LORETTO, Pa. (Sept. 5, 2007) – Junior Alanna Vespa (Ancaster, Ontario/Saint Mary’s Catholic) (Ancaster, Ontario, Canada / Saint Mary's Catholic) had two goals to lead an offensive explosion as the Saint Francis women's soccer team defeated Howard 5-0 in its home opener on Wednesday afternoon at the Stokes Soccer Complex.

Sophomore Katie Dougherty (Downington, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) (Downingtown, Pa. / Bishop Shanahan), and freshmen Haleigh Dunyon (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson) (Long Beach, Calif. / Woodrow Wilson) and Kyla Hollingshead (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) also scored the first goals of their respective careers.

Freshman Kate Bosey (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia Glenville) (Scotia, N.Y. / Scotia Glenville) added two assists, while Dougherty and sophomore Brittany Valentine (Hudson, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit/) (Hudson, Ohio / Walsh Jesuit) also notched assists. Sophomore Jessica Boyer (Pittsburgh, Pa/Mount Lebanon) (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mount Lebanon) and freshman Lauren Fearer (Mount Pleasant, Pa./Mount Pleasant Area) (Mount Pleasant, Pa. / Mount Pleasant Area) each made a save in combining on Saint Francis' second consecutive shutout.

The Red Flash improved to 2-1 on the young season, and will return to action with a 4 p.m. Friday contest with Canisius, at the Stokes Soccer Complex.

Saint Francis got on the board in the 14th minute on a perfect cross from Bosey. She beat a defender near the end line in the right corner and sent a cross into the box. Howard goalkeeper Jessamyn Perkins got a hand on the cross, but couldn't reel the ball in. Dunyon was there to scoop up the ball and put it past Perkins into the left side of the net.

On the second SFU goal, Dougherty split the defense at midfiled with a perfect pass and Vespa did the rest of the work as she dribbled to the top of the box and put the ball into the left side of the net for a 2-0 Red Flash lead at 28:59.

SFU began the second half scoring at 57:32 when Dougherty capitalized on a penalty kick to make it 3-0.

Hollingshead and Vespa then scored goals less than a minute apart to put the match out of reach. Hollingshead found an open net off a perfect cross from Valentine at 70:51. Vespa then put away another cross from Bosey at 71:45 to make it 5-0.

The Red Flash outshot the Bison 29-3 in the match. Perkins made 14 saves for Howard.