Freshman goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou made five saves to preserve
his seventh shutout of the season. He also made one stop in the
penalty shootout as the Ravens advanced to its fourth NE-10
Tournament Championship match tonight. PHOTO BY Andrew
Katsampes.
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Third-seeded Ravens advance 4-3 on penalties after playing
second-seeded and #13 Southern New Hampshire to 0-0 double-overtime
draw
Boxscore
MANCHESTER, N.H. (November
5, 2008) - Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University, the
defending NCAA Division II Champions, will make its fourth
appearance in the Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer championship
match after advancing with a 4-3 decision on penalty kicks over
second-seeded Southern New Hampshire University, ranked
13th in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association
of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, after the two sides
played to a 0-0 double-overtime draw at Larkin Field this evening.
Franklin Pierce (12-7-2, 9-3-1
NE-10) will battle fourth-seeded Le Moyne College (13-4-3, 9-3-1
NE-10) for the NE-10 Championship at Sodexo Field in Rindge on
Saturday at 1 p.m. Le Moyne advanced with a 2-1 double-overtime
upset of top-seeded and No. 21-ranked University of Massachusetts
Lowell (11-3-4, 9-1-3 NE-10) in tonight's other semifinal match.
Franklin Pierce, who will be making its fourth NE-10 championship
appearance since 2004, seeks its second tournament championship.
Southern New Hampshire senior back
Ransford Shand (Brooklyn, N.Y./Herkimer CC)
blasted his penalty kick in the fifth round over the upper left
corner of the goal for a chance to force an extra round of
penalties, but instead sent Franklin Pierce through to the final.
All-American Bisharra Ettienne (Point Michel,
Dominica) put the Ravens ahead by converting their fifth
penalty.
All-American Bisharra Ettienne converted the deciding kick in the
shootout and spearheaded a defensive unit which limited Southern
New Hampshire's scoring chances. PHOTO BY Richard Orr Sports
Photography.
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Freshman goalkeeper Vinny
Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) made five
saves to preserve his seventh shutout of the season for Franklin
Pierce. Senior Sean Lambert (Rehoboth,
Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth) posted his tenth shutout without
making a save in regulation and two overtimes.
Southern New Hampshire finished
with an 11-4 advantage in shots for the match, including 8-1 after
halftime. The best scoring chances of the match for either side
came for the Penmen early in the second half. Junior
Paulson Edum (Calabar, Nigeria) saw his open
volley from the center of the 18 parried around the left post by
Papageorgiou in the 49th minute. On the ensuing corner
kick, Papageorgiou scrambled to make a stop on the right post on a
shot by junior Richard Kentish (Kingston,
Jamaica).
Franklin Pierce's best bids were a
pair of half chances from grad student Casey Ftorek
(Wolfeboro, N.H./Taft School) and senior Cole
Larned (Wilton, Conn./Wilton) in the 13th
minute - neither of which ended up on target.
In the shootout, both teams
converted their first two attempts before Lambert made a diving
stop of senior Frantz Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm
Beach Lakes (Fla.)) in the third round. Papageorgiou put
the shootout back on level turns right away with a save to his
right on junior Kevin Woods (Alyth, Scotland).
Both sides converted in the fourth round before Ettienne hit his
kick and Shand missed the target to end the match.
