Lauren Brewer makes four saves in net to earn her first win of the season

WATCH ARCHIVED VIDEO BROADCAST OF THE GAME

RINDGE, N.H. (September 9, 2012) – Junior forward Talita Pereira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored twice on Sunday to lead the Franklin Pierce University women’s soccer team to a 3-1 win over Assumption at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The Ravens won their third straight to improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Northeast-10, while the Greyhounds dipped to 0-2 and 0-1 in league play. 

Pereira ran her goal total to three on the season, which is just one shy of freshman forward Hannah Weagle (Ipswich, Mass.), who also popped in a goal on the afternoon to run her team-high total to four.

Weagle got the scoring started in the 10^th minute as she dribbled down the left-hand side of the field, moved into the left corner of the box and fired a strike to the upper right corner of the net to stake the Ravens to the 1-0 lead. She has scored at least one goal in each of her first three collegiate contests.

Pereira, who fired off a game-high six shots in the contest, notched her first tally in the 34^th minute when she took a ball, dribbled down the center of the field into the box, flipped a ball over the charging Assumption goalkeeper and finally tapped it into the back of the net to put Franklin Pierce up by a pair of goals.

Pereira had a couple of other chances in the first half, but narrowly missed on extending the Ravens lead even further. Franklin Pierce took the 2-0 advantage into the intermission and held a 6-2 edge in shots.

Assumption, however, didn’t fold and came out firing in the second half. The Greyhounds outshot the Ravens, 6-1, in the opening 15 minutes of the frame and the hard work paid off in the 57^th minute as Andrea Bates deflected in a Carolina Arnold shot to cut the deficit in half.

Assumption kept coming and took the pace of play to the Ravens for several more minutes. Franklin Pierce countered, though, with solid play at midfield and eventually pushed the pace of play back into Assumption’s end.

The tide finally turned in the 75^th minute when Pereira made a nice one-on-one move on the left side of the field and slipped a touch from just outside the box into the upper right corner of the goal to put Franklin Pierce back up by two goals at 3-1.

Assumption couldn’t rally and the goalkeeping duo of Lauren Brewer (Westford, Mass.) and Casey Edward (Marshfield, Mass.) held them scoreless the rest of the way. Brewer got the start in goal and made four saves to earn the victory to run her record to 1-0 on the season. She left with a little less than seven minutes remaining in the contest when she was involved in a nasty collision with teammate Jannice Sundqvist (Harnosand, Sweden) as the two players were trying to thwart an Assumption shot attempt. Both players left the field under their own power and Edward came on to close out the remaining 6:52 of the contest in net.

Leah Sherr started in goal for Assumption and was saddled with loss after she allowed the first two goals. She was pulled at the 36 minute mark in favor of Allison Bruder.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday when the Ravens travel to North Andover, Mass. to take on Merrimack at 7 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens).