Nico Mueller records match-high three shots for the Ravens

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team's bid for a third-consecutive Northeast-10 Conference Championship came to a tough end on Friday night when the Ravens fell 1-0 to Merrimack in the semifinals of the conference tournament at Martone-Mejail Field in North Andover, Mass.

The Ravens fell to 11-5-2 and will now wait until Monday night to see if they earned a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, as the brackets will be announced live on NCAA.com(.) Merrimack (14-2-2) advanced to the conference finals on Sunday.

The Warriors got the only goal they needed in the 19th minute when Michael Buraczynski threw in a ball from the sidelines, which rolled past several players and onto the foot of Douglas Searl, who struck home a shot for his third tally of the season.

Searl's marker was the only shot on goal allowed by the Ravens in the contest as they owned a 10-8 advantage in shots. Three of Franklin Pierce's 10 attempts went on goal, but Merrimack goalkeeper Jose Silva turned aside all three attempts to earn the shutout victory and run his record to 13-2-2 on the year.

Graduate back Daniel Donaldson (Moenchengladbach, Germany), junior forward Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) and freshman midfielder Nico Mueller (Mannheim, Germany) each recorded a shot on net for the Ravens. Mueller, who was named the NE-10 Rookie of the Year on Thursday, logged a match-high three shots.

Graduate keeper Jake Wright (Los Angeles, Calif.) suffered the loss in net for the Ravens to fall to 11-5-2 on the year.

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(.)