Southern New Hampshire University’s Women’s Soccer team celebrated Senior Day October 28 during an NE-10 matchup with the College of Saint Rose in the Penmen’s final game of the regular season. SNHU honored seven seniors and one junior in an emotional pregame celebration that saw family and friends gather at Larkin Field.
Soon-to-be graduates Abigail Maker (Naples, Maine), Trisha Luis (Lowell, Massachusetts), Alena Woodarek (Springville, New York), Courtney Benson (Hopkinton, New Hampshire), Rianna Fasanello (E. Bridgewater, Massachusetts), and Sydney Crema (Litchfield, New Hampshire), and junior Shannon Valente (Windham, Maine) received flowers, jerseys and awards from fellow teammates and family members before taking the field to fight for a tie against the Golden Knights.
The game began in favor of the Knights, breaking the deadlock in the 38th minute when Saint Rose’s Carlletia Savizon headed the ball into the far-left corner of the net off a corner kick from teammate Sophia Constantine. The Penmen stayed strong, however, and did allow for another ball to get past goalkeeper Paige Salmon (W. Hempstead, New York).
The Penmen broke even in the 73rd minute when senior Abigail Maker chased down a punt from Salmon, who then took on a pair of Saint Rose defenders. Maker kicked an initial shot from in close on the right, but was blocked by a Golden Knight. She recovered the ball, however, and lofted it over defenders and into the left side of the goalmouth to even the match 1-1.
The match proceeded to double-overtime as neither team pulled through with a goal. The match would stay that way, however, and finished with a tie.
The tie earned SNHU the No. 2 seed in the Northeast-10 tournament, which is the highest ranking the Penmen have received in program history.
Coach Monteiro is very pleased with the performance of the Penmen and is excited to see how the Northeast-10 tournament pans out.
“We’ll be ready to compete, and we hope we can count on the support of the SNHU community!” Monteiro stated.
The Northeast-10 tournament begins today, October 31. The Penmen will host No. 7 ranked Bentley in quarterfinal action at 4 p.m. on Larkin Field.
