Ravens Move On with 3-1 Win over Southern Connecticut

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (November 11, 2000) - Their national ranking may have slipped, their ability to dominate a league may be over, and the awards they once hoarded may now go to other players, but the defending national champions of Franklin Pierce are still not ready to hand over certain titles.

They proved they are still the best in New England by scoring a pair of late goals to knock off Southern Connecticut State University, 3-1, Saturday at Jess Dow Field in the first round of the NCAA Division II women's soccer tournament.

The Ravens (17-2-2) now advance to the quarterfinal round where they will play the winner of Sunday's first-round match between Lock Haven (Pa.) University and Bloomsburg (Pa.) University. Date and site of that match will be determined Monday.

By Franklin Pierce standards - set by the program's NCAA Division II-record five national titles - this has been an up-and-down year for the Ravens.

After not losing a match during their six years in the New England Collegiate Conference, the Ravens not only lost a match during their first season in the Northeast-10, they failed to finish first during the regular season. That honor went to Southern Connecticut, which pulled out a 1-0 win over Franklin Pierce during the regular season.

The Ravens were also shut out of all major individual conference awards - something that never happened during their years in the NECC. And, while the Ravens gained a measure of revenge in last week's 3-2 win over the Owls in the NE-10 championship game, they were still seeded second by the NCAA in the New England Regional tournament - another first.

So forced to play on Southern's home field for the third time this year, the Ravens responded with one of their best performances of the year as the improved to 6-0 in regional tournament games.

They fell behind 1-0 in the 16th minute when a shot by Southern's Jenny Wilkin slipped through the hands of Franklin Pierce goalkeeper Kim Higgins (Rochester, N.H.), but came back with three unanswered goals as they improved their postseason record to 22-1 since 1994.

Senior co-captain Tanja Pihlblad Lonsboda, Sweden) tied the game in the 34th minute when she headed in a crossing pass from Jenny Petronis (Burnt Hills, N.Y.). Petronis corralled a long pass upfield from Julia Uusmalmi (Tampere, Finland) and played the ball to Pihlblad, who has now scored in six straight games, piling up 11 goals in that span.

The Ravens went ahead for good in the 86th minute as misfortune struck the Owls (19-2) when Southern defender Beba Stratakis sent a back pass to goalkeeper Shannon Mason. With two Franklin Pierce players charging toward her, Mason fanned on her kick and the ball rolled into the net to give the Ravens a 2-1 lead.

Freshman forward Stephanie Hartenstein (Chelmsford, Mass.) sealed the win 97 seconds later when she beat the Southern defense to a long through pass from Andrea Caesar (Visby, Sweden) and popped the ball past the charging Mason.

After continuing their success against teams in their region, the Ravens now look to keep alive another streak next week. They will have to beat whichever team emerges from Sunday's Northeast Regional match to advance to the semifinal round for the ninth straight year.

12:58 P.M.-Kickoff:
1:00 SCSU foul on FP
35 yard line-Gould taken down
1:58 Kirby, FPC, shot from 10 yards out on long ball from Mustonen, save Mason
9:00 --Great Chance-- Mustonen, FP
shot from 7 yards on breakaway, save Mason out of bounds.
FP
corner kick
9:05 Caesar, FP
corner kick headed out of bounds by SCSU player.
FP
corner kick
10:58 --Great Chance-- Kirby, FP
shot from 15 yards out on Petronis corner kick,
save Mason
11:12 --Great Chance-- Pihlblad, FP
shot from 18 yards out wide right
13:00 Kirby, FPC, shot from 7 yards out save, Mason
13:45 FP
corner kick, Uusmalmi kicked out of bounds
14:20 SCSU foul, Kirby taken down on 20 yard line. FP
free kick
15:27: SCSU GOAL: Wilken from 8 yards from Uliano, through the hands of Higgins
16:45 SCSU foul, Mustonen taken down at midfield
22:00 SCSU foul, Mustonen taken down on SCSU 40 yard line
22:28 Mustonen, FPC, header from 9 yards from Uusmalmi save by Mason
24:12 --Great Chance-- Pihlblad, FP
shot from 10 yards on breakaway, wide left
28:00 SCSU foul, Gould taken down from behind on midfield
28:09 Petronis, FP
shot from left flank 25 yards out wide right
31:24 SCSU foul, Mustonen taken down on 20 yard line
31:46 Uusmalmi, FP
shot off free kick, save Mason
32:20 SCSU corner kick
32:49: --Great Chance-- Uliano, Shot from 5 yards save Higgins, Quaranta shot off rebound cleared off line, Martikainen shot cleared off line
33:45 SCSU foul, Mustonen taken down from behind on SCSU 25 yard line
33:58 FP
GOAL. Tanja Pihlbad header from 5 yards off to lower left corner off cross from Jenny Petronis and long ball from Julia Uusmalmi
38:00 SCSU foul, Salomaa taken down from behind on SCSU 45 yard line
39:21 FP
foul in SCSU box on crossing pass
39:45 Heslin, SCSU shot from 17 yards save Higgins
41:10 --Great Chance-- Mustonen, FP
lost ball on breakaway, save Mason
41:35 Kirby, FP
shot from 10 yards on breakaway-right flank wide right
44:45 Mustonen, FP
shot off high bounce while falling down, high over goal
-Halftime-
47:02 FP
corner kick, Kirby taken down on end line
Mason punched ball out on corner by Uusmalmi, FP
corner kick off SCSU defender. Caesar, FP
shot off corner kick low to right save by Mason
50:32 FP
substitution
50:45 --Great Chance-- scramble in front of SCSU net cleared away. Mustonen, FP
shot from 20 yards deflected out of bounds. FP
corner kick. Uusmalmi shot off corner kick deflected out of bounds by SCSU defender. FP
corner kick. Caesar corner kick deflected out, ball out off SCSU. FP
corner kick. Ball cleared out of bounds. SCSU hand ball in box not called by official.
54:00 clock stopped for FP
injury. Pihlblad down after getting inadvertant kick to leg. Stephanie Hartenstein substitution for Pihlbad
57:00 --Great Chance-- Mustonen, FP
header in box off crossing pass save Mason
57:04 --Great Chance-- Mustonen, FP
shot from 10 yards on breakaway hit the cross bar
57:04 SCSU mass substitutions
64:00 mark- 26:00 remaining in regulation
64:45 Uusmalmi, FP
shot from 25 yards high
65:00 SCSU foul, Mustonen taken down at midfield
65:30 Mustonen, FP
shot from 14 yards while falling down, save Mason
65:49 SCSU foul, Petronis taken down at FP
45 yards line on right flank
68:00 FP
foul at FP
20 yards line
68:04 Pihlblad re-enters game for Hartenstein
70:00 SCSU foul, Caesar tackled on FP
10 yard line.
74:50 SCSU corner kick
77:00 FP
substitution. Hartenstein re-enters for Pihlblad
83:55 Mustonen, FP
pass deflected off SCSU defender. FP
corner kick
Mustonen, FP
header wide left
85:12: Fitzgerald, SCSU shot from 25 yards save Higgins
85:48 FP
Goal.!! SCSU own goal, Beba Stratakis played ball back to Mason, Mason kicked at ball and missed. Ball rolled into back of net.
87:25 FP
Goal.!! Stephanie Hartenstein lofted ball over Mason's head from 20 yards after long pass from Andrea Caesar.
89:15 Uusmalmi, FP
shot from 25 yards save Mason
89:40 SCSU foul at midfield, Hingston shoved down from behind.
-Final Score-FP
Advances

Corner Kicks: FP 9, SCSU, 2
Shots: FP, 19, SCSU 6