Letarte scores in final game; Trainor tallies five points

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2013) – Sophomore forward Erin Trainor (Auburn, Mass.) bookended the scoring on the Saturday afternoon, and put home the game-winner with 6:43 to play in regulation, as the Franklin Pierce University field hockey team capped its season with a 5-4 win over Southern Connecticut State in a raucous non-conference affair at Sodexo Field. Senior forward Sarah Cebry scored three of the four SCSU goals in the loss.

With the win, Franklin Pierce wraps up its season at 3-15 (1-9 Northeast-10), while Southern Connecticut State falls to 5-13 (4-6 Northeast-10) and must wait until tomorrow to find out if they've qualified for the Northeast-10 Championship. For the Ravens, the win finished off a two-game season sweep of SCSU, as Franklin Pierce posted a 4-3 win in New Haven, Conn. on Oct. 17. The Ravens held their Senior Day ceremony before the start of Saturday's game, honoring the careers of back Jess Rogers (Uxbridge, Mass.), midfielder Alesia Gleason (Harwich, Mass.) and forward Chanelle Letarte (Lunenburg, Mass.).

In a game that was all over the map, with both teams pouring in goals, the Ravens struck first, in just the fourth minute of play. Sophomore forward Chelsey Burnell (West Baldwin, Maine) had the ball on the left side of the circle and pushed it towards the goal. Trainor was deftly able to get her stick on the ball en route and redirect it between the goalkeeper's pads for her third goal of the season to open the scoring.

The teams would alternate goals through the remainder of the first half, with Franklin Pierce eventually coming away with a 3-2 halftime lead. In the 11th minute, senior forward Sarah Cebry tracked down a loose ball in the goalmouth and put home her team-leading 16th goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. In the 20th minute, junior forward Courtney Kelly (Plymouth, N.H.) banged home a rebound inside the right post for her third goal of the season to allow the Ravens to reclaim the lead. Again Cebry tied the game, this time in the 23rd minute on a strong individual effort. With possession of the ball, she found a seam in the Franklin Pierce defense and cut across the circle from left to right in front of the cage. She fired a shot against her momentum and snuck it inside the left post for her second goal of the game.

In the 25th minute, Kelly's second goal of the afternoon gave the Ravens a 3-2 lead heading into the intermission. A defensive breakdown allowed the ball and a pair of Franklin Pierce forwards to get behind the SCSU back line. Letarte pushed the ball ahead to Kelly, and the latter slotted it inside the right post for her first career multiple-goal game.

Franklin Pierce was dominant for long stretches of the first half, to the tune of an 11-0 advantage in penalty corners, a 22-4 advantage in shot attempts and a 17-4 margin in shots on goal.

The Ravens earned the game's first two-goal margin just 4:39 into the second half, when Letarte capped a three-point day with the final goal of her collegiate career. Trainor picked up the assist on the play, as she sent the ball towards the net from the right side and Letarte deflected home her eighth of the season. It was the 18th goal of Letarte's career, allowing her to finish tied with Danielle Dolan '12 for fifth in program annals.

The game went without another goal for the next 12 minutes, before SCSU struck in the 52nd and 56th minutes to tie the game at 4-4 with 14:30 to play. First, freshman forward Jaime Matson buried a rebound chance inside the left post for her 10th goal of the campaign. Later, the Owls broke off a 3-on-2 rush in the offensive third on a counter-attack off a failed Franklin Pierce odd-man rush. Cebry was the middle of the three and dished the ball off on the right side to Matson when the trio reached the top of the circle. Matson immediately sent it back into the middle for Cebry, who cleanly beat the goalkeeper to finish off her hat trick.

The tie would last for nearly eight minutes before Trainor capped the scoring with the game-winning goal with 6:43 to play. Off a broken play, there was a scramble for a loose ball near the penalty spot. Trainor found it first and put it to the back of the cage. It marked the first multiple-goal game of her career.

Freshman goalkeeper Erin Wood (Dover, N.Y.) got the start, made two saves on four shots on goal and did not factor in the decision in net for Franklin Pierce. Freshman Amy Zahensky (Bow, N.H.) took over after halftime and made four saves against six shots on goal the rest of the way to pick up the win (2-12) for the Ravens. Sophomore Audrey Dolloff was peppered with 26 shots on goal in front of the SCSU cage and came up with 21 saves, but was tagged with the loss (5-13) anyway.

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).