BRISTOL, R.I. – Despite trailing twice in the game, the number two seed Roger Williams University Women's Soccer team defeated third-seeded Salve Regina University 4-3 Wednesday afternoon in front of a hometown Roger Williams crowd.

The Hawks got goals from four different goal scorers. Senior forward Katie Fusaro (Hopkinton, Mass.) and sophomore forward Hannah Noel (Adams, Mass.) each had a goal and an assist. Midfielder Kristen Tetreault (Tolland, Conn.) and forward Laurin Pendleton (Southwick, Mass.) contributed with goals of their own in the Hawks' victory.  The defending CCC champions now move on to the conference championship for the second straight year.

The Hawks came out of the gates on fire, putting up eight shots on goal on the Salve goaltender Jessica Lane (Marshfield, Mass.). Overall, the Hawks outshot the Seahawks 16-4 in the period. However, they could not break through and went into halftime scoreless.

In the second half, Salve Regina scored a pair of quick goals and put themselves up by two early in the period. Seahawks sophomore Erin McCullough (Ludlow, Mass.) put the first score of the game on the board less than a minute into the half, hooking in a shot from the left side into the upper right corner. Three minutes later, Jordan Sileo (Bristol, Conn.) took a pass in the box from junior forward and 2011 CCC Player of the Year Kaitlyn Birrell (Hope, R.I.), and shot it in for her third goal of the season, putting the Seahawks comfortably up two goals to begin the second half.

Despite being down, Roger Williams 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 Noel and Tetreault. 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 Lane for her team-leading ninth goal of the season at the 49:28 mark. Tetreault would tie the game at two on a putback on a loose ball in the 54^th minute.

With a tie game, the Hawks continued their push to take the lead. In the 55^th minute, Pendleton took a pass from Fusaro in the box let go a strong shot go, which was ultimately saved by Lane, who had a strong game with 12 saves. Despite the strong offensive push, the Hawks saw the tie broken by Birrell, who put in her team leading 19th goal of the season at 60:29, bouncing a shot off the top post that the referees ruled had crossed the goal line.

The Hawks responded with a goal of their own at the 64:11 mark. Noel made a cross from the left which bounced into the box, right to the feet of 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 (Medfield, Mass.) at 78:18. They were finally rewarded for their strong play at the 81:13, when Pendleton finally broke through to give the Hawks their first lead of the game. Pendleton avoided the Salve defense and headed a corner kick backwards from senior captain Alexa Maher (Hopewell, N.J.) up underneath the cross bar and into the goal for her 54^th career goal and eventual game winner.

Sophomore keeper Stephanie Jaques (Burlington, Vt.) made three saves in the game for the Hawks to pick up her 13^th win of the season.

“It was an instant classic today; you don't get many games like that and it is much nicer to be the winner,” said Head Coach Tim Moody. “We have tried to attack teams all season and that perhaps was a reason we went down two early in the second half of the match. Both keepers played well in the first half which kept both teams in a position to win the contest. Jaques made a crucial one-on-one save, and Lane for Salve made the best save I seen in a long time at the college level. Otherwise it could have been 3-1 to us after 45 instead of nil-nil.

“We didn't come out at half time on the ball and they scored two good goals. They probably thought it was all over. To our credit it just switched the light bulb on.  Hannah's goal was exquisite and Kristin was brave to tie it up at two-two.

“Then we go and get caught on a counter. We were trying to win the game and go down again 3-2, but with plenty of time on the clock we felt we had more goals in us. The third goal came at the right time. A great cross into the box from Hannah, Laurin just missed the header and Katie came in at the far post to tuck it away. I had a feeling we would then win it in regulation. It was fitting that Laurin got the winner with her head, from Alexa's corner.

“I think it was written in the stars that we would face Endicott again for the Championship. This is where we wanted to be at the start of the season. The seniors want to give it one more go. The team has battled all season and deserve another final.”

The second-seeded Hawks (13-6-1) now move on to play fourth-seeded Endicott College, who defeated Western New England 1-0 earlier in the day, in the CCC Championship game at home Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The game will be a rematch of last year's championship in which the Hawks defeated the Gulls 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie in double OT. Salve Regina concludes the season at 13-6-1, setting a new school record for wins in a season.