RINDGE, N.H. – Playing in their first road contest of the season, the D'Youville University men's lacrosse team fell to Franklin Pierce University by a score of 14-5 Saturday afternoon.
 
The Saints (0-2) were led offensively by Brady Ruffalo (Webster, N.Y.) who had the hat trick while Tristan Engelhardt (Orlando, Fla.) and Luciano Gonzalez (Coquitlam, British Columbia) each for the back of the net once. Nick Sholett (Vestal, N.Y.) facilitated the offense, having three assists in the contest.
 
On the defensive end, four players tied with two groundballs each while Cameron Fogarty (Selinsgrove, Pa.) led the team in caused turnovers with three.
 
DYU found themselves down 3-0 with under five minutes left in the first before Ruffalo got his first goal of the afternoon off the assist from Brody Strong (Gores Landing, Ontario) at the 4:15 mark. The Ravens got a pair of goals back before Ruffalo made it a 5-2 game with the man-up goal off the dish from Engelhardt in the early goings of the second quarter.
 
Franklin Pierce strung together seven unanswered goals from the late second quarter to the early minutes of the third quarter. The Saints halted the run, scoring three-straight goals to cut into the deficit. Ruffalo scored his third goal of the game to start the run, coming from Sholett at the 8:38 mark of the third. Engelhardt took advantage of the man-up opportunity, scoring at the 4:36 mark of the quarter off the feed from Sholett. Gonzalez got on the board at the 2:45 mark with Sholett getting this third assist to make it a 12-5 game.
 
Ryan McInnes (Port Monmouth, N.J.) earned the loss in net, playing one half of action while making nine saves on 21 attempts. Reece Eck (Forest Lake, Minn.) went the rest of the way in the second half, making four saves on six attempts.
 
The Saints will continue their three-game road trip, traveling to Dominican University next Saturday, February 24th, for an 11 a.m. game.