Luke McDermott scores four times on only four shots taken
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. (April 27, 2013) -- The Franklin
Pierce University men's lacrosse team shook off a two-goal deficit
late in the third quarter and rallied to score five of the final
six goals to close out its 2013 season with a satisfying 12-10 win
at Pace in Pleasantville, N.Y. on Saturday.
The Ravens closed out their season
with a 5-8 overall record and a 4-7 mark in the Northeast-10. The
win total is tied for the second highest in program history for a
single season, as the 2010 squad also posted five victories in Rick
Senatore's first year at the helm. Franklin Pierce's 2013
senior class leaves as the all-time winningest group in program
history as it tasted victory 20 times over four seasons. Prior to
the class' arrival in 2010, the program had won just 17 times total
from 1998-2009.
"I'm really happy for all these
guys," head coach Rick Senatore said. "These guys
have been through a lot this year with injuries and some tough
breaks in games and practice, but they just kept battling the
entire time. This program can learn a lot from this win and we have
the guys who will put it to good use preparing for next
season."
Freshman Luke McDermott
(New Milford, Conn.) and junior Bryan Bourque
(Goffstown, N.H.) had outstanding offensive days for the
Ravens. McDermott scored four times and Bourque chucked in three
goals, including a tally with 1:16 left in the third quarter to
spark Franklin Pierce's comeback from a 9-7 deficit.
Bourque, who was one of the players
pressed into a more significant role this year due to those
injuries and responded quite nicely, was questionable for
Saturday's game as he missed some time during the week nursing an
injury of his own. After Pace knotted the score at 10-all midway
through the fourth quarter, Bourque stepped up once again with a
nice drive to the net and depositing a shot into the back of goal
to put the Ravens on top for good at 11-10 with 3:28 remaining.
McDermott scored a pair of markers
in the fourth quarter, including his first one three-and-a-half
minutes into the frame to tie it at 9-9, and then dumping in an
insurance tally with 1:18 remaining to put Franklin Pierce up by
two. McDermott's four tallies were a season-high and snapped a
three-game scoreless drought. He also logged a perfect shooting
percentage by scoring four times on just four shots taken.
The Ravens rang up 36 shots,
including getting a team-high nine from sophomore Erik
Kelly (Tewksbury, Mass.), who scored the Ravens' other
goal of the fourth quarter.
Pace totaled 48 shots and put 30 on
net, but Franklin Pierce sophomore goalie Don Denman
(Exeter, N.H.) was more than up to the challenge of
backstopping his team to victory by making 20 saves to run his
record to 5-8 on the year. His 20 stops marked the second-straight
game and the fourth time this season he made at least 20 saves.
Denman made eight saves in the third quarter to keep the Setters
from running away with the game and allowing the Ravens' offense to
gain its footing to spark the closing surge. He also stopped five
shots in the final period.
Pace switched goalies with a little
more than 23 minutes remaining in the game and Franklin Pierce made
the Setters pay for the substitution by lighting up Conor Brophy
with six goals on 11 shots faced to tag him with the loss.
The Ravens also went 3-for-5 in
man-up opportunities during the game as they were one of the top
teams in the nation in that category all season long. Franklin
Pierce ranked among the league and national leaders with 28
man-advantage goals on 73 opportunities for a 38.4 percent success
rate. Freshman Casey Burnett (Windham, N.H.) and
sophomore Kevin Dargin (Littleton, Mass.) each
threw in a man-up marker in the first half, while McDermott added
one in the third quarter.
The teams swapped goals in the
first half, but Pace got a late tally from Matt Gebhart in the
closing seconds of the second quarter to tie it at 5-5 and gave the
Setters momentm to go on top in the third quarter. Gebhart scored
twice, while William Scioscia netted a game-high tying four
goals.
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(.)