Game marks a rematch of last season’s conference title match

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RINDGE, N.H. (November 6, 2009) – The 19th-ranked Franklin Pierce University women’s soccer team will travel to Albany on Sunday to face second-ranked Saint Rose in the 2009 Northeast-10 Tournament Championship Match. The contest will begin at 1 p.m. The Ravens enter the contest with a 16-3-1 record and the second-seed in the conference tournament, while the Golden Knights enter with a perfect 20-0-0 mark and the top-seed. Ravens fans who cannot attend the contest can watch the game live online for free at Northeast10.tv(.)

This Sunday’s match will mark a rematch of last season’s epic tournament championship game, which saw both teams battle to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes before Saint Rose ultimately winning via penalty kicks. The only difference between last year’s and this year’s contest was that the 2008 title game was held at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

Franklin Pierce advanced to this Sunday’s championship by way of its 2-1 overtime win against third-seeded UMass-Lowell on Thursday night in Rindge. Senior midfielder and 2009 Northeast-10 Player of the Year Gabriela Demoner (Vitoria, Brazil) scored both goals to lead the Ravens to victory.

Following a scoreless first half, Demoner put the Ravens on top, 1-0, in the 64th minute when she scored via a penalty kick. Lowell knotted the contest at 1-1 in the 84th minute on a header by Colleen Fitzpatrick, but Franklin Pierce pulled it out midway through the extra session when Demoner scored off a free kick from 18 out.

The win for Franklin Pierce avenged an earlier loss to UMass-Lowell this season, and allowed the Ravens to advance to the NE-10 tournament title game for the second-consecutive season and the ninth time in 10 years since joining the league in 2000.

Franklin Pierce has competed in 28 of a possible 29 matches (counting this year’s quarterfinal and semifinal matches) in its 10 years of competition in the conference tournament, and is a combined 25-0-3 in those matches. The Ravens have never lost a conference tournament match in regulation or overtime.

The Ravens won the tournament championship seven-straight years from 2000-06 and are 7-0-1 all-time in the finals.

Saint Rose punched its ticket to Sunday with its 2-0 win at home over fourth-seeded Merrimack on Thursday. Amanda Deck and Brittany Godin each scored to lead the Golden Knights to the win and their third-consecutive appearance in the conference tournament title game. Saint Rose is the two-time reigning conference champions.

Franklin Pierce and Saint Rose have already met once this season with the Golden Knights pulling out a 2-0 win in Albany back on Oct. 10. Saint Rose is 2-0-1 in its last three games against the Ravens, but Franklin Pierce holds a 14-3-4 all-time advantage in the series.

The winner of this Sunday’s championship earns the league’s automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Division II Tournament.

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


2009 Northeast-10 Women’s Soccer Tournament Schedule
Sunday, November 1
Quarterfinals - at Higher Seed
Match 1: #1 Saint Rose 1, #8 New Haven 0
Match 2: #2 Franklin Pierce 3, #7 Saint Anselm 0
Match 3: #3 UMass-Lowell 1, #6 Stonehill 0
Match 4: #4 Merrimack 0, #5 Adelphi 0 (MER adv. 5-4 on PKS)

Thursday, November 5
Semifinals - at Higher Seed
Match 5: #1 Saint Rose 2, #4 Merrimack 0
Match 6: #2 Franklin Pierce 2, #3 UMass-Lowell 1 (OT)

Sunday, November 8
Championship – at Higher Seed
Match 7: #2 Franklin Pierce at #1 Saint Rose (1 p.m.)