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Tyler Rosa assisted on the match-winning goal in Saturday's 2-0
triumph over Stonehill.
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RINDGE, N.H. (September 24,
2011) – Senior forward Victor Goncalves (Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil) scored two second-half goals to lead
the fourth-ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer
team to a 2-0 win over Stonehill on Saturday night at Sodexo Field
in Rindge. The win ran Franklin Pierce's record to 7-0
overall and 3-0 in the Northeast-10, while the loss dropped
Stonehill to 3-4 and 1-2 in league play. The Ravens also moved into
a tie for first place in the NE-10 standings with the triumph.
Goncalves broke the scoreless tie
in the 74th minute when he took a pass from junior back
Tyler Rosa (Rehoboth, Mass.) down the left side,
dribbled in and snuck a shot underneath the Stonehill keeper to the
lower right corner of the net. Rosa notched an assist on the play
for his third point of the season.
Two minutes later, Goncalves struck
again from the same spot on the field where he scored his first
marker. This time freshman midfielder Tom Wampler
(Attleboro, Mass.) sent a long stretch pass down into the
left corner where Goncalves retrieved it, dribbled in and sent a
high shot to the upper right corner of the net for a 2-0
Ravens' lead. Wampler tallied an assist on the play for his
first collegiate point.
Goncalves ran his goal total to
three on the season, which also moved him into a tie for the team
lead in that category, along with senior back Tom Reilly
(Wallasey, England) and junior midfielder Amory
Houghton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine).
Franklin Pierce held the Skyhawks
in check the rest of the way and senior goalkeeper Vinny
Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made a save late to
preserve the shutout victory, marking the second-straight match he
turned the trick. Papageorgiou improved to 7-0 on the season.
The win also extended Franklin
Pierce's streak of regular season matches without a loss to
20 (19-0-1). The Ravens' 7-0 start is their best since
joining the NE-10 prior to the 2000 season. In fact, Franklin
Pierce is off to its best start since the 1995 squad began that
campaign with a 14-0 record.
The match saw a scoreless first
half, but not without some strong scoring chances from the Ravens.
Senior midfielder Diego Tabares (Seekonk,
Mass.) had three strong chances which came about from his
strong dribbling with the ball, but his shots just missed wide of
the net. Sophomore Gareth Dudney (North Andover,
Mass.) also had a nice scoring chance in the first half as
well.
Dudney, Tabares and Goncalves
helped key a strong offensive attack for the Ravens as Goncalves
fired off a match-high six shots, while the other two logged three
shots apiece. Franklin Pierce held a 17-10 advantage in shots for
the contest.
Stonehill freshman goalkeeper Adam
Colella, the reigning NE-10 rookie of the week, made a solid seven
saves despite suffering the loss to fall to 2-2 on the year.
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Tuesday night when the Ravens play host to Saint Rose at 7 p.m. in
Sodexo Field in Rindge.
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).
