Gleason Double Snaps Skid as Field Hockey Slips Past SCSU, 4-3

Cartee adds first career point

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (October 17, 2013) – Senior midfielder Alesia Gleason (Harwich, Mass.) had her first career multiple-goal game on Thursday night, as she scored twice to lead the Franklin Pierce University field hockey team to a 4-3 win over Southern Connecticut State in Northeast-10 Conference play at Jess Dow Field. The win snapped an 11-game losing streak for Franklin Pierce. Senior forward Sarah Cebry scored twice in the loss for SCSU.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 2-11 (1-6 Northeast-10), while Southern Connecticut State falls to 3-10 (3-4 Northeast-10). The two teams will meet a second time in 2013, for a non-conference contest in Rindge to conclude the regular season on Nov. 2.

SCSU opened the scoring just 106 seconds into the night, when Cebry took a feed from freshman forward Jaime Matson and put a shot to the lower-left corner for her team-leading ninth goal of the season.

The Ravens would get the goal back and then some, scoring three times before the half ended. Gleason got Franklin Pierce on the board in the 17th minute off a penalty corner. Her original shot was turned aside by the goalkeeper, but she followed her own shot from the top of the circle and put home her fourth goal of the season on the rebound. She would score off another penalty corner play only 67 seconds later to give Franklin Pierce a lead it would never relinquish. Junior midfielder Taylor Libby (Sidney, Maine) injected the corner to the top of the circle for freshman forward Francesca Cartee (Rindge, N.H.), who stopped it there. Gleason took the drive and the shot went between the keeper's pads for her second goal of the night. For Cartee, the assist marked her first career point.

Junior forward Courtney Kelly (Plymouth, N.H.) made it a 3-1 advantage heading into the intermission with her second goal of the year in the 31st minute. Kelly had stationed herself at the left post and sophomore forward Chelsey Burnell (West Baldwin, Maine) found her there with a cross across the goalmouth, which Kelly finished off inside the left post.

Franklin Pierce struck one more time 11:40 into the second half to push the lead as high as 4-1. Senior forward Chanelle Letarte (Lunenburg, Mass.) collected her team-leading seventh goal of the season on a transition play, as she put a pass from Gleason between the goalkeeper's legs. The helper allowed Gleason to finish the night with five points, the first five-point effort by a Raven since Tia Levins '12 had two goals and an assist against Stonehill on Oct. 20, 2011.

After the Letarte goal, it was all SCSU, as the Owls nearly staged a frenzied second-half rally. SCSU earned all 13 second-half corners, and held a 22-3 advantage in shot attempts in the period as a result. However, SCSU struggled all night to put shots on-target, as despite a 30-15 edge in shot attempts, the Owls only generated a 10-9 edge in shots on goal.

The Owls cut the lead to 4-2 only 2:17 after Letarte's score, when sophomore forward Lauren Anderson batted a rebound out of midair and into the cage for her third goal of the campaign. Matson and Cebry would hook up again in the 62nd minute to cap the night's scoring in the aftermath of a penalty corner, as the latter took a feed from the former amidst a goalmouth scramble and scored her second goal of the game. The Owls would earn two penalty corners and took five shots over the final eight minutes, but put only one on goal and could not find the equalizer.

Sophomore Erin Wood (Dover, N.Y.) made her first career start in goal for the Ravens and made five saves against eight shots on goal to pick up the win (1-0). Sophomore Audrey Dolloff came up with seven saves against 11 shots on her cage and took the loss (3-10) in net for SCSU.

The Ravens return to the field on Wednesday, Oct. 23, when they return home to host Stonehill in a Northeast-10 Conference contest. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

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).