Demoner scores twice; Ravens advance to title game for ninth time in 10 seasons

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (November 5, 2009) – The 19th-ranked Franklin Pierce University women’s soccer team advanced to Sunday’s Northeast-10 Championship Game with its 2-1 overtime win over UMass-Lowell on Thursday night at Sodexo Field. The second-seeded Ravens (16-3-1) won the semifinal match over the third-seeded River Hawks (12-5-3) and avenged an early-season loss in Lowell.

Franklin Pierce will face top-seed and second-ranked Saint Rose on Sunday in Albany, which will be a rematch of last season’s conference tournament championship game. The teams played to a 1-1 draw before the Golden Knights won via penalty kicks in Rindge last year.

The Ravens will be making their second-consecutive appearance in the conference tournament title game and for the ninth time in 10 seasons since joining the Northeast-10 in 2000. Franklin Pierce has won the Northeast-10 tournament championship seven times in its history (2000-06).

Senior midfielder and 2009 Northeast-10 Player of the Year Gabriela Demoner (Vitoria, Brazil) supplied all the offense Franklin Pierce would need in punching its ticket to Sunday. She scored twice to give her 30 goals on the season, which is tops in the league.

Following a scoreless first half, Demoner broke the ice with a goal off a penalty kick in the 64th minute. Her penalty kick opportunity came about from her collecting a loose ball at midfield, dribbling past three UMass-Lowell defenders and taking it into the box. Just as she was set to fire off a shot, Demoner was taken down, thus setting up the penalty kick. UMass-Lowell goalkeeper Jamie Gillis, who was named the league’s goalie of the year last week, went low to the left corner on Demoner’s attempt, but the Ravens attacker was too quick with the PK and beat the goalkeeper for the tally.

The River Hawks picked up the intensity in the offensive zone, but could not get a goal to pull even with Franklin Pierce. However, that changed at the 84:00 mark when Colleen Fitzpatrick headed in an attempt to knot the game at 1-1, thus sending the contest into overtime.

The late tally failed to unsettle the Ravens and they began their strong offensive play in the opening stages of overtime.

Just as she did to set up her first tally, Demoner dribbled down the middle of the field and near the top of the box midway through the extra session. As she got past Lowell defender Kathleen Strazzere, the back reached out and brought Demoner down, thus drawing a red card from the official.

Demoner was awarded a free kick from 18 out and quickly deposited the shot in the back of the net to lift Franklin Pierce to victory.

Franklin Pierce held a 15-8 advantage in shots. Sophomore goalkeeper Jocelyn Leon (Lennox, Mass.) made three saves to earn the win and run her record to 11-1-0 on the season. Gillis made five saves for the River Hawks in the setback.

The Ravens and River Hawks were meeting for the second time this season. Lowell won the previous meeting by a 3-1 count back on Sept. 1 in Massachusetts. In that contest, Demoner gave Franklin Pierce an early 1-0 lead, but the Ravens watched UMass-Lowell scored three unanswered goals in the second half to pull off the come-from-behind win.

Sunday’s championship match between Franklin Pierce and Saint Rose will begin at 1 p.m. Ravens fans who cannot attend the game can watch it live on online for free at Northeast10.tv(.)

For more information on Franklin Pierce women’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)