#7 Ravens Roll to Second Round, Shutout Caldwell 4-0 in NCAA Tournament Opener

RINDGE, N.H. (November 9, 2018) – Senior midfielder Nathalia Maria da Silva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) of the no. 7 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University women's soccer team produced a goal and an assist as the Ravens advanced to the Second Round of the 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament by upending challenger Caldwell University 4-0 Friday afternoon on Sodexo Field.

With the win, the Ravens improve to 16-1-2 overall and will square off against the no. 23 nationally-ranked Long Island University – Post Pioneers with a berth to the NCAA East Regional Championship Game on the line at 2:00 p.m. Sunday on Sodexo Field. The Cougars campaign ends at 12-7-1 following the shutout setback.

The Ravens stingy back line and their explosive offensive attack helped hold the visitors to only three shots – two on goal during the first meeting between these two programs in the DII tourney. Franklin Pierce outshot Caldwell 21-to-3 and had more corner kick opportunities than their counterparts (5-to-1).

Raven freshman netminder Casey Kane (Millis, Mass.) collected her eighth shutout win of the year making two saves in 70:11 minutes of play. Junior goalkeeper Carmen Proffitt (Brooklyn, N.Y.) faced no shots during her 19:49 in the cage. Jamie-Lee Bamford stopped nine shots in the loss for Caldwell.

FPU struck first early in the ninth minute as junior forward Sophie Cousineau (Milton, Mass.) centered a pass toward the middle of the box right to da Silva. da Silva corralled the pass and roped a one-timer low into the right corner of the net to give Pierce the 1-0 edge.

Caldwell's first shot attempt of the game came in the 31st minute when Carlyn Salus collected a bad pass spinning around to the wrong side and fired a weak chance that Kane easily gobbled up.

Five minutes later FPU chipped in an insurance marker off the foot of Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year Veronica Marques (Sao Paulo, Brazil) as the junior forward stood in traffic inside the box and deposited a goal middle net to expand the Pierce lead to 2-0 at the intermission.

Just 1:32 into the second stanza, da Silva laid a touch pass give and go to senior forward Bruna Tavares  (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) who punched home the Ravens third goal of the game. Teammate Gabi Pereira put the exclamation point on the Raven win with an impressive free-kick from the left side that she curled into the right post from 20 yards out.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (https://fpuravens.com/store).