WICHITA FALLS, Texas. (December 1, 2005) – Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 4 in the final regular season NSCAA/adidas Division II poll, saw its quest for a record sixth National Championship come to an end with a tough 2-1 loss to No. 7 University of Nebraska-Omaha in semifinal round action of the 2005 NCAA Division II Championship, hosted by Midwestern State University, at the MSU Soccer Stadium this afternoon.

            Nebraska-Omaha (19-2-0) advances to its second championship match in the last four years and will face the winner of tonight’s second semifinal between No. 23 Carson-Newman University and No. 2 Seattle Pacific University for the National Championship on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (EST). The Mavericks, making their fourth-straight Final Four appearance, will be looking to clinch their first championship. Franklin Pierce, participating in its 13^th Final Four over the last 14 years, sees its season come to a close at 19-2-2.

            “We’re certainly very disappointed,” said Franklin Pierce head coach Jeff Bailey, who will have to wait until next season to record his 200^th career victory (199-13-6). “We started brightly and scored a nice goal, but let them back in the match and then didn’t respond well to the pressure in the second half and let in a fluke goal and were forced to chase things.”            

Freshman forward Amanda Iwansky (Columbus, Neb./Columbus) netted the winner in the 62^nd minute when Franklin Pierce sophomore goalkeeper Jenna Mello (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) attempted a clear, only to have her kick blocked into an open goal by Iwansky. The goal was her seventh of the NCAA Tournament, matching the championship record set by Christian Brothers University’s Missy Gregg in 2002.

            “It certainly worked out better than I expected,” said Iwansky of the goal. “I was just trying to force the goalkeeper to make a decision on either kicking it out or making a pass. She kicked it and let’s just say it hit my side and went in.”

            “I called for the pass back,” said Mello. “But the pass was a little slow and (Iwansky) came faster than I had expected.”

Franklin Pierce had the better run of play early in the match, but had a couple early chances thwarted by UNO’s offside trap. However, the Ravens broke through in the 19^th minute as senior All-American Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) timed her run perfectly and junior back Kristen Lake (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) found her with a long ball over the top for a break away. Hislop broke in one-on-one with UNO senior goalkeeper Amy Price (Omaha, Neb./Marian) and slotted a shot low to the right side at 18:32.            

The goal came just moments after Franklin Pierce sophomore midfielder Jenna Giardina (Pittsfield, Mass./Taconic) cleared a shot by UNO senior Meghan Pike (Columbus, Neb./Columbus Scotus) off the line near the right post in the 15^th minute.

            The Mavericks answered minutes later after one of their eight first half corner kicks (12 for the match) when sophomore Brandie Beale (Independence, Mo./Fort Osage) fired in a rebound from the right side high into the left side of the net after the initial shot by junior Beth McGill (Omaha, Neb./Marian) was blocked by the Franklin Pierce defense at 27:01.

            Franklin Pierce had two great chances to take a lead just before the break as a Hislop corner caromed off the cross bar to senior All-American Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland), but her rebound also clanged off the bar with ten seconds to play in the stanza.

            The Ravens appeared to take a lead just five minutes into the second half. Freshman Rebecca Westbury (Northbridge, Mass./Northbridge) knocked in a Hislop corner kick at the near post, but the goal was disallowed as the referee deemed Westbury’s kick dangerous as Price was caught bent over on the scramble.

            “Franklin Pierce was quite an opponent,” said UNO Head Coach Don Klosterman. “They really came out strong and we looked a little nervous. (Hislop) is truly an All-American and Franklin Pierce is an awfully, awfully good team. That said, I thought we showed a lot of character in giving up an early goal to come back and win.”

            Hislop closes out her three year Franklin Pierce career ranked second in program history with 222 points and 86 goals, while her 50 assists are good for third all-time. She ranks seventh in Division II history in career points, 12^th in goals and ninth in assists.

MATCH STATISTICS