ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose will put its unblemished record on the line Saturday when the Golden Knights welcome #12 Franklin Pierce for a Northeast-10 Conference clash. Kickoff is set for 1:00 pm at The Albany Academies.
The Golden Knights (12-0/9-0 NE-10), ranked #2 in this week's
NSCAA/Adidas Division II Poll, are coming off of Tuesday's 3-1 triumph against visiting Assumption. Meanwhile, #12 Franklin Pierce (11-2/9-1 NE-10) ran its win streak to nine matches Tuesday evening with a 3-0 home win versus American International.
The Ravens have played in seven NCAA Championship matches and own 14-2-4 advantage in the series with Saint Rose that dates back to 1991. However, the Golden Knights have won back-to-back NE-10 titles. They furthermore upended host Franklin Pierce 4-0 in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament, which helped propel them to a national semifinal appearance.
The 2009 Saint Rose squad features a balanced attack. Fifteen players have found the scoring column including sophomore forward Nicola D'Errico who paces the parade with four markers and two assists. Junior All-American midfielder
Amanda Deck is right behind her with four goals and one assist.
Meanwhile, sophomore keeper
Susan Cowan and junior
Deanna Esposito are first and third in the NE-10 in both goals-against-average and save percentage. Cowan owns a 0.31 GAA and a .905 save percentage, while Esposito's numbers are 0.39 and .920 respectively. They are supported by a superlative backline that is anchored by juniors
Katie Whiting,
Coco Ebersole, and
Kelly Guerin; along with freshman
Meagan McKinney.
Saint Rose, which is tied for fourth in the country behind a league best 0.33 GAA, has five shutouts in its last six outings and has outscored its 12 foes by a 25-4 margin. The Golden Knights have also outshot their adversaries by a 178-66 differential and have produced 84 corner kicks, while yielding a mere 21.
Conversely, Franklin Pierce features the third highest scoring offense in the country with an impressive 54 goals throughout its first 13 games. Senior midfielder Gabriela Demoner leads the nation with 23 goals and five assists for 51 points, while junior forward Angelika Johansson is tied for 18th behind 14 goals and three helpers for 31 points. The Ravens lone NE-10 setback came via a 3-1 decision at UMass Lowell back on Tuesday, September 1.
