Men's Lacrosse Can't Hold Second Half Lead in Falling 11-7 to Saint Rose

Kevin Dargin notches three goals in the setback

RINDGE, N.H. (March 16, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s lacrosse team put together a strong third quarter Saturday against Saint Rose, but the Ravens faltered in the fourth quarter and dropped a tough 11-7 decision to the Golden Knights in the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both teams at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The Ravens fell to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the NE-10, while Saint Rose improved to 1-4 and 1-0 in league play.

Brett McAuliffe scored three of his game-high four goals in the fourth quarter and factored into another one as the Golden Knights outscored Franklin Pierce, 6-1, to pull off the come-from-behind win.

Saint Rose’s furious rally came after the Ravens staged one of their own in the third quarter to take a 6-5 lead after 45 minutes.

McAuliffe assisted on the Golden Knights’ first goal of the final period when he sent a nice pass in front of the goal mouth to Kevin Fleming, who sent home a strike to knot the score at 6-all.

Colin Sorber, who scored his first two goals of the season in the contest, notched his second marker of the game at the 8:34 mark of the frame to put Saint Rose back on top at 7-6.

Sorber was assisted on the play by Evan Helming, who totaled four of his game-high six points in the fourth quarter on a goal and three assists. McAuliffe followed Sorber’s marker with his second tally of the game and Helming responded after that with a goal to make it 9-6 with 4:57 remaining.

Freshman midfielder Gary Pace (White Plains, N.Y.) stemmed the tide briefly for the Ravens with his first collegiate goal just 20 seconds later. Franklin Pierce seemed to be getting back in rhythm as it also drew a penalty on the play to gain a man-up advantage. However, Saint Rose’s Ryan McFee won the ensuing faceoff and the Golden Knights killed off the penalty without allowing the Ravens to gain possession at any point in the next 60 seconds.

Helming fed a pair of passes to McAuliffe in the final 2:05, which he converted on to run his team-leading goal total to 13 on the season.

The Golden Knights were put into position to rally after Franklin Pierce went on a 4-0 run in the third quarter to shake off a 5-2 halftime deficit. The Ravens outworked the Golden Knights and took advantage of Saint Rose’s undisciplined play, which led to several penalties.

Sophomore midfielder Erik Kelly (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored a pair of man-up goals in the quarter, including the stanza’s first tally a little less than two minutes in to spark the Ravens’ comeback. Classmate Kevin Dargin (Littleton, Mass.) followed with a goal 53 seconds later to pull the Ravens to within one. Dargin scored off a sweet dish from freshman Luke McDermott (New Milford, Conn.), who would put in one his own at the 7:43 mark to tie the game at 5-5.

Kelly struck again inside the final minute of the quarter to stake Franklin Pierce to the one-goal lead and it seemed like the Ravens had wrestled the momentum away from the Golden Knights.

The shot totals for the game were nearly identical with Saint Rose holding a slight 36-35 edge, including a 19-18 advantage in shots on goal.

Saint Rose goalie Nick Longo snapped a string of four-straight losses as he made 11 saves to run his record to 1-4 on the year.

Longo’s counterpart, Franklin Pierce goalie Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.) made an impressive six saves in the first quarter, but turned aside just two more after that (1 in the second and 1 in the fourth) to suffer the loss to fall to 1-1. To Denman’s credit, he wasn’t tasked with much in the third quarter as the Ravens rang up a 13-1 advantage in shots.

Saint Rose sandwiched a pair of goals around Dargin’s man-up marker in the first quarter to take a 2-1 lead. Dargin struck again for Franklin Pierce in the second quarter, but the Golden Knights got back-to-back late goals from McAuliffe and Kris Miller to take a three-goal advantage into halftime.

Franklin Pierce returns to action on Wednesday when the Ravens travel to New York to take on Molloy at 5 p.m.

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/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men’s lacrosse apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)