RINDGE, N.H. (3/9/23) - The Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team played in its second Northeast-10 Conference contest of the 2023 season on Thursday versus Bentley University, but it was a game the Ravens would like to forget as they took a 21-9 loss at Sodexo Field.

With the loss, Pierce falls to 1-3 (0-2 NE10) on the season and has lost two straight, while Bentley improves to 3-1 (3-0 NE10) with their third consecutive victory.  

Pierce would run into some early problems as Bentley tallied nine of the game's first eleven goals in the first half. However, it would be the Ravens that would open the scoring with 11:53 left of the first quarter, with senior Gabrielle Oswald (Nedrow, N.Y.) scoring her fifth of the season with the help of fellow senior Katelyn Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.). In the second quarter, Hadden would also find the back of the net with 10^th goal on the year, but the unassisted tally would come as the final goal of the half from Pierce.

In the third quarter, the Raven offense would begin to perk up. After Bentley opened the scoring to go up 10-2, junior attacker Olivia Delonais (North Andover, Mass.) would answer just over 30 seconds later with her fourth goal of the season. Then, at 10:26, Hadden would collect her second of the contest to bring the score to 12-4, setting up what would then be more than six minutes of scoreless play. To close out the quarter, Pierce would piece together their only scoring streak of the evening goals from senior Kayli Hoefs (Amsterdam, N.Y.) and Katelyn Hadden less than a minute apart.

Sophomore Emily Ulmer (Bedford, N.H.) would keep the streak alive early on in the fourth, cutting the Bentley lead down to 13-7 just 55 seconds in. Following a quick response by the Falcons at 13:09, Katelyn Hadden would score her fourth of the contest exactly one minute later to revive the Raven's hopes for a comeback. However, Bentley would quell those hopes with four consecutive goals over a four minute span, eventually outscoring Pierce by a 6-1 margin the rest of the way through. The Ravens final goal of the evening would come from sophomore Hayley Hermsdorf, her sixth of the season, with the help of Kayli Hoefs.

Senior goalkeeper Erin Blake (Southborough, Mass.) was overwhelmed in net for Pierce, making 12 saves on a staggering 33 Bentley shots faced. Bentley also controlled the majority of the draws in the effort, winning 21 as compared to Pierce's 12, also going 3-of-4 on free position attempts.

Women's lacrosse looks to bounce back on Wednesday, March 15th, when they will host Southern New Hampshire University at 2:00 p.m. from Sodexo Field.