Colchester, V.T. (4/4/23) - The Franklin Pierce women's lacrosse team was back on the road on Tuesday night for the first of two consecutive road matchups this week, and also made their way back into the win column with a 12-8 win over Saint Michael's College at Duffy Field.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 2-8 (1-5 NE10) on the season while the Saint Michael's dips to 2-7 (0-6 NE10) with the loss.

The Ravens opened the scoring within the first two minutes on a quick strike from senior midfielder Katelyn Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.). The Purple Knights would provide a rapid response to Hadden's 20^th of the season, drawing even on an unassisted goal from senior Hope Alto. Over the course of the next five minutes, the Ravens and Purple Knights would trade goals to keep things on an even keel, with sophomore Hayley Hermsdorf (Center Moriches, N.Y.) finding the back of the net for Pierce. However, to close out the first quarter the Ravens would seize the lead for good as junior Olivia Delonais (North Andover, Mass.) and senior Gabrielle Oswald (Nedrow, N.Y.) scored back-to-back goals in the final five minutes for a 4-2 Pierce lead.

Saint Michael's Catie Murphy kicked things off in the second frame with her second goal of the contest, bringing the hosts back to within one. However, the threat would not last long as the Ravens pulled forward on a 4-0 run, with each goal coming from a different goal scorer. During the run, junior attacker Kayli Hoefs (Amsterdam, N.Y.) would net her 23^rd of the season on a free position attempt, while freshman Maura Cogavin (Franklin, Mass.) would rip one low-corner with Pierce a man-up. Olivia Delonais and Katelyn Hadden would also return to the mix, each scoring their second goals of the game.

Nearing the end of the second, the Pierce run would eventually end with the Purple Knights collecting two straight goals prior to time expiring, courtesy of Hope Alto's second of the game and Darby Rich's free position effort. After 30-minutes played, the score would hold at 8-5 in favor of the Ravens, who also held the edge in shots (22-13), draw controls (8-7) and caused turnovers (6-0).

In the third, Pierce continued to pull further away on the scoreboard with sophomore attacker Emily Ulmer (Bedford, N.H.) scoring three of their four goals scored, all on free position attempts. Gabrielle Oswald would be the only odd-one out with her second of the contest at the 2:24 mark, with both Saint Michael's goals belonging to Caity Murphy.

With a 12-7 lead in hand entering the final period, the Ravens would surrender one last goal to the opposition, but would emerge with their first win in seven games by the 12-8 final score.

Senior Erin Blake (Southborough, Mass.) picked up the win in her ninth start of the season for Pierce, stopping 3-of-8 shots thrown her way to improve to 2-7 on the season. Saint Michael's Abby Cole (1-3) shouldered the loss for the Purple Knights, stopping 5-of-14 shots faced.

Women's Lacrosse will meet up with The College of Saint Rose this Saturday, April 8^th at 11:00 a.m. for the road trip finale.