Freshman Casey Burnett scores six times which is just one shy of the program record

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 29, 2013) -- Freshman attackman Casey Burnett (Windham, N.H.) threw in a career-high six goals and the Franklin Pierce University men's lacrosse team won its second-straight game with a 16-10 victory over American International at Abdow Field in Springfield, Mass. on Friday. The Ravens evened their record at 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets dipped to 1-8 and 0-5 in league play.

Burnett scored six times on eight shots as he put all eight attempts on net. His six markers tied for the second most in program history for scores in a game and was one off the program record of seven, which Jimmy Ward set twice during the 2004 campaign.

Sophomore attacker Kevin Dargin (Littleton, Mass.) added to Franklin Pierce's offensive surge with another outstanding offensive effort of five points on a trio of goals and a pair of assists.

Dargin and Burnett moved into a tie for the team lead in points with 18. Dargin is tops with 14 goals, while Burnett's surge moved him just two back of the team lead with 12 tallies.

Senior Eric Harries (Dunstable, Mass.) and sophomore Erik Kelly (Tewksbury, Mass.) each went for four points on two goals and two assists apiece. Junior Bryan Bourque (Goffstown, N.H.) added a pair of goals and assisted on another for a three-point affair.

The Ravens rang up a 56-36 advantage in shots, including putting 33 on net. Franklin Pierce also took advantage of its man-up opportunities by converting on 4-of-9 tries.

Through the first six games of the season, the Ravens are averaging 10.2 goals a game and are on pace to make a run at the program record for most goals scored during a single season. The current mark is 138, which was set back in the 2007 season.

Franklin Pierce, which held a slim 7-6 lead at halftime, blew open the tight game in the third quarter by outscoring the Yellow Jackets, 6-2, to go up 13-8. The Ravens opened the frame by scoring four times in the first four minutes, including the opening goal by Burnett 73 seconds in. The goal seemed to unnerve AIC, which took a penalty just moments afterwards and Harries made the Yellow Jackets pay for the mistake with a man-advantage marker 47 seconds later. It took Franklin Pierce just 14 seconds to score again as Dargin fed a pass to Burnett, who buried a blast into the back of net. The freshman struck again 80 seconds later with a man-up tally after the Yellow Jackets were whistled for a slashing penalty just seconds earlier.

Zak Guenther stemmed the tide briefly for American International with a goal at the 6:50 mark of the quarter, but Kelly and freshman Luke McDermott (New Milford, Conn.) countered with goals in the final minutes of the period to stretch the Ravens' lead to five.

Franklin Pierce forced AIC into seven turnovers in the quarter and sophomore goalie Don Denman (Exeter, N.H.) stood tall by making a save and cutting off shooting angles for the Yellow Jackets, who forced several shots high and wide. Denman stopped 11 shots in the game to earn the win to run his record to 3-3 on the year. In the process, he won his 10th career game in net and became the first goalie in program history to post double-digits in career wins.

Burnett capped his amazing afternoon with a goal four minutes into the fourth quarter and Dargin tossed in a pair in the closing minutes to cap the explosive performance by Franklin Pierce.

It marked the second time this season the Ravens totaled at least 56 shots in a game and it was the first time since they logged 60 in a season-opening win at Dominican (N.Y.) on March 13.

Kelly got the scoring started for Franklin Pierce 92 seconds into the game and Harries followed with a man-up tally 25 seconds later to stake the Ravens to an early 2-0 lead.

Burnett and Dargin scored eight seconds apart late in the frame as the Ravens held a 4-3 edge after one period. Bourque scored twice roughly 90 seconds apart early in the second.

Guenther paced AIC with four goals, while Bobby Spano followed with a pair.

Junior middie Alex Connolly (West Newbury, Mass.) was the other Raven to log multiple points on the day as he assisted on a pair of markers for two points.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday when the Ravens play host to Merrimack at 3 p.m. in Sodexo Field in Rindge.

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). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's lacrosse apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)