Brendan Cahill logs three points with a goal and two assists

COLCHESTER, Vt. (April 11, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team came out firing early and late, but a rough stretch during the second and third quarters Wednesday night doomed the Ravens' bid for an upset of Saint Michael's, as the Purple Knights pulled out a 14-8 triumph at Duffy Field in Colchester, Vt. The Ravens fell to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the Northeast-10, while St. Mike's improved to 7-4 and 3-4 in league play.

Sophomore attackman Eddie Noonan (Foxboro, Mass.) paced Franklin Pierce's offensive effort with three goals and one assist for a four-point performance. Junior attacker Brendan Cahill (Hollis, N.H.) also had a multi-point game with a marker and two helpers for three points.

Freshman Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.) got the start in goal for the Ravens and made 14 saves, including nine over the first 20 minutes, but suffered the loss to fall to 4-5. 

Saint Michael's, though, was able to get to Denman in the second and third quarters as the Purple Knights outscored the Ravens by a count of 8-2. Pete Donnally and Marty Vanzo each dumped in four goals for St. Mike's in the game, including combining for five in the middle stanzas as the Purple Knights seized the upper hand.

The first quarter went back and forth with the teams trading goals. Donnally scored a little more than two minutes into the contest, but sophomore Alex Connolly (West Newbury, Mass.) answered with a tally with 9:21 left in the first quarter and Noonan threw in a marker at the 3:36 mark to stake the Ravens to a 2-1 lead. Cahill assisted on both Franklin Pierce goals. Vanzo, though, responded for the Purple Knights with a little more than a minute left in the frame when he threw in an unassisted tally to knot the score at 2-2.

That goal seemed to deflate the Ravens for the second 15 minutes as St. Mike's was able to pop in a trio of tallies (including two in man-up situations) to build a 5-2 lead at halftime. Vanzo scored back-to-back goals just 34 seconds apart late in the frame to give Saint Michael's the three-goal cushion at the intermission.

The Purple Knights pushed their lead out to five at 7-2 early in the third with goals from Max Zuccarini and Donnally. Senior Ryan Dintaman (Northfield, Mass.) appeared to stem the tide for Franklin Pierce with a goal at the 6:39 mark of the quarter, but Saint Michael's countered with thee-consecutive markers to push its advantage out to 10-3. Donnally sandwiched a pair of goals around a Connor Glackin tally to aid the mini-surge.

Franklin Pierce bridged the third and fourth quarters with goals from Noonan and senior defender Ben McDannell (Morrisville, Pa.) to cut the deficit in half, but St. Mike's put the game out of reach with two-straight goals. The Ravens' final three goals came from Noonan, Cahill and sophomore Baxter Sukdolak (Lockport, N.Y.). For McDannell, it marked the first goal of his collegiate career. Chris DeMairo made seven saves in goal for St. Mike's to earn the win.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens travel to Manchester to face Saint Anselm at 7 p.m.

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).