Ravens get goals from three different players
BOXSCORE
RINDGE, N.H. (October 5,
2010) – The No. 5-nationally ranked Franklin Pierce
University men's soccer team got goals from three different
players in an impressive 3-0 win over American International on
Tuesday evening at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The win was Franklin
Pierce's sixth-straight and pushed its overall record to 8-1
and 6-0 in Northeast-10 play. The Ravens also halted AIC's
win streak at four matches as the Yellow Jackets fell to 5-5-1
overall and 3-3-1 in league action.
The all-around impressive win came
just hours after the NSCAA Division II National Top-25 Poll was
published, which announced that the Ravens had jumped up from
11th to fifth place in the standings. It's the
highest ranking for the Ravens this season, as they were not even
ranked in the national top-25 three weeks ago. Franklin Pierce also
found out on Tuesday that it was ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA's
East Region Poll.
The high rankings in both polls
were aided by the fact that Franklin Pierce completed a perfect 4-0
homestand on Tuesday night with the win over AIC. In the four-game
homestand the Ravens downed some of the nation's best teams,
including Le Moyne (ranked No. 1 earlier in the season), Merrimack
(ranked 16th in the nation at the time of kickoff) and
Southern Connecticut State (ranked in the top-25 earlier in the
season).
The Ravens got on the board in the
22nd minute as junior midfielder Paul Latif
(Newcastle, England) converted a penalty kick, which was
the team's first try of such a shot this season. Latif drew
the penalty kick attempt after he tracked down a long pass down the
left-hand side of the box and dribbled towards the goal, but was
taken off his feet as the AIC goalkeeper denied him an obvious
scoring opportunity. The officials gave a red card to the Yellow
Jackets' goalkeeper, Corey Cameron, and off he went as he
watched Latif bury the kick.
It was Latif's team-leading fourth of the season, but his
grip on sole possession of the team lead would not last long as
junior forward Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil) scored his fourth goal of the campaign in the
35th minute to give Franklin Pierce a 2-0 advantage.
Goncalves registered his tally off a long pass from Diego
Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) that he was able to track down
just past the midfield stripe. Goncalves was able to get behind
AIC's backs, thus drawing out the goalkeeper, who came out
too far, which allowed FPU's striker to loft a shot over the
final defender and into the back of the net. Tabares was credited
with an assist on the play.
Graduate backer Jeff Hay
(Dudley, Mass.) capped the scoring for Franklin Pierce in
the 71st minute with his third goal of the season as he
headed in a corner kick attempt from Latif, who was credited with
an assist on the goal. The helper gave Latif three points for the
evening.
Franklin Pierce owned a commanding
25-6 advantage in shots with 10 of those blasts going on goal.
Ravens' junior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou
(Wilmington, Mass.) needed to make just two saves to earn
the shutout victory, which was his second-consecutive and his fifth
of the season.
The Ravens return to action
Saturday when they travel to Albany, N.Y. to face Saint Rose at 1
p.m. Franklin Pierce returns home next Tuesday to play host to
Bentley at 7 p.m. in Sodexo Field.
For more information on Franklin
Pierce men's soccer, please visit the team's page at
athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further,
please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports),
Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics)
and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).