Women’s soccer plays second overtime game in a row

by Samantha DeSouza and Madison Leslie

Fans of the women’s soccer team saw a more depressing outcome on October 8th compared to the last time Franklin Pierce played and beat the Saint Anselm Hawks. The Raven’s earlier victory was flipped, and the Hawks won 2-1.

(Photo: Nathalia Maria)

Tuesday night’s air was extremely cool, and the bleachers were like sitting on ice cubes. One could see the fans’ breath as they cheered on their teams.

Forty one minutes passed before anyone saw a goal. Senior midfielder Caly Farina, posted the first goal of the game for the Hawks. Spectators waited another 17 minutes to see Ciersten Palumbo of the Ravens strike the ball into the net, tying the score.

Morgan Riley, senior lacrosse player and avid fan, cheered, “Let’s go Pierce!” to energize her team.

Players from both teams fought for the ball over the course of the second half. Some young men lined the fence on the baseball side and shouted random things to rile up their Ravens. “Ahhh!” one shouted. “Blahhh!” another screamed at the top of his lungs to try to distract the Hawks as they battled the Ravens.

In the second half, the Ravens had eight attempts to score compared to the Hawks five shots. Spectator Jillian Koop looked up from the field and said, “The crowd is really tense going into overtime,” when the clock hit zero with the game still tied.

The Ravens were coming off an overtime win from their last game on October 5th and had hopes of doing the same tonight. Twenty two seconds after the start of overtime, Farina rocketed the ball into the net putting the Hawks on top and claiming victory, as well as scoring her second goal of the game.

The stadium was filled with loud cheers for the Hawks from their parents and teammates who were yelling, “Here we go!” as they slapped each other’s backs. The Ravens put up a battle against their conference competitor, but their record fell to 4 wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie.