Hughes, Hislop lead Ravens to tenth New England Region title

RINDGE, N.H. (November 13, 2005) - Top-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 4 in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)adidas Division II poll, captured its tenth regional title with a 2-0 victory over second-seeded and No. 15-ranked Assumption College in the 2005 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer New England Regional Championship at Sodexho Field this afternoon.   

Franklin Pierce (18-1-2) advances to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament where it will host No. 5 West Chester (Pa.) University (20-1-2) next weekend. West Chester advanced with a 3-0 victory over No. 10 University of New Haven this afternoon. Date and time of the match will be announced on Monday. Assumption (15-4-4), making its second-straight NCAA appearance, sees its season come to a close.            

"Franklin Pierce is a team we respect," said Assumption Head Coach Neil Stafford. "But I really think a lot of credit should be given to my team. We've made major strides since last year and I thought we really  took it to them, but just could not finish. When you don't finish in championship games, you don't advance."

Senior All-Americans Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland) and Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) again led Franklin Pierce with a goal apiece. The Ravens finished with a 6-1 advantage in shots in the tightly contested match.

Hughes gave Franklin Pierce a much-needed lead just 8:05 into the match when she headed in a serve from junior Mia Makarainen (Espoo, Finland) from the left side on the near post.

"I called for the ball and Mia put it right on my head, I didn't have to do anything really," said Hughes. "It was huge to get on top today. Assumption has a good defense and they have a hard time scoring goals. We knew if we could just get the second, they wouldn't be able to score twice on us."             

Hislop iced the match with a superb strike from a low angle on the left side with the inside of her left foot that nestled into the upper right corner with 10:37 to play.

"I just turned and hit it, smacked it," said Hislop. "They thought it was a cross, but it was a shot all the way, we needed it too."

"It was a world-class finish," said Stafford. "Both were great goals and I'd much rather go out on those goals than the 35-yard blast last week." Franklin Pierce topped Assumption 1-0 with a long-range Hughes goal off a turnover with just 36-seconds left in regulation.

Sophomore Jenna Mello (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) registered her eighth shutout of the season without making a save, while Assumption sophomore Lauren Matysiak (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) stopped four shots.

The Greyhounds closest scoring chance came early in the match after a corner kick, when a loose ball at the top of the six in the center of the penalty area suddenly trickled towards the goal line, but was cleared by the Franklin Pierce defense.

"It's good to get out of the region," said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Jeff Bailey. "It's hard to play some of these teams two or three times, so it will be nice to finally play someone different. We don't know anything about (West Chester), they didn't play out of their region much and no one from our region, but we know they will be a quality team. We need to sort ourselves out this week, because I didn't think we played well overall today. It looked like Merrimack took a lot out of us, perhaps more mentally than physically."

MATCH STATISTICS