Madison Finlay Scores Twice to Lead Women's Soccer to 2-0 Triumph over Saint Michael's

Katie Weldon stonewall in net with eight saves

RINDGE, N.H. (October 8, 2013) – Freshman forward Madison Finlay (Plymouth, Mass.) booted in a pair of second-half goals on Tuesday afternoon to lead the Franklin Pierce University women’s soccer team to a 2-0 win over Saint Michael’s on Sodexo Field in Rindge.

The win snapped Franklin Pierce’s four-match winless streak, as the Ravens evened their record at 4-4-2 overall and 3-3-2 in the Northeast-10. St. Mike’s fell to 0-10 and 0-7 in league play.

Finlay’s two markers gave her three for the season, which is tied with classmate Nicole Chaet (Tewksbury, Mass.) for the team lead. Finlay also took over the team lead in points with eight.

She scored her first goal four minutes into the second stanza to break the scoreless tie, as she placed a shot to the lower left corner of the net from the center of the box. The shot slipped by Purple Knights keeper Kaylee Smith, who made a valiant diving attempt to her right to stop the shot, but could not come up with the save. Finlay was helped on the play by sophomore forward Hannah Weagle (Ipswich, Mass.), who logged an assist on the play for dribbling into the box and sliding a nifty pass over to Finlay for the marker.

St. Mike’s didn’t fold from the adversity and went right back at the Ravens trying to knot the score. However, sophomore keeper Katie Weldon (Manchester, N.H.) stood tall in goal for the Ravens as she turned aside several shots over the ensuing 20 minutes to keep it at 1-0.

That outstanding string of play was part of an eight-save effort by Weldon, who ultimately improved to 4-4-2 on the year, and has not allowed a regulation goal in four of the last five matches.

Finlay gave the Ravens some breathing room in the 75^th minute when she collected a loose ball off a scramble in front of the goal and fired a shot to the same corner of the net as her first one.

Both teams finished with 11 shots for the match. Weagle fired off a match-high four, while Finlay’s two goals came on her only two attempts of the contest. Four Purple Knights logged two shots apiece in the setback.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens travel to face New Haven at 1 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women’s soccer apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)