Letarte, Gamache Score Twice Each as Field Hockey Opens 2013 with 6-1 Win Over Dowling

Rogers, Wood find net as well

RINDGE, N.H. (September 7, 2013) – Senior forward Chanelle Letarte (Lunenburg, Mass.) scored twice, including the game-winner, and added an assist for a five-point afternoon on Saturday as the Franklin Pierce University field hockey team rang up a 6-1 win over Dowling in non-conference play at Sodexo Field. Junior forward Tori Gamache (Goffstown, N.H.) scored twice as well in the win for the Ravens.

With the win, Franklin Pierce opens the season at 1-0 (0-0 Northeast-10), while Dowling falls to 0-1. The game was the first in program history for the Golden Lions, who are in their inaugural season as a Division II independent in the sport of field hockey.

After scoring only 14 goals in 17 games a year ago, Franklin Pierce scored early and often on Saturday afternoon. Letarte got things started 8:43 into the first half, with a nifty move around a defender at the top of the circle to create her own shooting lane. She lifted the shot and put it past the goalkeeper into the top-right corner of the cage. It was her fourth straight game with a goal, as she scored in each of the final three games last season.

Letarte struck again to make it 2-0 just over five minutes later. Again, she worked around a defender, this time in the middle of the circle, to create her own shot and finished it inside the right post. It was the second career multiple-goal game for Letarte, who scored twice against Merrimack as a freshman on Oct. 6, 2011.

The Ravens made it 3-0 heading into halftime with another goal with 12:14 remaining in the stanza. Senior midfielder Alesia Gleason (Harwich, Mass.) had the ball on the left side of the circle and sent it to senior back Jess Rogers (Uxbridge, Mass.) at the top of the circle. Rogers sent a shot from there, which wound its way through traffic and inside the right post for her first of the season. In all, Franklin Pierce held a 16-2 edge in shot attempts in the first half, as well as an 8-1 advantage in penalty corners.

Franklin Pierce picked up right where it left off in the second half, as it extended the lead to 4-0 at the 12:55 mark of the frame. After the original shot on the play was blocked, the ball was caught up amidst a flurry of action in front of the cage. Letarte dug it out and slipped a pass to Gamache in front of the left post, and she banged it home from there. For Gamache, it was her first goal since the third game of her career, as she last found the cage on Sept. 8, 2011 at Assumption. For Letarte, the assist gave her the 18th performance of five points or more in program history, and she became the 13th different Franklin Pierce player to score five-plus points in a game. The last such outing for the Ravens came on October 20, 2011, when Tia Levins '12 scored twice and added an assist against Stonehill.

Dowling got on the board just 3:14 after the Gamache goal, as freshman midfielder Arianna Shams-Kollar scored the first goal in program history. Off a penalty corner, the ball was sent in to sophomore midfielder Kim Geiger on the left side of the circle. She slid a pass to Shams-Kollar at the top of the circle, and the latter blasted it home from there.

Franklin Pierce scored twice more in the final 6:10 to create the 6-1 final. First, off a penalty corner, junior midfielder Taylor Libby (Sidney, Maine) injected the ball to Gleason at the top of the circle, and Gleason passed the ball off to the left to sophomore midfielder Erin Trainor (Auburn, Mass.). Trainor wound and unleashed a shot which may have beat the keeper inside the left post anyway, but sophomore forward Erin Wood (Dover Plains, N.Y.) redirected it en route for the first goal of her career to make sure.

Gamache rounded out the scoring with 4:33 to play, when she put home her second of the afternoon to record her first career multiple-goal game. The original shot on the play from the top of the circle was deflected wide on the left-wing side of the cage by junior forward Courtney Kelly (Plymouth, N.H.). The deflection went straight to Gamache along the end-line to the left of the goal. She corralled the ball, turned and slipped a shot between the goalkeeper's pads and into the back of the cage.

When all was said and done, Franklin Pierce was dominant on the afternoon to the tune of a 33-5 advantage in shot attempts, a 20-1 edge in shots on goal, and a 17-5 advantage in penalty corners. The margin of victory could have been bigger, if not for a pair of defensive saves by Shams-Kollar for Dowling.

For Franklin Pierce, it was the biggest scoring output since Nov. 6, 2010, also at Sodexo Field, when the Ravens shutout Saint Michael's, 6-0. The last time the team scored more than six goals in a game was earlier in that 2010 season, on Sept. 29, in an 8-2 victory over Saint Anselm in Rindge. Saturday marked the sixth game of six or more goals in program history.

Freshman goalkeeper Amy Zahensky (Bow, N.H.) made her first career start in front of the cage for Franklin Pierce. Though she only faced the lone shot-on-goal attempt, which resulted in a goal for Dowling, she picked up her first career win (1-0). At the other end, sophomore Arianna Ovadia faced a barrage in front of the Dowling cage and made 12 saves while taking the loss (0-1).

The Ravens return to the field on Wednesday, Sept. 11, when they host Bentley in a non-conference contest. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Sodexo Field.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce field hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).