Welcome Featured in 
SI’s “Faces in the Crowd”
Haverhill, Mass., native included in December 15 issue
of Sports Illustrated which hits newsstands today 

RINDGE, N.H. (December 11, 2003) – Junior All-American and two-time Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year Meghan Welcome (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) is featured in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of the December 15^th issue Sports Illustrated which hit newsstands today.

            Welcome is the fifth individual from Franklin Pierce to be featured in “Faces in the Crowd” and the first since women’s soccer Head Coach Jeff Bailey following the Ravens fifth National Championship season in 1999. Others who have been included in “Faces in the Crowd” from the College are former women’s soccer All-Americans Pauliina Miettinen (11/10/97) and Nathalie Geeris (12/26/94) and men’s basketball Hall of Famer Bob Szklarz (1968).                       

            Welcome became just the third player in Conference history to earn Player of the Year honors two times and the second to earn the award in back-to-back seasons. She has also earned All-New England status for the second-straight year and earned her first All-America selection as a sophomore. She has also been named to the All-NCAA Tournament team in back-to-back years.            

Welcome, a three-time All-Northeast-10 Conference pick, finished the season ranked second only to teammate Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) among Conference leaders with 63 points (3^rd in the nation) and 27 goals (4^th), while her nine assists ranked third on the team. Her point and goal totals surpassed her own single-season scoring record for a US-born player set during her sophomore year when she netted 20 goals and registered 46 points. She netted a team-best ten match-winning goals, eight match-opening goals and totaled two hat tricks. Welcome led the Conference during the regular season with 19 goals to earn the NE-10’s Gold Ball Award for the second-straight year. Welcome was named NE-10 Player of the Week on two occasions this fall, running her career total for the weekly honor to four.

            Welcome will enter her senior season ranked seventh in program history with 128 career points, while her 54 career goals rank sixth all-time. This season she surpassed Amy Hanlon’s (1991-94) career goal and point records for a US-born player. She has also totaled 21 match-winning goals in her career.

            Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 2 in the final NSCAA/adidas Division II poll, earned its 12^th NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to its record 12^th-consecutive Final Four where it reached the National Championship match for a record sixth time before falling to Kennesaw State (Ga.) University, 2-0, on Saturday night. The Ravens finished with a 22-3 record overall, claimed their third-straight Northeast-10 regular season title with a 13-1 mark and fourth-straight Conference Tournament Championship before capturing an eighth-straight NCAA New England Region crown.