Dale, Shopshire, Beville score multiple goals

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (April 25, 2013) – Freshman attacker Nicole Dale (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) fired 11 shots on Thursday afternoon on her way to five points on four goals and an assist, but the Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team was defeated, 20-11, on the road by Merrimack in Northeast-10 Conference play at Martone-Mejail Field. Sophomore attacker Mia Rapolla scored six points on five goals and an assist to lead the way for Merrimack.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 3-11 (2-9 Northeast-10), while Merrimack improves to 5-11 (4-8 Northeast-10).

Trailing 10-3 after a first half in which Merrimack enjoyed a 24-11 advantage in shot attempts, Franklin Pierce made a game of it to open the second half by scoring six of the stanza's first eight goals. Freshman midfielder Lauren Beville (Jamesville, N.Y.) opened the period with a goal off a feed from sophomore midfielder Madeline Shopshire (Hyannis, Mass.) at the 2:50 mark.

After Merrimack got a pair back to stretch the lead to 12-4, the Ravens struck for four quick goals over a span of 3:54 to cut the gap to 12-8 with 17:35 to play. Dale led the way in the spurt with a free-position goal, as well as an assist, while Shopshire also converted a free-position attempt. Beville added another goal, and senior midfielder Courtney Weber (Centerport, N.Y.) took a feed from senior attacker Ashley Lamagdeleine (Westfield, Mass.) and put home a goal.

After a couple goal-less minutes, Merrimack was able to quell the uprising by answering with seven of the next eight goals over a span of 7:25 to put the game out of reach at 19-9 with 7:59 to play. In the run for the Warriors, junior attacker Tyler Szymanski scored twice to finish off a five-point day (3-2-5), while senior midfielder Jenn Pino picked up a goal and assist and freshman attacker Katie Trahana dished out the last two of her four assists in the game.

Dale and Lamagdeleine (1-1-2) both scored in the final 91 seconds of the game to round out multiple-point days for Franklin Pierce and create the 20-11 final.

Defensively, Beville and sophomore midfielder Amanda Gauvin (Ashburnham, Mass.) led the way with five and four ground balls, respectively, for Franklin Pierce, while Dale and senior midfielder Lindsey Leach (Hamden, Conn.) caused three turnovers each. For Merrimack, Pino scooped up eight ground balls and caused four turnovers to lead the Warriors in both categories.

Junior goalkeeper Jacqueline Jolles (Hamden, Conn.) logged 52:11 over two stints in net for Franklin Pierce. She made 10 saves against 26 shots on goal and took the loss (3-11). Senior Sam Kiesel stopped 17 of 28 shots on target at her end of the field to pick up the win (3-1) between the pipes for Merrimack.

The Ravens return to the field on Saturday, April 27, when they travel to Le Moyne to wrap up the season with a Northeast-10 Conference contest. Game time is set for 11 a.m. at Athletic Turf Complex in Syracuse, N.Y.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's lacrosse apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).