NEW HAVEN, Conn. (August 26, 2022) -- It was a debut double for Mollie Cahalane (Merrimac, Mass.) on Friday, as the freshman scored twice in her first collegiate contest. The Bay State native struck on either side of a penalty-kick tally by sophomore Jasmine Perez-Acosta (Cape Coral, Fla.), as the Franklin Pierce University women's soccer team cruised to a 3-0 victory over Staten Island, in the season opener for both squads. The two teams met at Jess Dow Field, as Southern Connecticut State plays host to the season-opening SCSU Women's Soccer Classic.

With the win, Franklin Pierce opens its campaign at 1-0-0, while Staten Island falls to 0-1-0. The Ravens will wrap up their weekend trip to SCSU on Sunday, when they take on Mercy in a non-conference contest at 11 a.m.

After controlling the run of play for much of the first half, the Ravens were able to use a freshman connection to cash in the stanza's lone goal in the 39^th minute. Freshman Olivia Jones (Cheshire, Conn.) played the ball ahead from the midfield and found fellow first-year Cahalane on the run and with space to maneuver on the left side. Cahalane had only one defender to beat, did so tidily with an outside-in move inside the penalty area, and then buried her first collegiate goal in the near side of the net.

Franklin Pierce extended the lead to 2-0 on the other side of halftime, in the 47^th minute, after sophomore Delaney Farinha (Preston, Conn.) was tripped up on a run into the right side of the penalty area. Perez-Acosta stood over the resulting penalty kick and slotted it into the lower-left corner to double the lead. Perez-Acosta is now 3-for-3 in her career on penalties.

As if one goal in her collegiate debut was not enough, Cahalane made it a pair, as she collected the ball out front in the 63^rd minute and put it into the lower-right corner to create the 3-0 final. It marked the second straight year the Ravens had a debutant score twice in the season opener, as then-freshman Eleonora Franco potted a pair in a 4-0 win at Dominican (N.Y.) to open the 2021 season.

Franklin Pierce controlled play throughout, to the tune of a 20-5 advantage in shots and a 10-3 margin in shots on goal. Sophomore Gabby Calidonio (Flagler Beach, Fla.) logged the first 62:28 in the Raven net and made three saves to pick up the win (1-0-0). Fellow sophomore Emilie Fox (Bridgewater, Mass.) took over from there and finished off the clean sheet, though her net was not tested over the final 27:32.

Freshman Brianna Dore (0-1-0) made seven stops against 10 shots on goal in defeat for Staten Island.