Pendleton, Hawks head to conference finals

In an exciting semi-final matchup, the second-seeded and defending champion Roger Williams University Women's Soccer team defeated third seed Salve Regina University four to three Wednesday afternoon in front of an electrified RWU home crowd.

The Hawks got goals from four different players to im­prove to 13-6-1 on the year. Senior forward Katie Fusaro and sophomore forward Han­nah Noel each had a goal and an assist in the contest while midfielder Kristen Tetreault and forward Laurin Pendleton con­tributed with goals of their own to give the Hawks the victory. The Lady Hawks now move on to the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship to defend their title in a game against Endicott College.

The Hawks came out of the gates on fire, putting up eight shots on goal on Salve Regina goaltender Jessica Lane. How­ever, they could break through, and they went into halftime scoreless.

Early in the second half Se­ahawks senior Jordan Sileo took a pass in the box from forward Kaitlyn Birrell, and shot it past RWU goaltender Stephanie Jacques for her third goal of the season, putting the Seahawks comfortably up two goals to be­gin the second half.

Despite being down, RWU continued to battle, pushing deep into Salve territory and getting some strong shots on the Salve goaltender. RWU fi­nally broke through to tie the game with goals from Hannah Noel and Kristen Tetreault. Sophomore Hannah Noel, who had a strong game for the Hawks, moved into Salve terri­tory from the left and lobbed a kick over the outstretched hands of Salve's Jessica Lane for her team-leading ninth goal of the season at 49:28.

With a tie game, the Hawks continued their push to take the lead. Laurin Pendleton took a pass from Katie Fusaro in the box let go a strong shot go, which was ultimately saved by Lane, who had strong game with 12 saves. Despite the strong of­fensive push, the Hawks saw the tie broken by Salve junior Kaitlyn Birrell, who put in her team-leading 19th goal of the season at 60:29.

The Hawks responded with a goal of their own. Hannah Noel made a cross from the left which bounced into the box, right to the feet of Katie Fusaro who put the ball in far side for her seventh goal of the season.

The Hawks continued to push offensively. They possessed the ball for most of the half, and in turn were rewarded with lots of chances, including a shot that rang off the post from Maddy Howard.

They were finally rewarded for their strong play at the 81:13, when Laurin Pendle­ton finally broke through to give the Hawks their first lead of the game. Pendleton evaded the Salve defense and headed a corner kick from senior captain Alexa Maher up underneath the cross bar and into the goal for her seventh goal of the season.

The second-seeded Hawks now move on to play the fourth-seeded Endicott College, who defeated Western New England one to zero, in the CCC Cham­pionship game at