United Soccer Coaches All-Region Teams

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (December 8, 2021) -- The Franklin Pierce University women’s soccer team has had three players earn All-East Region honors from United Soccer Coaches. Freshman Jasmine Perez-Acosta (Cape Coral, Fla.) headlined the trio on the First Team, while fellow freshman Aino Martikainen (Järvenpää, Finland) landed on the Second Team. Junior Viridiana Vazquez Kloss (Veracruz, Mexico) rounded things out on the Third Team.

Martikainen is now a consensus All-East Second Team pick, after earning the same accolade from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association. For Perez-Acosta and Kloss, it marked the first career All-Region selections.

Despite missing four games this season, Perez-Acosta stood as the team’s leading scorer, with 16 points, on five goals and six assists, with the latter figure good enough to tie for third in the NE10. The 16 points tied for ninth in the league, while she was one of only 20 players in the conference to score five or more goals on the season. Perez-Acosta chalked up three game-winning goals and attempted a team-best 49 shots, which tied for fifth in the NE10.

For her part, Martikainen started all 17 games, as part of a back line which allowed only 0.67 goals per game on the season. She also emerged as the team’s primary threat on set pieces, with three goals to show for it, including one game-winner, on 17 shot attempts.

Vazquez Kloss started all 17 games on the back line as well. The team’s fourth-leading scorer, she amassed 11 points on four goals and three assists, and attempted 23 shots.