Kevin Dargin throws in two goals to help and try to spark the Ravens attack

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (March 27, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team started off slow on Tuesday at Merrimack and dropped an 11-4 decision to the No. 4 nationally ranked Warriors at Martone-Mejail Field in North Andover, Mass. The Ravens dropped their second-straight game against a nationally-ranked opponent and fell to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Northeast-10. Merrimack improved to 5-0 and 2-0 in league play.

The Warriors scored the game's first seven goals, including five in the first quarter and never looked back in picking up the victory. Corey Lunney tossed in a game-high four goals for Merrimack, while Jamie Shand, Greg Melaugh and D.J. Brown each pumped in pair of tallies.
Morgan Green got the start in goal for Merrimack and made a trio of saves in 30 minutes of action to earn the win.

Senior midfielder Ryan Dintaman (Northfield, Mass.) and freshman attackman Kevin Dargin (Littleton, Mass.) each threw in two goals to pace the Ravens offensive attack, while senior Jimmy McInnis (Amherst, N.H.) added an assist.

Freshman Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.) started in net for the Ravens and made 16 saves while suffering the loss to fall to 3-3 on the year.

Merrimack got at Denman early and scored a little more than a minute into the game when Shand tossed in his first marker at 13:46. Melaugh followed with back-to-back goals a little more than 60 seconds apart to put the Warriors up 3-0.  Merrimack took a 5-0 advantage into the second quarter and quickly made it 7-0 with consecutive markers from Mike Perdie and Brown (man-up tally).

Dargin finally got Franklin Pierce on the board with 5:52 remaining in the frame when he took a McInnis pass and buried it in the back of the net past the paddle of Green.

Franklin Pierce seemed to settle down the pace of play for the next couple of minutes, but Lunney struck for Merrimack with just :02 left in the half and the Warriors took an 8-1 lead into halftime.

Dintaman tried to rally the Ravens early in the second half and threw in back-to-back tallies, including a man-up marker with 5:10 left in the third quarter, to pull Franklin Pierce to within 8-3.

Lunney answered with a man-up goal of his own 54 seconds later and the Warriors held a 9-3 edge going into the fourth quarter. Lunney scored, again, a little more than three minutes into the fourth and Shand notched a man-up tally with 2:27 left to push Merrimack's lead out to 11-3. Dargin pumped in his second goal with 1:49 remaining in a man-down situation. 

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens play host to Assumption at 12 p.m. in Sodexo Field.

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).