2003 NORTHEAST-10 
WOMEN’S SOCCER TOURNAMENT

Top-Seeded Franklin Pierce Coasts 
Past #8 Pace, 6-0
Hislop, Welcome lead offensive charge, 
Ravens to face Southern N.H. in semis

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2003) – Top-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 9 in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, jumped out to an early lead and coasted to a 6-0 victory over eighth-seeded Pace University in quarterfinal round action of the 2003 Northeast-10 Conference women’s soccer tournament this afternoon.

            Franklin Pierce (16-2) advances to Wednesday’s semifinal round and will host fifth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University (11-3-4) at a time to be determined. Southern New Hampshire advanced with a 2-1 victory at fourth-seeded Bryant College (14-5-2) today. Pace wraps up its season with a 9-8-1 record overall.            

Sophomore forward Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) totaled seven points with three goals and an assist, while junior All-American Meghan Welcome (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) added five points with a goal (50th of her career) and three assists to lead the Franklin Pierce offense to its largest goal output against a Conference opponent since its 10-1 win over Stonehill College back on September 24.

            Hislop netted the only goal Franklin Pierce would need just 3:25 into the contest when she took a through ball from Welcome and marched in one-on-one with Pace sophomore goalkeeper Ria Carroll (Warwick, R.I./Toll Gate) and fired the Ravens first shot of the match into the upper right corner of the net.

            Sophomore Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland) gave the Ravens a two-goal lead just 7:26 later when she chipped a shot over Carroll from just outside the penalty area after a long ball over the top from freshman Mia Makarainen (Espoo, Finland) was flicked in by Welcome.            

Welcome knocked in a rebound on the line after a cross from Hislop for her goal in the 31^st minute and Hislop rounded out the first half scoring with a penalty kick at the 32:28-mark after Welcome was dragged down in the box.

            Hislop opened the second half scoring in the 62^nd minute to finish off her third hat trick of the season and sophomore Kirsi Ekberg (Klaukkala, Finland) rounded out the scoring with her first career goal in the 77^th minute, assisted by senior Jillian Tente (Wakefield, R.I./South Kingstown).

            Senior goalkeeper Aase Kibsgaard (Korgen, Norway) made three saves for Franklin Pierce to post her seventh shutout of the season and 15^th of her career to move into sole possession of fifth place on the College’s all-time list.

            Carroll finished with seven saves for the Setters in just under 71-minutes of work before giving way to freshman Jocelyn Durando (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury), who totaled three stops over the final 19:03.

            Franklin Pierce finished with a 26-5 advantage in shots for the match after taking a 15-0 advantage after 45-minutes.

MATCH STATISTICS