Women's Lacrosse Celebrates Senior Day, Slips Against No. 2 Pace University, 21-7
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pace (14-1, 11-0) | 10 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 21 |
|
Franklin Pierce (3-13, 2-10) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
RINDGE, N.H. (4/22/23) – With only one game remaining this season, the Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team lost to No. 2 Pace University, 21-7 in a Northeast-10 Conference showdown at Sodexo Field on Saturday afternoon. The game was also Senior Day for the Ravens, who recognized their six total graduating seniors prior to the event.
With the loss, Pierce falls to 3-12 (2-9 NE10) on the season. Pace claims their 11th consecutive win, and improves to 13-1 (10-0 NE10) overall.
Pace started fast, outscoring the Ravens 10-0 in the first quarter behind grad student Emma Rafferty's four goal frame. The Pace momentum would only grow stronger in the second quarter, as they completed the first half of play with a 16-1 lead. The lone Raven strike in the first half would belong to senior attacker Gabrielle Oswald (Nedrow, N.Y.), which would be her 24th of the season via a free position attempt.
The Setters stretched their lead out to 18-1 with the first two goals of the second half, but then found themselves out-battled the rest of the way through. With under five minutes to play in the third, junior attacker Olivia Delonais (North Andover, Mass.) added the Ravens second goal of the afternoon, unassisted. Moments later, junior Kayli Hoefs (Amsterdam, N.Y.) exposed a gap in the Pace defense and found second-year attacker Hayley Hermsdorf (Center Moriches, N.Y.) cutting towards the front of the Setter goal, who ripped a shot home for her 17th of the season. Entering the fourth, the score would stand at 18-3 in favor of the Setters.
Both squads would trade strikes through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, including Olivia Delonais' second goal of the day for the Ravens to make it a 20-4 game. To follow, Pierce would string together another 2-0 run with unassisted goals by senior Katelyn Hadden and Kayli Hoefs exactly two minutes apart. Through the final five of the frame, both the Setters and the Ravens would strike once more each, as Pierce's final tally would belong to Hayley Hermsdorf from Hoefs.
Senior Erin Blake (Southborough, Mass.) earned the start for the Ravens, and was kept busy with 10 saves on 31 Setter shots in the loss, moving her to 3-11 this season.
One game remains this season for Pierce women's lacrosse, which will be on Wednesday, April 26th against No. 9 Adelphi University. The action begins at 2:00 p.m. from Sodexo Field.