Marc Santos notches insurance goal to aid in Ravens offensive attack

WALTHAM, Mass. (October 31, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team turned in an outstanding defensive effort, while blasting home timely second-half goals to pull off a satisfying 3-0 triumph at Bentley on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Northeast-10 Conference Championship in Waltham, Mass. The Ravens improved to 11-4-2, while the Falcons dipped to 10-5-2.

Franklin Pierce limited Bentley to four shots over the 90 minutes of action and yielded zero shots on goal. In fact, only two players for the Falcons recorded shots as Franklin Pierce graduate goalkeeper Jake Wright (Los Angeles, Calif.) did not need to make a save to run his record to 11-4-2 on the year with five shutouts.

The win marked Franklin Pierce's seventh-consecutive victory in the NE-10 Tournament as the Ravens are the two-time defending champions in the league. In fact, the last six wins in the current streak have come via shutouts for Franklin Pierce. 

The Ravens, on the other hand, produced 12 shots on Wednesday, including putting six on goal. However, Franklin Pierce could not bury a shot in the first half and both teams went into halftime holding a 0-0 tie.

The opening stages of the second half proved similar to the first as neither side could generate much offense. That all changed, though, in the 59th minute when the Ravens broke through with a goal from graduate forward Ryan Ruffing (Westborough, Mass.) off a nice feed from freshman Nico Mueller (Mannheim, Germany). 

Mueller kick-started the scoring play when he sent a through ball past multiple Bentley defenders into the box where Ruffing outworked the opposition for the ball, took two dribbles and fired a strike to the lower left corner of the net for the 1-0 Franklin Pierce lead. It was Ruffing's fifth goal of the season and Mueller earned an assist on the play.

It was then Mueller's turn to get into the goal column seven minutes later as he put the Ravens up 2-0. The rookie, playing in is first collegiate post-season match, dribbled the ball deep down the left wing and sent a shot towards the lower left corner of the net which eluded the diving Bentley keeper Alex Pilitsis. It was Mueller's seventh of the season, which moved him into the team lead in that category.

Senior midfielder Marc Santos (East Hartford, Conn.) added an insurance goal in the 88th minute as he deposited a shot in the back of the net from 15 yards out for his second marker of the campaign.

The Ravens advanced to the NE-10 semifinals on Friday when they will travel to North Andover, Mass. to take on Merrimack. 

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/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's soccer apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)