2003 NORTHEAST-10 
WOMEN’S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

Top-Seeded Franklin Pierce 
Out-Scores #2 Merrimack, 4-3
Welcome totals seven points, nets hat trick, 
to lead Ravens to wild win
Hislop named Tournament MVP after 16-point week

RINDGE, N.H. (November 9, 2003) – In a battle between the top two defensive and offensive teams in the Conference, the offense won out as top-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 7 in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, posted a wild 4-3 victory over second-seeded and No. 11-ranked Merrimack College in the highest scoring Northeast-10 Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament Championship match decided in regulation ever at the Franklin Pierce Field Hockey/Lacrosse Complex this afternoon.

            Junior All-American Meghan Welcome (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill), who was awarded her second-straight Northeast-10 Player of the Year award after the match, totaled seven points with a hat trick and assist to lead Franklin Pierce to its fourth-straight NE-10 Tournament title.

            Sophomore Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) added a goal and assist and was named the Tournament MVP as she finished the event with 16 points, having totaled seven goals and two assists, over the three matches. Classmate Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland) chipped in two assists for the victors.

            Junior Mary Blais (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) led Merrimack with a goal and assist.            

Franklin Pierce matched a Conference Championship match record with the four goals, while the seven combined markers also matched the highest scoring final in Conference history set in the 1996 title match when Quinnipiac College defeated Merrimack, 4-3 in a four-overtime thriller. Today’s match was the highest scoring regulation title match in Conference history.

            Welcome opened the scoring just 6:12 into the match as she took a Hughes through ball at the left wing and fired the first shot of the match into the lower right corner past the diving effort of Merrimack senior goalkeeper Erika Paiva (Rumford, R.I./St. Raphael).

            Franklin Pierce scored in the opening seven minutes in all three NE-10 Tournament matches and has scored in the opening ten minutes in four of its last five matches, overall.

            The Ravens carried the one-goal cushion into the intermission, but Merrimack knotted the score just 1:55 into the second half. Franklin Pierce senior goalkeeper Aase Kibsgaard (Korgen, Norway) stopped an initial shot by sophomore Hilary Caccamo (Milton, Mass./Milton), but couldn’t corral it, and Blais fired the loose ball into the net.

            Franklin Pierce regained its advantage just 17-seconds later as a Hislop cross from the right side found Welcome at the near post for a one-timed shot at 47:12.            

The Ravens lead grew to 3-1 in the 63^rd minute as Hislop collected a pass from Welcome and fired a low shot into the right corner. The goal, which came on Hislop’s first shot of the match, marked the first of the season by a player being marked by NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year Lindsay Sheffield (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown).

            Where many teams would have collapsed, Merrimack fought back. Junior Laurie Lamoureux (Leicester, Mass./Leicester) was on the receiving end of a cross from sophomore McKenzie Hogan (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) that was flicked by Blais and fired a shot from the top of the penalty area into the lower right corner at 64:19, just 2:06 after the Ravens had staked out the two-goal advantage.

            The Warriors equalized 5:08 later when freshman Kim Costanzo (Norwich, N.Y./Kellenburg) took a pass from classmate Laura Asbell (Tacoma, Wash./Bellermine Prep) at the top of the box and fired a shot that Kibsgaard got a hand on, but still slipped inside the right post.

            Welcome netted the winner at 78:51 when Hughes lobbed a pass over the defense, which Welcome settled before chipping a shot over Paiva and just under the crossbar.

            Welcome’s seven points on the day give her 125 for her career to pass Amy Hanlon as the highest scoring US-born player in program history and move into seventh place on the program’s all-time list. Hanlon totaled 124 points from 1991-94.            

Merrimack recorded a 22-18 shots advantage for the match after out-shooting the Ravens 13-6 over the opening 45-minutes. Kibsgaard finished with a career-high 11 saves for Franklin Pierce with eight of those stops coming in a scoreless first half.      Paiva made seven saves for Merrimack, with six in the second half. Neither team was awarded a corner kick in the second half, after Merrimack held a 7-1 advantage after 45-minutes.

            Franklin Pierce allowed three goals in a half for the first time since the 2001 NCAA Semifinals when it trailed Christian Brothers University 3-0 at the intermission en route to a 4-1 defeat. The three goals allowed are the most this season and the most scored by a New England Region opponent since Bentley College netted three in a 4-3 Franklin Pierce victory on September 27, 2001.

            Franklin Pierce remains undefeated all-time at home in postseason play (19-0) and extends its home unbeaten streak against New England Region opponents to 96 matches (94-0-2).

            These two teams now await official word from the NCAA Division II selection committee for their NCAA Tournament pairings. Franklin Pierce (18-2) will likely receive the New England Region’s top-seed, while Merrimack (19-3) will receive the No. 2 seed in the four-team New England Regional to be played on November 14 and 16. The NCAA’s announcement is expected on Monday at 5 p.m.

MATCH STATISTICS