Katie Weldon stops five shots in net for the Ravens

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (October 31, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's soccer team dropped a tough 1-0 overtime decision at Merrimack on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship in North Andover, Mass. The Ravens fell to 9-7-2, while the Warriors improved to 11-7-1.

Katie Bresciani scored the match-winner for Merrimack in the 98th minute after both sides produced strong scoring chances in the opening minutes of the extra period.

Bresciani's goal came about from a long stretch pass from Sarah Coakley, which was sent out of the Merrimack box following multiple shots placed on net by the Ravens. Coakley's pass cleared the Franklin Pierce backline on the other side of the field and Bresciani was able to chase down the pass, dribble down into the box and send a shot over the diving Franklin Pierce goalkeeper Katie Weldon (Manchester, N.H.), who made a strong charge at trying to stop the shot.

The win enabled Merrimack to advance to the NE-10 semifinals on Friday night.

Despite allowing the goal, Weldon made a solid five saves in net as she fell to 2-4-1 on the year. In fact, she made back-to-back saves in the final of minute of regulation off a Merrimack corner kick attempt to preserve the scoreless tie and send the match into overtime.

Franklin Pierce outshot the Warriors, 22-20, as both teams put six shots on goal. Junior forward Talita Pereira (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who earlier in the day was named to the All-NE-10 Second-Team, fired off a match-high nine shots, including putting three on goal. Coakley registered four shots to pace Merrimack's attack, while Bresciani logged three of her own.

Nicole Curtis started in goal for Merrimack and earned the shutout victory by stopping all six shots to run her record to 11-7-1 on the year.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women's soccer, 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 women's soccer apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)