WALTHAM, Mass. (September 1, 2016) – With the season opener seemingly destined for overtime, the Franklin Pierce University field hockey team found just enough offense to get the job done late in regulation on Thursday night. Senior midfielder Kenady Kelly (Plymouth, N.H.) deflected home a feed from senior midfielder Andrea Fahey (Hudson, Mass.) with just 102 seconds to play, to lift the Ravens to a 1-0 win over Bentley in non-conference play at Bentley University Turf Field.

With the win, Franklin Pierce opens its season at 1-0, while Bentley falls to 0-1. It marked the sixth straight season the Ravens won their season opener.

The 69th-minute strike stood as the only tally of the game, breaking up a defensive struggle which nearly produced a scoreless regulation. In the first half, Bentley enjoyed the lion's share of the scoring chances, racking up a 10-3 advantage in shots along the way.

The Falcons easily could have taken a lead into halftime, were it not for the work of junior goalkeeper Meaghan Williams (Salem, N.H.) and the Franklin Pierce defense. Williams made a pair of back-to-back saves against sophomore forward Rachel Crowley to shut down an odd-man rush just after the 11-minute mark. Later, after the 25-minute mark, the Ravens earned back-to-back penalty corners, but came up empty, with Bentley springing a counterattack which produced a partial breakaway headed towards the Ravens net. Williams came off her line to smother the threat and keep the game scoreless heading into the intermission.

The Ravens flipped the script in the second half, using a 5-2 edge in penalty corners to produce an 11-5 advantage in shot attempts over the final 35 minutes. Still, the game remained scoreless until the waning minutes. At one end, Williams and the Franklin Pierce defense continued to shut down the Falcons, who again enjoyed the better of the chances which came through the run of play. At the other end, Bentley sophomore goalkeeper Jana Mones and the Bentley backline turned aside each of the five second-half corners earned by the Ravens.

Finally, after the 68-minute mark, just after the team came up empty on its seventh and final corner of the night, the Ravens found a chink in the Bentley defense to strike for the game's only goal. With the ball outside the circle on the right-wing side, Fahey wound and drove the ball towards the cage. Kelly was stationed about 10 yards off the right post and was able to get her stick to the drive, redirecting it beyond the reach of Mones and into the cage for her first goal of the season. With just 1:42 to play, Bentley was left without enough time to mount a credible threat at the other end of the field, leaving the Ravens to come away with the 1-0, season-opening victory.

Williams (1-0) stopped all nine shots on her cage to post her fifth career shutout. Senior goalkeeper Evelyn Schaedel played the first half in net for Bentley and stopped both shots she faced. Mones (0-1) took over after the halftime break and made four saves against five shots on goal while taking the loss.

The Ravens return to the field on Saturday, Sept. 3, when they return home to host Mercy in a non-conference contest. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

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).