No. 25 Women’s Soccer Pots Pair in Second Half, Blanks Bentley, 2-0

RINDGE, N.H. (September 30, 2022) -- After an ugly outing on Tuesday at Le Moyne, the No. 25 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University women's soccer team bounced back nicely at home on Friday night. The Ravens controlled play throughout, to the tune of a 20-8 advantage in shot attempts, and struck twice in the final half-hour to chalk up a 2-0 victory over visiting Bentley in Northeast-10 Conference action at Sodexo Field. Sophomore Salome Kerguillec (Landerneau, France) scored the game-winner in the 63^rd minute and later added an assist on an 84^th-minute insurance marker.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 7-2-1 (4-2-0 NE10), while Bentley falls to 3-4-3 (2-3-1 NE10).

By far Bentley's best chance to get on the board all night came in the waning stages of the first half, on a corner kick in the 44^th minute. Things got dicey as the ball made like a pinball inside the Franklin Pierce six-yard box, before it worked its way free for sophomore Gabby Vachon. Vachon let a shot fly, which beat Franklin Pierce sophomore goalkeeper Emilie Fox (Bridgewater, Mass.), but junior Aino Martikainen (Järvenpää, Finland) was on the scene at the left post to keep the ball out. The rebound came to sophomore Jenna Hendriksen, but Fox was able to get her hands to the follow-up attempt to keep things scoreless into halftime.

It would be the final on-target shot of the game for Bentley and proved to be a big missed opportunity for the Falcons, as the Ravens turned up the heat in the second half. Franklin Pierce outshot Bentley 14-1 in the second stanza, which included a 6-0 margin in shots on goal.

The Ravens finally broke through, with a light stroke of luck, in the 63^rd minute. Franklin Pierce was awarded a free kick nearly 50 yards from goal, in front of the left post. Kerguillec took the kick and served it into the middle of the penalty area. Among those trying to get their head to the service was Bentley sophomore Jillian Hendriksen -- Jenna's twin sister -- and she was the one who was able to make contact with the ball. Unfortunately for the Falcons, she got only the slightest piece of the ball, and succeeded only in re-directing it over the reach of her own keeper and into the net, for Kerguillec's first goal of the season.

Franklin Pierce kept applying pressure after the goal, and later found an insurance marker on a corner kick in the 84^th minute to salt the game away. Kerguillec took the kick from the right-wing corner and served it towards the far post. There, she found sophomore Jasmine Perez-Acosta (Cape Coral, Fla.) at the top of the six-yard box, and the latter headed it into the upper-left corner for her team-leading fifth goal of the campaign.

Fox (3-1-1) finished with four saves against four shots to pick up her second career shutout, while the team was credited with a save as well, when Martikainen picked the ball off the line at the end of the first half. Sophomore Claire Ewen (3-4-2) stopped seven of the nine shots on her net in the losing effort for Bentley.

The Ravens remain home for their next game, and will host NE10 foe American International at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5.