Hughes, Hislop lead Ravens to
tenth New England Region title
RINDGE, N.H. (November 13,
2005) - Top-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 4 in this
week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)adidas
Division II poll, captured its tenth regional title with a 2-0
victory over second-seeded and No. 15-ranked Assumption College in
the 2005 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer New England Regional
Championship at Sodexho Field this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce (18-1-2) advances
to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament where it will host
No. 5 West Chester (Pa.) University (20-1-2) next weekend. West
Chester advanced with a 3-0 victory over No. 10 University of New
Haven this afternoon. Date and time of the match will be announced
on Monday. Assumption (15-4-4), making its second-straight NCAA
appearance, sees its season come to a
close.
"Franklin Pierce is a team we
respect," said Assumption Head Coach Neil
Stafford. "But I really think a lot of credit should
be given to my team. We've made major strides since last year and I
thought we really took it to them, but just could not finish.
When you don't finish in championship games, you don't advance."
Senior All-Americans
Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland) and
Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
again led Franklin Pierce with a goal apiece. The Ravens finished
with a 6-1 advantage in shots in the tightly contested match.
Hughes gave Franklin Pierce a
much-needed lead just 8:05 into the match when she headed in a
serve from junior Mia Makarainen (Espoo,
Finland) from the left side on the near post.
"I called for the ball and Mia put
it right on my head, I didn't have to do anything really," said
Hughes. "It was huge to get on top today. Assumption has a good
defense and they have a hard time scoring goals. We knew if we
could just get the second, they wouldn't be able to score twice on
us."
Hislop iced the match with a superb
strike from a low angle on the left side with the inside of her
left foot that nestled into the upper right corner with 10:37 to
play.
"I just turned and hit it, smacked
it," said Hislop. "They thought it was a cross, but it was a shot
all the way, we needed it too."
"It was a world-class finish," said
Stafford. "Both were great goals and I'd much rather go out on
those goals than the 35-yard blast last week." Franklin Pierce
topped Assumption 1-0 with a long-range Hughes goal off a turnover
with just 36-seconds left in regulation.
Sophomore Jenna Mello
(Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) registered her eighth
shutout of the season without making a save, while Assumption
sophomore Lauren Matysiak (Holden, Mass./Wachusett
Regional) stopped four shots.
The Greyhounds closest scoring
chance came early in the match after a corner kick, when a loose
ball at the top of the six in the center of the penalty area
suddenly trickled towards the goal line, but was cleared by the
Franklin Pierce defense.
"It's good to get out of the
region," said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Jeff
Bailey. "It's hard to play some of these teams two or
three times, so it will be nice to finally play someone different.
We don't know anything about (West Chester), they didn't play out
of their region much and no one from our region, but we know they
will be a quality team. We need to sort ourselves out this week,
because I didn't think we played well overall today. It looked like
Merrimack took a lot out of us, perhaps more mentally than
physically."
MATCH
STATISTICS
