Rindge, New Hampshire (September 5, 2015): Freshman forward Nathalia Maria da Silva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored two goals in the first half of play in her collegiate debut for the Franklin Pierce University Ravens women's soccer team on Saturday afternoon at Sodexo Field.  The two goals assisted in the Ravens 5-0 win against Felician in non-conference play.

Both teams playing their season opener, Felician ending today with a record of 0-1-0, keeper Julia Sheridan with a record of 0-1-0. The Ravens ending today with a record of 1-0-0 and keeper Casey Cook taking the win, her record now 1-0-0 to start the 2015 season.

In the first half of play both teams battling it out to get the first goal, that question was answered by da Silva in the 21^st minute of play, the ball was fed up the right side of the field by Madison Finlay (Plymouth, Mass) where da Silva then no defenders and shot inside the left post past Sheridan.

Amber Dempster (Belfast, Ireland), in her collegiate debut also had a great game, putting two shots on net, in the first half of play, one shot was saved by Sheridan and tipped over the goal.

The second goal was not far behind the first, in the 37^th minute Hannah Weagle (Ipswitch, Mass) crossed the ball to da Silva without traffic, this allowed an open shot on net, and da Silva's second goal of the game.

Da Silva being relentless, found her way around two defenders and the goalie, to put the shot on net which was quickly saved when a Falcons defender jumped in net and was able to block her attempted shot.

As the second half started both teams came out still aggressive, only yellow card of the game was on senior Kaycee Pereira (Ludlow, Mass).

The games third goal was in the 64^th minute of play, Sydney Stengel received a cross pass from
Madison Finlay. With no defenders in her way she was able to find the left post and put the ball in the back of the net.

Defender Samantha Rodriguez (Rehoboth, Mass) receiving an offensive point in today's match, assisting Nichole Donovan(Abington, Mass) from the defensive zone, sending the ball up the right side of the field where Donovan found an opening on the left side.

The final goal of the game was in the 87^th minute where Yasmin Civan (Antalya, Turkey) found the ball midfield and was able to maneuver past her defenders on a breakaway dodged Sheridan and finished her shot and put the ball in the middle of the net.

At the end of the match today, keeper Casey Cook recorded two saved in the 90 minutes of play, while Felician keeper Julia Sheridan recorded 15 saves. Ravens totaled 30 shot attempts while the Falcons had four.

The Ravens will play again September 6 at 2 p.m. at Sodexo Field against the Caldwell Cougars in a non-conference match.

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 volleyball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).