Noonan and Dintaman have four points each for the Ravens

BOXSCORE

MANCHESTER, N.H. (April 19, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead Tuesday night at Southern New Hampshire, but couldn't hold onto the advantage as the Ravens dropped a tough 11-8 decision at Larkin Field in Manchester. The Ravens fell to 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the Northeast-10, while SNHU improved to 4-7 and 3-5 in league play.

Midfielders Edward Noonan (Foxboro, Mass.) and Ryan Dintaman (Northfield, Mass.) each tossed in a team-high three goals for the Ravens. Noonan and Dintaman also ended up with a four-point evening as they each assisted on another goal during the contest. Sophomore Brendan Cahill (Hollis, N.H.) and senior Jack Scanlan (Great Neck, N.Y.) also added a tally apiece for Franklin Pierce.

Freshman goalie Tim Izzo (Trumbull, Conn.) made nine saves in net for the Ravens despite suffering the loss to fall to 3-8 on the year.

James Sabino led the Penmen with three goals, while Keith Merluzzo totaled a five-point contest with a pair of goals and three helpers. Brendan O'Brien made 14 saves in goal to earn the win.

Franklin Pierce threw in a pair of goals in the first quarter and added another one early in the second period to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Cahill scored the first goal at the 8:16 mark of the first as he took a pass from Dintaman and slipped a shot past O'Brien for a man-up tally. Dintaman scored his first of three a little more than a minute later to put the Ravens up by two. Scanlan then made it a three-goal difference four minutes into the second with an unassisted marker.

However, Southern New Hampshire answered with two goals in a 35-second span to cut its deficit to 3-2. Andrew Brown scored at 9:25 off a feed from Merluzzo, and Marc Navoco added an unassisted goal at the 8:50 mark.

The teams would trade goals over the remaining minutes of the first half. Dintaman scored a man-up goal for the Ravens at the 7:02 mark, following a nice feed from Noonan. Merluzzo scored his first goal three minutes later, but Noonan closed out the half for the Ravens with an unassisted marker with just :41 remaining to send Franklin Pierce into halftime with a 5-3 advantage.

SNHU came out firing in the opening minutes of the third quarter and tied it at 5-5, as Merluzzo assisted on goals by Sabino and Navoco just four minutes into the stanza.

Noonan stemmed the tide with a tally to make it 6-5 Franklin Pierce, but Sabino tossed in a goal moments later to knot the game at six. A Dintaman goal put the Ravens back on top at 7-6 with a little more than four minutes left in the quarter, but again, SNHU had an answer as Brown scored with 1:55 to go in the stanza to tie it at 7-7.

Southern New Hampshire finally broke on top just minutes into the fourth quarter as the Penmen scored back-to-back goals to take a 9-7 advantage. They would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way as they went on to earn the win. Sabino's final marker with just :51 left sealed the victory.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Friday afternoon when the Ravens play host to Saint Anselm at 4 p.m. at 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).