Shona Franklin scores game-winner; Amanda Panaro scores twice

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (October 2, 2010) – The 19^th-ranked Franklin Pierce University women's soccer team blew a 2-0 lead midway through the second half, but managed to score two goals late to rally for a 4-2 win over UMass-Lowell on Saturday afternoon at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The Ravens won their third straight to improve to 7-1-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference. Lowell dipped to 3-5-1 and 3-4 in league play.

UMass-Lowell scored twice midway through the second half to knot the score at 2-2, but the Ravens did not falter and would eventually pull off the thrilling win. In the 86^th minute, senior midfielder Shona Franklin (Birmingham, England) took a pass from Amanda Panaro (Rockland, Mass.) at the top-left corner of the box and ripped a shot that beat the Lowell goalkeeper to lift the Ravens to a 3-2 advantage. It was Franklin's fourth of the season and the assist for Panaro was her fifth point of the afternoon as she scored Franklin Pierce's first two goals of the game in the first half. It was also the third-straight game that Franklin scored a goal.

Just for safe measure, freshman midfielder Jannice Sundqvist (Hamosand, Sweden) scored in the game's final minute to put the game out reach and give Franklin Pierce the two-goal victory. It was Sundqvist's third goal in the last two games, as she scored twice in last Sunday's win over Assumption which allowed her to be named the NE-10 Rookie of the Week. Senior midfielder Snezana Stojkovic (Vitojevci, Serbia) assisted on Sundqvist's tally, and was her second of the game as she assisted on Panaro's first goal earlier in the contest.

Despite the loss, Lowell out-shot the Ravens by a count of 13-7, including totaling nine in the second half. Despite the low shot total, Franklin Pierce did manage to put six shots on goal, including their first two, which came in the game's first 18 minutes and both went for goals.

Panaro scored her first goal of the game in the eighth minute to make it 1-0 Ravens. She added her second tally in the 19^th minute when she scored off a crossing pass from Tori Gikas (Sydney, Australia). The goals for Panaro were her ninth and 10th of the season.

Keanna Santos and Gia O'Connor scored back-to-back goals in the 62^nd and 73^rd minutes to pull the River Hawks even at 2-2 before Franklin Pierce went on its late heroic run.

Franklin Pierce junior goalkeeper Jocelyn Leon (Lenox, Mass.) made five saves in the contest to earn the win and run her record to 7-1-1 on the season.

During the game, Franklin Pierce honored the fight against breast cancer as the team wore various pink items. Donations were collected and all money will benefit the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in the Kingsbury Pavilion at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Keene.

The Ravens return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to North Andover, Mass. to face Merrimack at 7 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women's soccer, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) Fans wishing to follow the program even further can do so by visiting YouTube (www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/franklinpierceathletics).