Smith III scores a game-high six goals, including the game-winner in overtime

Boxscore

RINDGE, N.H. (April 12, 2008) – Junior Owen Smith III (Cornwall, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep) scored six goals, including the game-winner 2:47 into overtime, as Dominican (N.Y.) College stunned Franklin Pierce University, 14-13, in a non-conference men’s lacrosse match at Sodexho Field on Saturday afternoon.

Smith III led all scorers with his six goals and six points, while sophomore Alex Jones (St. Albert, Alberta/Bellrose) and junior Remo Montalbano (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) both contributed four points. Jones scored four goals on the afternoon, while Montalbano scored twice and added a pair of assists.

Junior Jason Flanigan (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) had a team-high four goals for Franklin Pierce and senior captain Luke Ferreira (Farmington, Maine/Mount Blue) also recorded four points on three goals and an assist. Sophomore Lucas Hamory (Canton, Mass./Canton) netted three tallies for the Ravens, while freshman Ryan Palmer (Hinesburg, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) added his first collegiate goal.

Franklin Pierce won the opening faceoff of the overtime period, but a Flanigan turnover gave the ball to the Chargers. Smith III received the ball and charged towards the net before firing the ball past Raven freshman Shea Campbell (Centerport, N.Y./Harborfields) for the game-winning goal.

Campbell kept the Ravens in the game by making 17 saves on 31 shots, while Dominican junior Joe Assante (Hicksville, N.Y./Pine Bush) stopped 16 of 29 attempts to earn the win.

Franklin Pierce stormed out of the gate in the first quarter, scoring the first four goals of the game. Palmer began the contest with his first career goal 1:25 in and Flanigan followed with a pair of goals 33 seconds apart. Junior Ryan Boller (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) completed the surge as he netted his sixth of the year only 39 seconds later.

Dominican responded with three of the final four goals of the first quarter and the first four of the second to take a 7-5 lead. Smith III brought his team to within two at the end of the first quarter with a man-up tally, and then scored a pair of man-up goals 26 seconds apart to complete a four-goal rally and give the Chargers their first lead of the day 5:35 into the second frame.

Smith III netted his fourth man-advantage goal later in the frame, and the Chargers went into halftime with a 10-8 lead.

After a third quarter that featured only one goal, the Raven offense woke up in the fourth frame, scoring five consecutive tallies in an 8:12 span to regain the lead. Ferreira scored twice during the run, while unassisted tallies by Hamory bookended the streak and gave the home team a 13-12 lead with 1:40 remaining in regulation.

Dominican’s Christopher Jones (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) won the subsequent faceoff after Hamory’s goal, however, and after a timeout Montalbano sent the game into overtime with his ninth goal of the year with only 50 seconds remaining in regulation.

Franklin Pierce (2-6, 1-3 NE-10) returns to action tomorrow afternoon as the Ravens host U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association No. 6 Bryant University at Sodexho Field at 2 p.m. Dominican (3-5, 0-1 ECC) hosts Dowling College Wednesday at 4 p.m.