Women’s Soccer Slips Past Mercy, 1-0

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (August 28, 2022) -- A ninth-minute goal was all that was in it on Sunday at Jess Dow Field, as the Franklin Pierce University women's soccer team completed a perfect opening weekend with a 1-0 win over Mercy. Junior Anna Crapanzano (Milano, Italy) provided the lone goal for the Ravens on the second and final day of the SCSU Women's Soccer Classic, hosted by Southern Connecticut State.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 2-0-0. Mercy, which received votes in the preseason national poll, opens its season at 0-1-0, after its game on Friday was canceled due to inclement weather.

Franklin Pierce found the only goal of the first half, with a bit of a fortuitous bounce in the ninth minute. In the aftermath of a corner, junior Gianna Derose (Brewster, Mass.) found some space to work with on he left wing and was able to send a cross attempt into the box. The service found the chest of junior Anna Crapanzano (Milano, Italy), who looked as if she was attempting to settle the ball, but wound up with her first goal of the season instead. The cross ricocheted off her chest, went to the ground and trickled just inside the right post, narrowly eluding the dive of Mercy freshman keeper Kamy Anaya.

Mercy's best chance of the half came in the 20^th minute. From the midfield, junior Madison Rosa found a seam and sent a through ball ahead, searching for graduate student Jessica Hoyt on the run. The pass had just a touch too much steam on it though, and Franklin Pierce sophomore netminder Emilie Fox (Bridgewater, Mass.) was able to charge off her line and smother the ball just before Hoyt could get on the other end of it.

The second half was mostly uneventful, though Mercy had a quality chance to equalize late, in the 79^th minute. Graduate student Nikki Bermudez made a move into the box on the left side, stepped right to create space and then lofted a shot towards the top-right corner, which arced out of the reach of Franklin Piece sophomore goalkeeper Gabby Calidonio (Flagler Beach, Fla.). The ball stayed just inches too high though, as it caromed away off the cross bar and was cleared by the Raven defense.

Mercy would finish with advantages of 11-5 in shot attempts and 5-2 in shots on goal. However, the Mavericks struggled to generate quality chances, as they failed to seriously threaten the Franklin Pierce net beyond the through ball in the first half and the ball off the woodwork in the second half.

Fox (2-0-0) stopped all three shots on her goal in the first half to pick up the win, while Calidonio added two saves in the second stanza to complete Franklin Pierce's second shutout in as many games to open the season. Anaya (0-1-0) went the distance in the Mercy net and finished with one save against two shots.

The Ravens are back in action on Wednesday, Aug. 31, when they travel to Bentley for a non-conference contest at 3:30 p.m. in Waltham, Mass.