MANCHESTER, N.H. (February 12, 2022) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team was soundly outshot again on Saturday, 40-24, but this time the Ravens were able to keep things more competitive on the scoreboard. Sophomore Trevor Lawler (East Bridgewater, Mass.) scored a pair for the Ravens, while junior Matt Hayes found the net twice on the other side for Saint Anselm. The dueling two-goal outings left a second-period score from sophomore Alec Grace to stand as the difference, as Saint Anselm picked up a 3-2 win in the Northeast-10 Conference contest at Sullivan Arena.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce moves to 6-15-1 (3-9-1 NE10), and is winless in its last six games (0-5-1), while Saint Anselm improves to 11-10-2 (8-5-2 NE10). The win finished off a weekend sweep for Saint Anselm, which allowed the Hawks to take the season series, 2-1.

In the first period, both teams went back and forth. Saint Anselm started the scoring when Hayes put home his eighth goal of the season at the 4:20 mark. Sophomore forward Jac Cordeiro skated into the Franklin Pierce zone and threw the puck towards the net. Hayes was right in front to tip it past Franklin Pierce graduate student goalie Ian Wallace (West Islip, N.Y.) for his eighth goal of the season.

The Ravens tied the game just 89 seconds later. Lawler took a wrist shot that was blocked and then went upstairs on junior netminder Nick Howard with his own rebound to score his third goal of the season, at 6:09.

The tie was short-lived, as Saint Anselm reclaimed the lead only 31 seconds later, at 6:40. After the Hawks won a faceoff in their own zone, Cordeiro made a pass in the neutral zone to senior forward Kilian Hammersmith. Hammersmith led a 2-on-1 on the left wing and made a cross-slot pass to Hayes, who scored his second goal of the game on a one-time finish. 

In the second period, the Ravens committed a turnover in their own zone with less than five minutes left, which led to the stanza's only goal. Senior forward Anthony Iacullo got the puck and sent it across the zone to sophomore forward Alec Grace. Wallace made a sprawling pad save on the initial shot, but Grace got his own rebound and backhanded the puck home for his second of the campaign, to make it a two-goal game.

Franklin Pierce found some hope in the third, when Lawler scored on a two-man advantage at the 4:04 mark, after Saint Anselm got into penalty trouble. Senior forward Chris Stevenson (Arvada, Colo.) had a couple chances on the play, amid a flurry of action out front, but it was Lawler who eventually got the puck past Howard to cut the deficit to one. The Ravens would later get Wallace to the bench for the extra attacker over the final 63 seconds, but could put only one shot on net in the final minute, which Howard turned aside to preserve the victory.

In defeat, Wallace (3-7-1) faced 40 shots and stopped 37 of them in the Franklin Pierce crease. Howard (11-9-2) saved 22 of 24 shots at the other end for Saint Anselm.

Franklin Pierce heads back to the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 15, for a home, matinee, NE10 contest against Assumption University at 2 p.m.