#5 Franklin Pierce Rolls 
at Bentley, 5-1
Hislop in on four of Ravens five goals, 
but shutout streak halted

WALTHAM, Mass. (October 20, 2004) – Playing its fourth match in seven days, Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 5 in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, cruised to a 5-1 victory at Bentley College in Northeast-10 Conference women’s soccer action this afternoon.

            Franklin Pierce led 1-0 at the break, but broke the contest open with a pair of goals in the first ten minutes of the second half. Junior All-American Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) played a role in four of the Ravens five markers with two goals and two assists on the day.

            The Ravens also got a pair of goals from senior All-American Meghan Welcome (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) and a marker from junior Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland). Welcome, who was credited with her third match-winner of the season has now totaled 24 in her career, which is just two shy of the program record set by three-time All-American Pauliina Miettinen from 1995-98.            

Hislop opened the scoring in the 14^th minute after a ball from sophomore back Mia Makarainen (Espoo, Finland) found her on the right edge of the penalty area. Hislop beat one Bentley defender before chipping a shot over Falcon freshman goalkeeper Jackie Bourque (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield).

            The Ravens struck just 1:19 into the second half to double their advantage as Hislop connected with Welcome on a cross to the middle of the penalty area. Hughes netted the Ravens third in the 54^th minute before Hislop netted her second in the 63^rd before setting up Welcome again in the 73^rd to round out the Franklin Pierce scoring.

            Bentley was able to punch in a late goal off the foot of grad student Sarah Benson (Oxford, Mass./Oxford) that halted the Ravens five-match shutout streak dating back to September 30 – a scoreless minute streak of 540:08.

            Freshman Jenna Mello (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) and sophomore Linnea Authier (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) split time in goal for Franklin Pierce. Mello posted two saves in a scoreless first half for the Ravens, while Authier was called on to make a career-best seven stops in the second stanza while yielding the goal – just the second against her in 450 minutes in Conference play.

            Franklin Pierce (13-1, 11-1 NE-10) rounds out a five-match stretch in a span of ten days on Saturday when it hosts Southern New Hampshire University at 1 p.m. Bentley (3-11, 2-10 NE-10) hosts Southern Connecticut State University Saturday at 3 p.m.

MATCH STATISTICS