FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

South Easton, Mass. - The College of Saint Rose and Franklin Pierce University will face each other in the Northeast-10 Women's Soccer Championship Final on Sunday, Nov. 8 in Albany, N.Y. after semifinal victories Thursday afternoon.

Top seeded Saint Rose defeated fourth seeded Merrimack College, 2-0, while second seeded Franklin Pierce defeated third seeded UMass Lowell 2-1 in overtime.

The Golden Knights are appearing in their third straight championship final, while the Ravens are making their ninth trip in ten years. The NE-10 Championship Final can be seen live and free of charge to all fans on Northeast10.TV.  Live action begins at 1 p.m.

Saint Rose (20-0-0, 15-0-0 NE-10) didn't waste time to get things started offensively versus Merrimack Thursday afternoon in the early semifinal contest.  Junior Amanda Deck (Cicero, N.Y.) intercepted a pass and scored from 20-yards out in the 11th minute to give the Golden Knights an early 1-0 lead.

Merrimack (13-5-3, 10-4-1 NE-10) held an 11-5 shot advantage in the first half, however the Saint Rose defense was able to hold off the offensive attack as sophomore goalkeeper Susan Cowan (West Boylston, Mass.) made four saves in the first half. 

Saint Rose added an insurance goal late in the second half when Brittany Godin (Rochester, N.Y.) scored her fifth goal of the season and second of the championship to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 advantage in the 86th minute.

The win marked the Golden Knights 20th of the season and secured a spot to the Northeast-10 Championship final.

Merrimack's Brittany Gustafson (East Hampton, Conn.) recorded five saves in net for the Warriors.

In the late semifinal match, Franklin Pierce (16-3-1, 12-2-1 NE-10) got on the board first midway through the second half in the 64th minute when senior Gabriela Demoner (Vitoria, Brazil) scored on a penalty kick after being fouled in the box.

With just about six minutes remaining in regulation UMass Lowell tied the game as Colleen Fitzpatrick (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored her first goal of the season off a pass from Maddy Bissaillon (Merrimac, Mass.) to tie the game at 1-1 in the 84th minute.

The game remained tied through the rest of regulation to force overtime.  In overtime, UMass Lowell came close to ending the game as a Taylor Hartmann (Feeding Hills, Mass.) shot nearly got through the goal as it hit off the cross bar.

Later in overtime Franklin Pierce had a free kick opportunity just outside the box as Demoner found the back of the net for the game winner and her 30th goal of the season.

UMass Lowell's Jamie Gilis (North Billerica, Mass.) made five saves in net, while Franklin Pierce's Jocelyn Leon (Lenox, Mass.) made three.

With 16 member institutions the Northeast-10 shares the distinction of being the largest Division II conference in the country along with the PSAC and WVIAC. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.