Ravens extend their streak to 29-straight regular season matches without a loss
WATCH ARCHIVED BROADCAST OF CALDWELL MATCH
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Freshman midfielder Nico Mueller scored his first collegiate goal in his Franklin Pierce debut on Saturday night in a 3-0 win over Caldwell.
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RINDGE, N.H. (September 1, 2012) – The No. 3 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team opened its 2012 season with a satisfying 3-0 win over Caldwell on Saturday night at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 1-0, while the Cougars dipped to 0-1. It marked Franklin Pierce's 29th-consecutive regular season match (dating back to the 2010 campaign) without suffering a loss (27-0-2 during that stretch).
A trio of Ravens scored on the night, including graduate back Daniel Donaldson (Moenchengladbach, Germany), senior forward Greg Giguere (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and freshman midfielder Nico Mueller (Manheim, Germany).
It wasn't just an offensive showcase for the Ravens, but a strong defensive one as well as Franklin Pierce limited Caldwell to just one shot. Graduate goalkeeper Jake Wright (Los Angeles, Calif.) did not need to make a save in earning the win, which was his first in a Ravens uniform.
Franklin Pierce played back initially, but slowly kept moving the pace of play up into the Caldwell side of the pitch as the first half unfolded. Donaldson generated Franklin Pierce's first top-flight chance in the 25th minute when he moved down deep into the box and tried to get a shot away before being pulled down. The officials awarded the defender a penalty kick, which he calmly buried into the lower left corner of the goal to stake the Ravens to a 1-0 advantage.
The Ravens held a 10-1 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes and continued to fire away in the second half. Giguere put Franklin Pierce up, 2-0, in the 49th minute when he worked his way to the mouth of the goal and directed in a crossing pass from sophomore midfielder David Lima (Everett, Mass.). The sophomore, who was seeing his first collegiate match, notched an assist for his first career point.
Franklin Pierce capped the scoring in the 65th minute when Mueller tracked down a long stretch pass from senior midfielder Marc Santos (East Hartford, Conn.), dribbled in and fired from the top of the box that slid past the out-reaching arms of the Caldwell keeper. It was Mueller's first goal in his collegiate debut.
The other special highlight of the night for Franklin Pierce was that the win came in the coaching debut of Ian Clerihew, who took over the reigns of the program last spring after guiding Mars Hill to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2011. Overall, it's Clerihew's fifth season as a college head coach and Saturday night's win was sure to be placed near the top of his list in important victories.
The impressive win over the Cougars came just two weeks after Franklin Pierce had been picked in a tie for first place in the Northeast-10 Conference Preseason Poll and had received a No. 3 national ranking in the NSCAA Preseason Top-25 Poll.
Franklin Pierce returns to action next Saturday when the Ravens travel to face Wilmington (Del.) in a 2 p.m. kickoff.
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).
