Welcome, Makila, Hislop selected to first team Kibsgaard and Hughes earn second team honors 

RINDGE, N.H. (December 11, 2003) - The NCAA Division II runner-up Franklin Pierce women's soccer team placed five players on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II All-New England Region teams announced this week.

Junior All-American and two-time Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year Meghan Welcome (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) and classmate and fellow co-captain Martta Makila (Vantaa, Finland) along with sophomore forward Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) were named to the All-New England first team, while senior goalkeeper Aase Kibsgaard (Korgen, Norway) and sophomore midfielder Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland) earned second team All-Region honors.                

Welcome, just the third player in Conference history to earn Player of the Year honors two times and the second to earn the award in back-to-back seasons, earns All-New England status for the second-straight year and earned her first All-America selection as a sophomore. She has also been named to the All-NCAA Tournament team in back-to-back years.

Welcome, a three-time All-Northeast-10 Conference selection, finished the season ranked second only to Hislop among Conference leaders with 63 points (3^rd in the nation) and 27 goals (4^th), while her nine assists ranked third on the team. Her point and goal totals surpassed her own single-season scoring record for a US-born player set during her sophomore year when she netted 20 goals and registered 46 points. She netted a team-best ten match-winning goals, eight match-opening goals and totaled two hat tricks. Welcome led the Conference during the regular season with 19 goals to earn the NE-10's Gold Ball Award for the second-straight year. Welcome was named NE-10 Player of the Week on two occasions this fall, running her career total for the weekly honor to four.

Welcome will enter her senior season ranked seventh in program history with 128 career points, while her 54 career goals rank sixth all-time. This season she surpassed Amy Hanlon's (1991-94) career goal and point records for a US-born player. She has also totaled 21 match-winning goals in her career.            

Makila, a two-time All-Northeast-10 Conference honoree, also picks up her second-straight All-New England selection. Makila anchors a Franklin Pierce defense that led the Northeast-10 Conference, allowing just 0.84 goals per match this season (25^th in Division II) with nine shutouts. She has also stepped into the offensive flow on occasion and has totaled nine points this fall with three goals (one match-winner) and three assists.

Makila, also a two-time All-NCAA Tournament team selection, has totaled 28 points with 11 goals and six assists in her three-year career. She was selected to the All-NCAA Tournament team for the first time as a sophomore when she led all Ravens with three goals and six points. The two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District I selection (3.73 GPA), has been a three-year starter in the Ravens backline, playing 68 of a possible 69 matches with the defense allowing just 0.78 goals per match over her career with 31 shutouts. She was also named an NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll Silver Scholar for 2002-2003.             

Hislop, an All-New England selection for the first time, has teamed with Welcome as the top-scoring duo in all of Division II. Hislop, also a first team All-Northeast-10 Conference pick, led the nation in her first season at Franklin Pierce with 85 points and 23 assists, while her NE-10 leading 31 goals were good for second in the nation. She became the seventh player since the Northeast-10 began sponsoring women's soccer as a championship sport in 1984 to lead the Conference in points, goals and assists and the first to do so since Merrimack's Kim Hall posted the "triple-crown" in 1997. Hislop also totaled a team-best five hat tricks, with three of those coming in postseason play, seven match-winning goals and seven first goals.

Hislop set a program record on September 24, when she totaled 13 points with a program-record matching five goals to go with three assists in a 10-1 Ravens win over Stonehill College.

The six-time NE-10 Player of the Week was named MVP of the Conference Tournament as she totaled 16 points with seven goals and two assists in the three matches to lead the Ravens to their fourth-straight title. She was also named to the All-NCAA Tournament team as she led all Franklin Pierce players with five goals to go with an assist for 11 points. Her five markers in the Tournament were just two shy of the NCAA Division II Tournament record.

Hislop's point total from this season ranks second on the program's single-season list and is the sixth-highest single-season total in NCAA Division II history. Her 23 assists fell just one shy of Angela Verdoes' record of 24 set in 1999 and is the fifth-highest single-season total in Division II lore. Her 31 goals are tied for the fifth-highest total in program history and is tied for 17^th-highest for a single-season in DII history.

Hislop will enter her junior season at the College ranked 13^th on the program's all-time scoring list and tied for 12^th on the career goals list.            

Kibsgaard earns her second-straight All-New England Region selection in as many seasons since transferring to Franklin Pierce from Champlain College prior to the 2002 campaign. The two-time All-Northeast-10 goalkeeper led the Conference for the second-straight season with a 0.83 goals against average to go with a .791 save percentage and seven shutouts this fall. She was named the Conference's Goalkeeper of the Week on two occasions this season (four career) and also earned a spot on the CoSIDA District I Academic All-America team (3.72 GPA).

Kibsgaard wrapped up her two-year career at Franklin Pierce ranked fifth in program history with a 0.73 career goals against average (14^th in DII history) and 15 shutouts, while her .790 career save percentage ranks sixth in program history. 

Hughes earns her first All-New England selection after also earning All-Northeast-10 honors in her first season at Franklin Pierce. Hughes served as the team's "quarterback" in the central midfield, totaling 35 points with 19 assists and eight goals (two match-winners) this fall. She ranked third on the team in points and goals, but her 19 helpers were second only to Hislop on the team and among Northeast-10 Conference leaders (3^rd in Division II). Hughes assist total is tied for the 16^th-highest single-season total in Division II history.

Hughes was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team over the weekend as she led all Ravens with 12 points on four goals and four assists in their five NCAA Tournament matches. Her four assists were just one shy of the NCAA Division II record and she netted the match-winning goal in overtime to lead Franklin Pierce to a 2-1 victory over No. 3 UC San Diego in the semifinals.

Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 2 in the final NSCAA/adidas Division II poll, earned its 12^th NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to its record 12^th-consecutive Final Four where it reached the National Championship match for a record sixth time before falling to Kennesaw State (Ga.) University, 2-0, on Saturday night. The Ravens finished with a 22-3 record overall, claimed their third-straight Northeast-10 regular season title with a 13-1 mark and fourth-straight Conference Tournament Championship before capturing an eighth-straight NCAA New England Region crown.