Howard scores twice and Hannington makes three saves for first career shutout

RINDGE, N.H. (October 4, 2007) - For the first time this season, the Franklin Pierce University field hockey team found more than just statistics to back up its domination of play ­- it found results. Junior Stephanie Howard (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) had her first career two-goal game and freshman Tevis Hannington (Canton, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) made three saves for her first career shutout as the Ravens defeated Saint Anselm College by a score of 3-0 in a Northeast-10 Conference field hockey match on Thursday night at Sodexho Field.

Sophomore Ashley Abernethy (Bellingham, Mass./Bellingham) also had a big game for the Ravens, scoring her third goal of the season and assisting on Howard's game-winning tally.

After controlling play in many matches only to come up empty, Franklin Pierce finally broke through against the Hawks with an excellent effort. The Ravens held a 16-7 shot advantage and forced Saint Anselm netminder Riley Haddock (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) to make nine saves, while Hannington only needed to make three stops to earn her first collegiate victory.

Franklin Pierce came out very strongly in the first half, holding an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal and putting constant pressure on the visitors' defense. The Ravens earned a penalty stroke that Haddock turned away and forced two defensive saves from Saint Anselm's Sara Griffin (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy), but the team could not break through until Howard found the net at 31:28. Off an aborted penalty corner attempt, Abernethy found Howard near the top of the circle and she powered the ball past Haddock to give her team a one-goal lead.

Saint Anselm seemed determined to find the equalizer early in the second half, earning six penalty corners in the first 10 minutes of the half and putting consistent pressure on the Raven defense. The Ravens did not buckle, however, and the home team eventually regained control of play.

After the initial pressure, Franklin Pierce returned to the Saint Anselm end and put two more balls into the back of the net before the final whistle.  At the 54:30 mark, Abernethy took a cross-field pass from graduate student Mary Beth Huszar (Greenville, N.H./Mascenic Regional) that found its way through a crowd and she buried it in the right corner for her third goal of the year. Then, with time winding down in the second half, Howard put an exclamation point on the win by sending a rocket past Haddock off a Raven penalty corner. Freshman Nicole Henrique (Swansea, Mass./Joseph Case) and junior co-captain Kayleigh Jaksina (Townsend, Mass./North Middlesex) recorded assists on the tally.

The Ravens tallied season-highs with their 17 shots and 14 shots on goal, and also tied a season-low by allowing only three shots on goal by their opponent.

Franklin Pierce (1-12, 1-9 NE-10) will look to continue its momentum on Saturday night, when the Ravens travel to Smithfield, R.I., to take on eighth-ranked Bryant College at 7 p.m. Saint Anselm (4-8, 4-7 NE-10) will look to regroup against Assumption on Saturday.