PUEBLO, Colo. (February 21, 2020) – After opening the season against a team ranked in the top five in the country, the Colorado State-Pueblo squad was a welcome sight for the Franklin Pierce University women's lacrosse team on Sunday afternoon at Gonzalez Stadium. The Ravens used five-point outings from both junior attack Caroline Lounsbury (Franklin, Mass.) and sophomore attack Savannah Ernst (American Fork, Utah) to chalk up a 13-7 non-conference win and split their season-opening trip to Colorado. The victory marked the first career win as a collegiate head coach for Hilary Duda.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 1-1, while CSU-Pueblo opens its season at 0-1.

No longer facing one of the country's elite teams, Franklin Pierce was able to correct some of the problems which had plagued the team off the draw in Friday's season opener. Instead, on Sunday, the Ravens took a 14-8 advantage in draw controls. Though Franklin Pierce turned the ball over 23 times, they were able to counter that, as the Thunderwolves committed 26 turnovers of their own. It all added up to a possession advantage for the Ravens, who chalked up advantages of 37-19 in shot attempts and 30-15 in shots on goal.

However, it was CSU-Pueblo which got out of the gates quickly. The Thunderwolves scored twice in the opening 80 seconds, courtesy of senior attack Ali Doyle and junior attack Emily Eller, and Eller later made it three of the first four goals, as CSU-Pueblo took a 3-2 lead just over seven minutes in.

From there, Franklin Pierce took control. Lounsbury scored on either side of a goal by Ernst, as three straight scores briefly put the Ravens out front. After CSU-Pueblo evened things at 4-4, Lounsbury added her third goal of the opening half, and then senior attack Bella Lima (Hudson, Mass.) capped the first-half scoring with 1:58 to play, as Franklin Pierce took a 6-4 lead into the break.

Franklin Pierce scored the first two goals of the second half, and put home four of the first five in the second half, to stretch the lead out to 10-5, and never looked back. The stretch to start the second half made it a 9-2 run for Franklin Pierce, dating back to Lounsbury's first goal of the afternoon. CSU-Pueblo would not get closer than four goals the rest of the way, as the Ravens went on to the 13-7 victory.

Behind Lounsbury (5-0-5) and Ernst (3-2-5), freshman midfielder Katie Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.) scored twice and sophomore attack Morgan Baxendale (Orchard Park, N.Y.) tallied a goal and an assist to round out Franklin Pierce's multiple-point scorers on the day. The Ravens piled up 24 ground balls on the day, including 11 players who nabbed at least two. Sophomore midfielder Jenna Cimbron (Bristol, R.I.) and senior defender Sarah Waldrep (North Andover, Mass.) collected four draw controls each, while three different players caused a pair of turnovers.

For CSU-Pueblo, Eller (3-0-3) and Doyle (2-1-3) were the only multiple-point scorers on the day. Senior goalkeeper Ane Marie Horton led all players with five ground balls, while junior midfielder Olivia Tener's four draw controls led the Thunderwolves. Senior defender Morgan Monaghan caused four turnovers.

Senior goalkeeper Casey Butera (West Milford, N.J.) finished with eight saves against 15 shots to pick up the win (1-0) in the Franklin Pierce crease. Horton (0-1) piled up 17 saves against 30 shots and suffered the loss for CSU-Pueblo.

The Ravens return to the field for their home opener on Sunday, March 1, with a non-conference contest against Dominican (N.Y.). Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (https://www.fpuravens.com). 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 lacrosse apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (https://www.shopfpuravens.com).