Eric Harries notches hat-trick with three goals against Bentley

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (April 3, 2011) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s lacrosse team took a 3-3 tie into halftime with Bentley on Sunday, but the Ravens could not overcome the Falcons’ strong second-half surge as they fell, 14-4, at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The Ravens dipped to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Northeast-10, while Bentley improved to 2-3 and 2-1 in league play.

Junior midfielder Eric Harries (Dunstable, Mass.) scored three goals for the Ravens, including the squad’s first two of the game, while senior attacker Nate Wood (Binghamton, N.Y.) notched the other tally.

Harries scored the game’s first marker five minutes into the contest off a nice feed from senior Jack Scanlan (Great Neck, N.Y.), but Bentley responded a little more than four minutes later with a tally to knot the score at 1-1.

Harries broke through again for the Ravens, this time just 37 seconds into the second quarter as he beat Bentley goalkeeper Mike O’Neil with a shot past the stick handle. The goal ignited the Ravens’ intensity to another level and five minutes later Wood converted a Bentley turnover into another Franklin Pierce goal for a 3-1 advantage. His tally came off a feed from sophomore attackman Brendan Cahill (Hollis, N.H.), who slipped a pass to his fellow attacker right in front of the goal, which Wood tossed into the back of the net.

Bentley, though, countered with strong defensive play late in the first half and was able to force Franklin Pierce into back-to-back turnovers, which the Falcons were able to convert into goals to tie the game at 3-3 heading into halftime. James Gilloran and Richard Travers were credited with the late goals for Bentley.

Those two goals sparked Bentley in the third quarter as the Falcons came out firing and scored four-straight markers to open up a 7-3 lead. Harries countered for Franklin Pierce at the 5:51 mark of the third as he forced his way to the doorstep of the Bentley goal and flipped a shot over O’Neil’s shoulder.

However, Franklin Pierce could not stem the tide as Bentley capped the remainder of the game by scoring seven-straight goals to lockdown the victory.

Brendan Grant and Travers led the way for Bentley with three goals apiece. Travers ended the game with four points as he also logged an assist. Steve Murray and Matt Boilard each tossed in two goals to aid in the victory. O’Neil made 15 saves in goal to earn the win and run his record to 2-3 on the season.

Franklin Pierce rookie goaltender Tim Izzo (Trumbull, Conn.) got the start in net and had a fine first half before suffering the loss to fall to 3-4 on the season. He did make 12 saves as Bentley outshot Franklin Pierce by a count of 46-26.

The Ravens return to action on Tuesday afternoon when they play host to Merrimack at 3:30 p.m. in Sodexo Field.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s lacrosse, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).