NH teams square off in NE-10 women's tourney

Franklin Pierce-Saint Anselm clash one of four first round games set for Sunday

October 31, 2008

A matchup of two New Hampshire schools headlines the opening round of this year’s Northeast-10 women’s soccer championships.

Regular season NE-10 co-champions Franklin Pierce University, ranked 13th in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, has earned the top seed and home field advantage for the duration of the tournament.

Franklin Pierce (13-3-1, 11-2-1 NE-10) will host eighth-seeded Saint Anselm College (7-9-2, 6-6-2 NE-10) in one of four quarterfinal round matches on Sunday at Sodexo Field at 1 p.m. The Ravens are seeking their record eighth NE-10 Tournament title after setting a conference record by winning seven straight titles from 2000 (their first year in the league) to 2006.

The Ravens earned their sixth regular season title since joining the conference with yesterday’s 3-0 victory at Stonehill College.

Franklin Pierce enters Sunday’s match winners of a season-high six straight and eight of nine after Wednesday’s win at Stonehill. The Ravens have played well defensively of late, yielding just one goal over their last five matches and only six over their last 13 (0.46/match) after conceding nine goals in their opening four contests. Franklin Pierce leads the NE-10 in scoring with 2.71 goals per match, while ranking third with a 0.77 team goals against average.

The rest of the opening round schedule:

Sunday, Nov. 2 – Quarterfinals

No. 8 Saint Anselm (7-9-2, 6-6-2) at No. 1 Franklin Pierce (13-3-1, 11-2-1) – 4 p.m.

No. 5 Southern New Hampshire (8-8-4, 7-4-3) at No. 4 Southern Connecticut (11-4-2, 9-3-2) – 1 p.m.

No. 7 New Haven (9-9-1, 7-7-0) at No. 2 Saint Rose (14-3-1, 11-2-1) – 1 p.m.

No. 6 UMass Lowell (7-4-5, 6-3-5) at No. 3 Merrimack (12-3-2, 10-3-1) – 1 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 6 – Semifinals

STA/FPU winner vs. SNH/SCS winner

UNH/STR winner vs. UML/MER winner

Sunday, Nov. 9 – Championship

Semifinal Winners