0-4) and Lounsbury (0-4-4) led the way, while Baxendale scored twice as well. Sophomore Amelia D'Urso (Katonah, N.Y.) caused a pair of turnovers, while Daly and Ernst matched each other with four draw controls.

Saint Michael's got three goals from Fenton and two from Turner, while senior Kaitlyn Waystack added a goal and an assist. Senior Emma Coleman led all players with four caused turnovers and senior goalkeeper Lucy Chin collected a game-best five ground balls. Junior Jane Leys led the way in the draw-control department, with five.

Senior Casey Butera (West Milford, N.J.) minded the net for Franklin Pierce and stopped seven of 14 shots to pick up the win (3-1). Chin (0-9) made 10 saves against 25 shots in the loss for Saint Michael's.