Williams earns third career shutout

RINDGE, N.H. (September 6, 2015) – Sophomore forward Carly Canavan (Kingston, N.Y.) took a secondary role with a pair of assists in Saturday's win, but on Sunday, she put herself on center stage for the Franklin Pierce University field hockey team. Canavan's two goals in a span of 2:30 in the first half were all the Ravens needed at Sodexo Field, en route to a 3-0 win over Bentley in non-conference play.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 2-0 (0-0 Northeast-10), while Bentley falls to 1-1 (0-0 Northeast-10).

Bentley put the game's first two shots on target, both of which were turned aside by sophomore goalkeeper Meaghan Williams (Salem, N.H.). Williams (2-0) would finish her third career shutout with 10 saves, but most of her heavy lifting came in the second half. Her team would control play through the remainder of the first half after the early flurry of Bentley shots.

From the 11th minute through the 25th minute, Franklin Pierce earned seven penalty corners and held Bentley to just one shot attempt -- which went wide -- as the play was primarily confined to the Falcons' end of the field. The Ravens first strong scoring chance came in the 15th minute, when senior forward Chelsey Burnell (Porter, Maine) had the goalkeeper beat but saw her shot cleared off the line by Bentley junior midfielder Tori Ellis for a defensive save.

Franklin Pierce finally found the back of the cage by capitalizing on the seventh corner play. Burnell injected the ball to freshman midfielder Raegan Moulton (Baldwinville, Mass.) at the top of the circle. Moulton laid the ball off on the right for senior midfielder Natalia Bachelder (South Berwick, Maine), who wound and fired towards the net. Canavan -- who was stationed outside the right post -- re-directed the ball around the goalkeeper and towards the center of the cage. A defender was on the scene to attempt the defensive save, but could not control the shot and deflected the ball over the goal line for Canavan's first goal of the season, in the 25th minute.

Canavan would need just two-and-a-half minutes to find the goal again, this time in the 28th minute. Moulton controlled the ball in the offensive end and worked her way into the circle along the endline on the right-wing side. Meanwhile Canavan had made her way to the right post again, at which point Moulton swatted the ball towards the cage. Canavan got her stick to the feed and deflected it between the goalkeeper's pads and into the net to double the lead to 2-0.

Franklin Pierce -- playing its second game in 24 hours -- controlled play during the first half, but appeared to tire in the heat as the second half wore on. In the first half, Franklin Pierce enjoyed advantages of 10-6 in shot attempts, 5-3 in shots on goal and 7-3 in penalty corners. Bentley flipped the script in the second 35 minutes, amassing advantages of 9-3, 7-2 and 4-1, respectively.

Before the Ravens ran out of steam, they added an insurance marker just 81 seconds into the second half. Moulton picked up her second assist of the day as she took a shot from the left side of the circle. Amid traffic out front, Burnell was able to reach out to deflect the ball past the keeper and into the cage for her first goal of the season, to create the 3-0 final.

Williams piled up seven saves in the second half to preserve the shutout, including key, back-to-back saves against senior midfielder Kelsey Howard with just over 10 minutes to play, in a surge following a Bentley timeout. Williams was tested for the final time in the 67th minute, when she turned aside a shot by sophomore midfielder Taylor Kane to effectively complete the shutout.

At the other end of the field, senior Katie Kelly played the first half and made two saves against four shots while taking the loss (1-1) for Bentley. Junior Evelyn Schaedel took over for the second half and stopped one of the two shots on her goal.

The Ravens return to the field on Wednesday, Sept. 9, when they remain home to host Southern Connecticut State in a non-conference contest. Game time is set for 6 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 can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).