Second-seeded Bulldogs end third-seeded Ravens NE-10 Tournament reign, 7-6, in shootout after 0-0 draw

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (November 1, 2007) – For the first time since 1999 the Northeast-10 Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament Championship will not belong to Franklin Pierce University as the third-seeded Ravens, ranked 16th in this week’s National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, were eliminated by second-seeded and 8th-ranked Bryant University in semifinal round action at the Bryant Turf Field tonight. The Bulldogs posted a 7-6 decision in a penalty kick shootout after the two sides played to a scoreless draw after 110-minutes of regulation and two overtime periods.

Bryant (17-0-5, 11-0-3 NE-10) advances to the NE-10 Championship match for the second-straight season and will face top-seeded and No. 3-ranked College of Saint Rose (17-0-2, 12-0-2 NE-10) at the Albany Academy for Girls on Sunday at 1 p.m. Saint Rose advanced to its first NE-10 title match with a 2-0 victory over fourth-seeded Merrimack College (12-4-4, 8-3-3 NE-10) in today’s other semifinal.

Franklin Pierce (12-1-5, 9-1-4 NE-10), which has won all seven NE-10 Tournament Championships since joining the Conference prior to the 2000 season, will have its first season without any form of Conference Championship since 1993 – the year before the former New England Collegiate Conference began offering championships in women’s soccer. The Ravens won all six NECC regular season titles before entering the Northeast-10, to go with its seven NE-10 Tournament titles and five-straight NE-10 regular season crowns (2001-2005). Franklin Pierce awaits its seeding for the NCAA Tournament when bids are announced on Monday, November 5.

After the two sides played through 110 scoreless minutes, Bryant and Franklin Pierce traded goals through the first six rounds of the penalty shootout. In the seventh round, Bryant senior Stephanie Zalewski (Parsippany, N.J./Parsippany) converted her kick, but Franklin Pierce sophomore Shannon Mulvey (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat) saw her shot tipped over the crossbar by sophomore goalkeeper Katie Mitchell (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) to send the Bulldogs through to the championship match.

Mitchell replaced junior starter Jessica Clark (Barnstable, Mass./Barnstable) for the shootout for Bryant. Clark made six saves over the 110-minutes of play to preserve her eighth shutout of the season. Franklin Pierce junior Brittany Ester (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) posted her seventh shutout of the season with a season-high eight stops. She got a hand to two of Bryant’s attempts in the shootout, but just unable to keep them out of the net.

The match was fairly even throughout, with Franklin Pierce posting a 13-12 edge in shots for the match – 7-2 in the first half. Bryant began to exert some pressure late, especially in overtime where the Bulldogs posted a 5-1 edge in shots. The Ravens forced Clark into three first half saves – all coming in the first 11 minutes of the match.

Bryant made no bones about not allowing senior All-American Gabriela Demoner (Curitiba, Brazil) to beat them, double and triple teaming her every time she touched the ball and holding her to just two shots – neither of which ended up on target.

Ester came up big in the first overtime, stopping a one-on-one attempt from senior Diane Pascale (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth South) after a Raven defender lost her footing. The Bulldogs had two shots carom off posts in the second overtime. The first came just moments after Ester made two saves on shots from sophomore Holly Tyser (Somers, Conn./Somers) midway through the frame, with the other coming with less than a minute left.