Men's Lacrosse Falls Behind Early in 13-2 Season-Opening Loss at #8 Merrimack

Eddie Noonan scores in first game back since missing last season with an injury

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (March 4, 2014) – The No. 8 nationally ranked Merrimack Warriors opened with five-straight goals, and the Franklin Pierce University men’s lacrosse team could not recover in dropping a 13-2 decision in the 2014 season opener on Tuesday afternoon in North Andover, Mass.

Merrimack improved to 2-0 overall and in the Northeast-10, while the Ravens dipped to 0-1 overall and 0-1 in league play. The loss snapped Franklin Pierce’s four-game winning streak in season-openers under head coach Rick Senatore.

Juniors Kevin Dargin (Littleton, Mass.) and Eddie Noonan (Foxboro, Mass.) each threw in a goal for the Ravens, who were outshot 46-29. Junior goalie Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.) turned aside 16 shots despite suffering the loss, and has recorded double-figure saves in nine-consecutive games dating back to last season.

Jamie Shand was one of three Warriors to log multiple goals on the afternoon, as he dumped in three on five shots taken with four going on net. Mike Perdie and Tucker Schwarz followed with two tallies apiece.

Merrimack scored twice in less than a minute to open the scoring as it never looked back from there. Scott Corcoran threw in a strike with 11:43 left in the first, and Schwarz followed at 10:59 with his first marker.

The Ravens stabilized for a bit, but Shand chucked in his first with 4:46 left in the frame, while Jack Trask and Andrew Walsh struck home tallies just eight seconds apart at 3:16 and 3:08.

Noonan got the Ravens on the board nearly 90 seconds later with a shot off a nice feed from Will Schorle (Marshfield, Mass.), but Schwarz added his second tally in the final minute to make it 6-1. Dargin sent one past Merrimack keeper Morgan Green with just :14 left off a dish from Casey Burnett (Windham, N.H.).

Noonan’s tally came after he missed all of last season with an injury, but is looking to return to form after earning First-Team All-NEILA honors as a sophomore in 2012. In Noonan’s absence last season, Dargin stepped up as the team’s offensive leader in goals (26) and points (34). Burnett’s assist came after he led the team with 16 helpers as a rookie last year.

Despite those late first quarter goals, the Ravens could not capitalize on the momentum, and Merrimack scored six more times in the second quarter to open up a 12-2 lead at the break. Four Ravens’ penalties in that quarter led to a pair of man-up goals for the Warriors.

Merrimack committed just seven turnovers for the game, while Franklin Pierce committed 16 miscues. The Ravens were penalized six times with Merrimack logging three man-up markers.

Morgan needed to make just five saves over the first 30 minutes of action to earn the win for Merrimack.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens open the home portion of their 2014 schedule by playing host to Dominican (N.Y.) at 2 p.m. on Sodexo Field.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s lacrosse, please visit the team’s page at http://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 http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)