Franklin Pierce women nip Merrimack

Ravens one win away from NE-10 regular season title

October 26, 2008

Franklin Pierce University, ranked 15th in this week’s NSCAA/adidas Division II poll, is just a win away from claiming its sixth Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship after notching a 1-0 victory over No. 21 Merrimack College on Saturday.

Franklin Pierce (12-3-1, 10-2-1 NE-10) can clinch at least a share of the NE-10 regular season title, along with The College of Saint Rose (13-3-1, 10-2-1), with a victory in its regular season finale Wednesday at Stonehill College. The Ravens would also earn the top seed in the upcoming NE-10 Tournament as a result of its head-to-head victory over Saint Rose earlier this season.

Junior All-American Gabriela Demoner scored the lone goal just 2:58 into the match when, from 20 yards out on the right wing, she directed a ball toward the goal that appeared like it would be scooped up by Merrimack senior goalkeeper Shannon Rowan. Rowan took her eye off the ball, however, and it squirted through her hands and into the goal.

Senior goalkeeper Brittany Ester made one second half save to preserve her sixth clean sheet of the season. Rowan finished with one stop for Merrimack, who was out-shot by a slim 9-6 margin in a tightly contested match. Both teams mustered just three shots each in the second half.

Merrimack had a good opportunity to level the match just moments after Demoner’s goal, but sophomore Ashley Alnwick (Groton, Mass.) got the ball caught up in her legs long enough for Ester to charge off her line and smother the scoring chance in the seventh minute.

Demoner nearly added an insurance goal in the 69th minute, but her drive from 20 yards out caromed off the post .

Franklin Pierce will host a Northeast-10 Quarterfinal next Sunday, Nov. 2, at a time to be announced. Merrimack (11-3-2, 9-3-1 NE-10) visits American International College Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

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