Sophomore back Shaliek Dawkins scored less than 15 minutes into the
second half to put the Ravens up 2-1. PHOTO BY Richard Orr
Sports Photography.
|
Yellow Jackets score twice in five-minute span in second half
to end Ravens quest for fourth-straight NE-10 regular season
championship
Boxscore
LUDLOW, Mass. (October 29,
2008) - Defending NCAA Division II Champion Franklin
Pierce University saw its shot at a fourth-straight Northeast-10
Conference regular season championship spoiled by a 3-2 setback to
American International College in Northeast-10 Conference men's
soccer action at Lusitano Stadium tonight.
Franklin Pierce (11-7-1, 9-3-1
NE-10) will be the third seed in the upcoming NE-10 Tournament and
will host sixth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University
(6-6-5, 5-3-5 NE-10) for a quarterfinal round match on Sunday,
November 2, on Sodexo Field. Official pairings and match times will
be released tomorrow afternoon.
Grad student Benard Kessie
(Worcester, Mass./Burncoat), junior Andrew
Rousseau (Springfield, Mass./Central) and freshman
Drou Goff (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) all
scored goals for American International. Senior Frantz
Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.)) and
sophomore Shaliek Dawkins (St. Catherine, Jamaica)
netted goals for Franklin Pierce.
Freshman goalkeeper Joe
Ferrentino (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) made
four saves to preserve the win for American International. Freshman
Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington)
finished with one stop for Franklin Pierce. The Ravens posted a
12-9 advantage in shots for the match.
Senior Frantz Francois knotted the match at 1-1 just before
halftime. PHOTO BY Richard Orr Sports Photography.
|
On one of the more dramatic final
nights for the Northeast-10 in recent memory, Franklin Pierce, the
University of Massachusetts Lowell and Southern New Hampshire
University all remained alive in hopes of claiming at least a share
of the NE-10 regular season championship. Needing a win and UMass
Lowell victory over Southern New Hampshire in Lowell tonight,
Franklin Pierce seemed to be on its way to a fourth-straight title
when Dawkins put the Ravens in front just shy of the hour mark when
he scored off a pass from freshman Viktor Gonçalves
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to take a 2-1 lead. The goal came
shortly after UMass Lowell had taken control of its match with
Southern New Hampshire with its second goal in an eventual 2-0
victory.
However, AIC answered with an
unassisted goal by Goff, his second of the season, in the
70th minute, before Kessie netted the match-winner less
than five minutes later off a feed from freshman Matias Mononen
(Jeonsuu, Finland) in the 75th.
While UMass Lowell's match ended,
Franklin Pierce tried to force overtime and nearly did so, but
freshman Michael Busto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou
School) had his shot headed off the line and finally
collected by Ferrentino with five minutes to play in regulation.
The loss ended the Ravens title hopes and relegated them to the
third seed in next week's NE-10 Tournament, while UMass Lowell and
Southern New Hampshire share the regular season crown. UMass Lowell
clinched the top seed in the NE-10 tournament as result of
tonight's head-to-head win over SNHU.
AIC opened the scoring when
Rousseau scored off a feed from senior Derick Ofori
(Pawtucket, R.I./Charles E. Shea) 20:05 into the match.
Franklin Pierce equalized with Francois' fourth goal of the season
just 1:56 before halftime.
American International sees its
season come to a close with a 5-11-3 record overall, 3-7-3 in the
Northeast-10.
