Welcome, Hislop Named 
First Team NSCAA/adidas All-Americans
Pair give Franklin Pierce Division II best 22 first team All-Americans in program history 

RINDGE, N.H. (December 17, 2003) – One of the highest scoring duos in NCAA Division II history have earned a place National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II All-America first team.

            Junior co-captain Meghan Welcome (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) and sophomore Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) both were named to the All-America first team announced today after combining for 58 goals and 32 assists for 148 points for Franklin Pierce this season to lead the Ravens to their record sixth National Championship match. The pair’s point total ranks behind only the Christian Brothers (Tenn.) University combination of Missy Gregg and Margaret Saurin who combined for 237 points in 2001 and 208 in 2002.

            The pair give Franklin Pierce a Division II record 22 first team All-Americans in program history, moving ahead of Barry (Fla.) University’s 20. The Ravens have now had a total of 30 All-Americans overall.                    

Welcome, becomes the first US-born player at the College to be named All-American two times after earning her first award as a sophomore in 2002 and is the seventh player in program history overall to earn the honor twice. Welcome also became the third player in Conference history to earn Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year honors two times this fall and the second to earn the award in back-to-back seasons. She is a three-time All-Conference selection and two-time All-New England pick, and has also been named to the All-NCAA Tournament team in back-to-back years as well.

            Welcome, who appears in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of this week’s Sports Illustrated, finished the season ranked second only to Hislop 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. Welcome has also totaled 21 match-winning goals in her career.            

Hislop earns her first All-America selection after also earning first team All-New England and All-Northeast-10 accolades in her first season at the College. Hislop led the nation with 85 points and 23 assists, while her NE-10 leading 31 goals were good for second in the nation. She became the seventh player since the Northeast-10 began sponsoring women’s soccer as a championship sport in 1984 to lead the Conference in points, goals and assists and the first to do so since Merrimack’s Kim Hall posted the “triple-crown” in 1997. Hislop also totaled a team-best five hat tricks, with three of those coming in postseason play, seven match-winning goals and seven first goals.

            Hislop set a program record on September 24, when she totaled 13 points with a program-record matching five goals to go with three assists in a 10-1 Ravens win over Stonehill College.

            The six-time NE-10 Player of the Week was named MVP of the Conference Tournament as she totaled 16 points with seven goals and two assists in the three matches to lead the Ravens to their fourth-straight title. She was also named to the All-NCAA Tournament team as she led all Franklin Pierce players with five goals to go with an assist for 11 points. Her five markers in the Tournament were just two shy of the NCAA Division II Tournament record.

            Hislop’s point total from this season ranks second on the program’s single-season list and is the sixth-highest single-season total in NCAA Division II history. Her 23 assists fell just one shy of Angela Verdoes’ record of 24 set in 1999 and is the fifth-highest single-season total in Division II lore. Her 31 goals are tied for the fifth-highest total in program history and is tied for 17^th-highest for a single-season in DII history.

            Hislop will enter her junior season at the College ranked 13^th on the program’s all-time scoring list and tied for 12^th on its career goals list.        

                        Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 2 in the final NSCAA/adidas Division II poll, earned its 12^th NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to a record 12^th-consecutive Final Four, reaching the National Championship match for a record sixth time before falling to Kennesaw State (Ga.) University, 2-0. 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.