Marius Preber has three-point evening on goal and assist
RINDGE, N.H. (October 22, 2013) – Freshman
Pedro Espindola (Sao Paulo, Brazil) struck home a
pair of goals, and the Franklin Pierce University men's
soccer team exploded for a 4-2 win over Saint Michael's on
Tuesday night at Sodexo Field in Rindge.
The win was the Ravens'
fourth in their last five matches as they improved to 7-6 overall
and 6-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Purple Knights dropped their
fourth straight in falling to 5-7 and 5-5 in league play.
Espindola wasn't the only
Raven to factor into a pair of goals on the evening, as senior
Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) and sophomore
Marius Preber (Jessheim, Norway) each logged a
goal and an assist in the offensive outburst by the Ravens.
Franklin Pierce, as a team,
recorded 17 shots with 13 going on net. Dudney had five (all 5 on
goal), while Espindola and Preber each attempted three. Espindola
was a perfect 3-for-3 putting his on net, while Preber fired on net
at a 67 percent clip (2-of-3). Nine Ravens in all had at least one
shot in the contest.
Espindola's first marker in
the 44th minute touched off a string of three-straight
goals by the Ravens to break a 1-1 tie and allow them to cruise
home for the win. He took a nice feed from Preber, dribbled to the
upper left corner of the box and fired a shot past the diving St.
Mike's keeper into the lower right corner of the net.
It didn't take long for the
Ravens to strike again in the second half, as in the
60th minute Preber took a lob pass from Dudney inside
the box, and struck a shot to the upper right corner of the
goal.
Preber's triple flip goal
celebration caused the crowd to explode, but Espindola answered
with a triple flip celebration of his own seven minutes later after
he took a misplayed ball from the Purple Knights keeper and chipped
a soft shot into the back of the goal to make it 4-1. Freshman
Justin Corday (Somerset, Bermuda) was given an
assist on the play as he sent the ball towards the net that was
misplayed by the keeper.
St. Mike's keeper Nicco Roque
took the loss to fall to 5-7, while Ravens keeper Sam Meza made
three saves to earn the win to improve to 7-6 on the year. The
Purple Knights registered 14 shots on the evening with five going
on net.
Dudney opened the scoring in the
fifth minute by deflecting in a shot off a crossing pass from
Ryan Ruffing (Westborough, Mass.), but Saint
Michael's countered in the 21st with a goal off a
free kick attempt from Chris George.
George had three points on the
night as he also assisted on Aaron DaCosta's team-leading
sixth goal of the season in the waning moments of the match.
Dudney's goal was his fourth
of the season, which moved him into a tie for the team lead in
markers with freshman Dallas Donovan (South Yarmouth,
Mass.).
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Saturday night when the Ravens play host to New Haven at 7 p.m. on
Sodexo Field in Rindge. The game will mark Senior Night, as it will
be the last regular season home game for the Ravens in 2013.
For more information on Franklin
Pierce men's soccer, please visit the team's page at http://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 http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)
