Hannah Weagle with an assist in the match

RINDGE, N.H. (October 27, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University women’s soccer team kicked off a crucial final week of the 2013 regular season on Wednesday by picking up an important 2-1 win over Southern New Hampshire at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

The Ravens ran their home unbeaten streak to five-consecutive matches (4-0-1), while improving to 7-6-3 overall and 6-5-2 in the Northeast-10. SNHU dipped to 7-7-3 and 4-6-3 in league play.

The Ravens scored the first two goals of the match, but had to hang on following a gritty performance by the Penmen in the closing minutes.

Sophomore Fernanda Marques (Sao Paulo, Brazil) opened the scoring in the 25^th minute when she collected a loose ball of a deflection from SNHU keeper Samantha Whittier, and deposited a shot into the back of the net for her second marker of the season. The play was set up by freshman Madison Finlay (Plymouth, Mass.), who worked her way down the right flank and fed a shot towards the goal that Whittier initially saved, but could not corral the ball, thus ending up on the foot of Marques. Finlay was credited with an assist on the play.

The Penmen came out aggressive in the second half and peppered Ravens goalie Katie Weldon (Manchester, N.H.) with multiple shots in the opening minutes. However, Weldon stood tall in net, as it bought time for Franklin Pierce to collect itself in the 67^th minute when Hannah Weagle (Ipswich, Mass.) fed a centering pass to Nicole Chaet (Tewksbury, Mass.) at the top of the box, who quickly fired a strike past the charging Whittier coming out from her net to make it 2-0.

Chaet notched her fourth tally of the season, which pushed her into a tie for the team lead in goals, joining Finlay and Weagle, who earned an assist on the play.

SNHU tried to rally and eventually scored with :56 remaining on a blast from Ashley Jaskula. However, it was too little too late as the Ravens tightened their grip on a post-season playoff spot in next week’s NE-10 championship tournament.

Southern New Hampshire outshot the Ravens, 10-6, including a 6-2 margin in the final 45 minutes. However, Weldon kept SNHU at bay with six saves to run her record to 7-6-2 on the year.

Whittier took the loss for SNHU to fall to 7-7-2 on the year.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens close out their regular season by playing host to American International at 3:30 p.m. on Sodexo Field.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at http://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). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women’s soccer apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)