RINDGE, N.H. (September 19, 2021) -- The Franklin Pierce University field hockey team held its own in the second half on Sunday afternoon at Sodexo Field. Unfortunately for the Ravens, the first half was a different story. Visiting New Haven controlled first-half play to the tune of a 9-3 advantage in shots and put home a pair of goals en route to a 3-1 win in the Northeast-10 Conference contest. Sophomore Julia Rooijakkers (Eindhoven, Netherlands) popped the lone goal for Franklin Pierce. Freshman Kelli Jacobson and sophomore Audrey Larson both scored their first collegiate goals on the New Haven side of the ledger.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 1-5 (0-4 NE10), while New Haven improves to 3-3 (3-0 NE10). For New Haven, which began its program in 2017, it marked the first-ever win over the Ravens, after being shutout in each of the previous four meetings between the two.

New Haven put home single goals in each of the first three quarters. In the 12^th minute, senior Julia Battino took a long shot from the top of the circle, which was kicked away by Franklin Pierce freshman goalkeeper Addy Araneo (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.). The rebound came out on the right side for Jacobson, who put her shot back through traffic and into the cage to open the scoring with her first collegiate goal.

In the 22^nd minute, senior Alexis Rider drew a defender to the right-wing side in the midfield and dished the ball into the middle for Battino. With plenty of space in front of her, Battino made a long run with the ball into the circle and drove home a shot from distance for her first goal of the campaign.

On the other side of halftime, in the 32^nd minute, senior Sophie Schreck took a long shot through traffic, which was tipped twice on the way towards the goal. First, Rooijakkers got her stick to the ball, but she could not keep it in front of her. From there, it ricocheted towards Larson, who got a piece of it as well. The deflections all conspired to put the ball behind Araneo, which gave Larson her first career score.

After facing the 9-3 margin in shot attempts in the first half, Franklin Pierce put in some better work in the second half. New Haven finished with advantages of 16-11 in shot attempts and 11-7 in shots on goal, while each team attempted 10 penalty corners.

The Ravens struggled to create goal-scoring changes off of their corner attempts all afternoon, but did convert one into their fourth-quarter goal. The ball came to the top of the circle for junior Meghan Winn (Newburyport, Mass.), who looked to send it towards the goal from there. Her shot was deflected by an on-rushing defender, but caromed directly to Rooijakkers in the middle of the scoring area. Rooijakkers corralled it and then sent it to the back of the cage for her first goal of the year.

Araneo (1-1) finished with seven saves against 10 shots in front of the Franklin Pierce net, while Winn added a third-quarter defensive save as well. At the other end of the field, graduate student Keira Integlia (3-3) stopped six of seven shots on her cage to pick up the win.

The Ravens will be back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 22, as they remain home to host No. 8 nationally ranked Stonehill in a 4 p.m. contest at Sodexo Field.