Daniel Donaldson scores a pair of goals to lead offensive
attack
MANCHESTER, N.H. (November
1, 2011) – The No. 2 nationally ranked Franklin
Pierce University men's soccer team opened post-season play
on Tuesday night with a 4-0 win over eighth-seeded Stonehill at
Larkin Field in Manchester, N.H. The Ravens improved to 17-0-1,
while Stonehill concluded its season at 10-9.
The Ravens will now advance to
Friday's Northeast-10 semifinals where they will play host to
fourth-seeded Le Moyne at 4 p.m. in Sodexo Field. Tickets for the
contest will be sold at the front gate on game day and are $5 for
adults, $3 for children/seniors and $1 for college students with a
school ID.
Franklin Pierce entered the NE-10
tournament as the top seed after claiming the league's
regular season championship for the second-straight year. Last
year's regular season title helped propel the Ravens
throughout the tournament as they claimed the league championship
with a 1-0 win over Bentley in the finals. Stonehill was the
tournament's eighth seed.
Franklin Pierce dominated the pace
of play right from the beginning and eventually went on top, 1-0,
in 15th minute when graduate back Daniel
Donaldson (Moenchengladbach, Germany) headed in a shot off
corner kick attempt from senior midfielder Paul Latif
(Newcastle, England). It was Donaldson's fourth goal
of the season and his third in the last three matches. Latif earned
an assist on the play.
The Ravens also played well on the
defensive end and held the Skyhawks to just one shot in the first
half, which came 32 minutes into the stanza. Franklin Pierce
recorded 10 shots in the frame, including putting four on goal.
Stonehill came out inspired in the
second half and fired off several shots in the opening minutes of
the frame. However, the Skyhawks could not get the equalizer as
Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made a pair
of saves to preserve the one-goal lead.
Franklin Pierce padded its cushion
with 22:57 remaining in the contest when freshman Tom
Wampler (Attleboro, Mass.) sent a through pass to senior
Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) down the right side
of the field, and he followed by dribbling into the box and
slipping a shot to the lower left corner of the goal for his ninth
tally of the season. Wampler was credited with an assist on the
play.
Tabares set up the Ravens third
goal minutes later with a nifty dribble move along the right side
of the box. He dribbled around the diving keeper, fired off a shot
that was deflected away, but Wampler sent home the rebound for a
3-0 lead and his second marker of the season. Tabares earned an
assist on the play.
Donaldson notched his second goal
of the match with 10 minutes remaining to round out the
scoring.
Papageorgiou made two saves to earn
the win to run his record to 17-0-1 on the season. The Ravens
outshot Stonehill by a count of 16-5.
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).
