Women's Soccer Loses to Franklin Pierce 3-1 in NE-10 Championship
Northeast-10 Championship #4 Bryant 1 at #2 Franklin Pierce 3
RINDGE, N.H. - Going for its first Northeast-10 Championship, the Bryant Women's Soccer team came up just short, as they lost to second-ranked Franklin Pierce 3-1 Sunday afternoon at a blustery Sodexho Field.
The win gives the Ravens, ranked tenth nationally, their seventh straight NE-10 title.
Gabriela Demoner scored the game-winning goal in the 65th minute, scoring her 12th of the season. Demoner scored three goals against Bryant earlier this season in a 3-1 victory for the Ravens. Ann Foley assisted on the go-ahead goal. Demoner capped a stellar season, in which she joined the team in its fourth game. The Ravens have not lost since Demoner arrived from Brazil.
Shona Franklin put the match away in the 89th minute, as she got behind the pinching Bulldog defense, and put away the breakaway goal.
Senior captain Casey Grange (Methuen, Mass.) took a Tricia Spada (Dedham, Mass.) centering pass, and fired it past Ravens goaltender Jenna Mello for the game-tying goal moments before the end of the first half. It was Grange's 19th tally of the season.
Franklin Pierce got on the board first as Laura Stockdale beat Katie Mitchell (Deer Park, N.Y.) on a breakaway to Mitchell's right. Jenna Giardina set Stockdale up on the breakaway goal in the 22nd minute.
The Bulldogs had plenty of first-half chances as Daisy Martinez (Eliot, ME) was denied by a diving save from Mello. In the 29th minute, a Danielle Malta (Bethel, Conn.) blast from 30 yards out was stopped by a sprawling Mello. Amy Orzechowski (Milford, Conn.) was robbed by Mello in the 44th minute, as the Ravens netminder dove to her right, barely knocking the ball away from the goal.
Bryant outshot the Ravens 7-2 in the first half.
The Ravens missed a 2-on-1 opportunity in the 53rd minute as Giardina shot the ball just over the net. She had Mitchell down and the net wide open.
Minutes later, Orzechowski fired one to Mello's left that changed direction when the ball ricocheted off a Raven defender, but Mello recovered to make the save.
Malta had a free kick from 30-yards out in the 77th minute that got behind the defense, but Spada could not catch up to it, and it sailed past everyone for a goal kick.
That was the best chance the Bulldogs would get the rest of the way, as they were stifled by a suffocating Ravens' defense.
The Bulldogs were without injured goaltender Jessica Neales (Swansea, Mass.) and second-leading scorer Diane Pascale (Plymouth, Mass.). Mitchell and Martinez replaced the injured players in the starting lineup.
Bryant saw its seven game winning streak snapped with the loss, while the Ravens (17-2-0, 12-2-0 NE-10) increased its streak to 16 since starting the season 1-2.
After the game, the Northeast-10 announced that Grange was named to the All-Conference first-team, while Malta and Spada were second team members. Pascale was a third team selection.
The Bulldogs (15-7-1, 9-4-1 NE-10) will await the official seedings in the upcoming NCAA Tournament which will be announced Monday at 5 p.m. on ncaasports.com.
Game-time temperature was 38 degrees, and it was very windy with occasional snow flurries.