COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse sophomore faceoff specialist Noah Poirier (Dalton, Mass./Wahconah Regional) went 21-for-21 on faceoffs with 17 ground balls in a 15-7 win over Franklin Pierce University on Tuesday evening at Duffy Field during Northeast 10 Conference play. The Purple Knights received votes toward this week's United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-4, 3-4 NE10), Franklin Pierce (2-8, 1-6 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Poirier, 21-for-21 faceoffs, 17 ground balls
• First-year Chris Davis (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park), 3 goals, 2 assists
• Senior Owen Balfour (Mashpee, Mass./Mashpee), 2 goals, 2 assists
• Sophomore Noah Veroneau (South Portland, Maine/Thornton Academy), 3 goals
• First-year Zeke Peraza (Los Angeles, Calif./Saint Francis), 3 goals
• Senior Sean Murphy (Medway, Mass./Medway), 1 goal, 6 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• First-year Braeden Murphy (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place), 1 goal, 1 assist
• First-year Miles McGuire (Brighton, N.Y./Brighton), 1 goal, 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Ethan Drake (Greenfield Park, Quebec/Champlain Lennoxville), 1 goal
• Senior Gavin Proutt (Baltimore, Md./Boys' Latin School of Maryland), 4 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Nate Gulachenski (Southboro, Mass./Algonquin Regional), 5 saves in 47:19, win
• Senior Mike Nelson (Worcester, Mass./Auburn), 1 save in 12:41 of relief
• Sophomore Jake Moran (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), 3-for-4 faceoffs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Michael Lawler, 2 goals, 1 assist
• Junior Kyle Breitweiser, 6 caused turnovers
• First-year Owen Kirk, 4 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Sean Cote, 7 saves in 30 minutes, loss
• First-year Shaun LaCivita, 6 saves in 30 minutes of relief

GAME FACTS

• Poirier tied a school record for faceoff wins in a game, initially set by Justin Richmond '21 and twice matched by Cooper Wilson '25, while posting the second-most ground balls, trailing only the 19 scooped by Wilson on March 23, 2024.
• Poirier had the best perfect faceoff performance in NCAA Division II since Lake Erie College's Mike Flury on April 15, 2023 (22-for-22), and the top perfect showing by an NE10 player since Adelphi University's Mark Andrejack on March 16, 2019 (22-for-22).
• Poirier moved into second in program history for both season faceoff wins (159) and ground balls (93), short only of the 193 and 131 posted by Wilson in 2024. He is already seventh at Saint Michael's in career faceoff victories (183).
• Proutt moved into a tie for sixth in program history with 57 career caused turnovers, matching Brian Sardella '23.
• Mannke is now tied for sixth in school annals with 28 caused turnovers this spring, deadlocked with the figure Tyler Violette '12 posted in 2012.

THE ACTION

• The Purple Knights scored the game's first 10 goals, taking a 10-1 lead into halftime for the second straight game. Seven different players netted first-half tallies.
• Lawler scored twice in a 4-1 run that brought the Ravens within 11-4 by 3:45 of the third quarter, but Veroneau (1:20), Drake (0:35) and Davis (0:27) scored within a 53-second span to put the game out of reach.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday vs. No. 20 Bentley University, 11 a.m.
• The Purple Knights celebrate Senior Day on Saturday.
• The Falcons' national ranking is according to the USILA.