Sam Meza makes four saves to earn shutout win
RINDGE, N.H. (October 26, 2013) – Freshman
Pedro Espindola (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and senior
Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) booted home a
pair of second half goals Saturday night to lift the Franklin
Pierce University men's soccer team to a 2-0 win over New
Haven at Sodexo Field in Rindge.
The Ravens won their second
straight and fifth in the last six matches to improve to 8-6
overall and 7-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Chargers dipped to
1-13-1 and 1-10 in league play.
After a first half that featured
hardly any highlights for either side, the Ravens exploded
offensively in the second half.
Franklin Pierce turned up the
momentum by firing off several attempts that narrowly missed in the
opening minutes of the frame, but finally got one in the
60th minute off the foot of Espindola, which was his
fourth in the last four matches. He scored the goal after tracking
down a stretch pass from Marius Preber (Jessheim,
Norway), dribbling down the right side into the box and
firing lower left corner past the New Haven keeper.
Espindola attempted six shots on
the night with four going on net, and has logged 25 shots over the
last four matches.
Espindola's marker was his
team-high tying fourth goal of the year, moving him into the team
lead with Dudney and Dallas Donovan (South Yarmouth,
Mass.).
However, Dudney four minutes later
took over sole possession of the team lead in tallies as he buried
a penalty kick attempt to put Franklin Pierce up by a pair.
Franklin Pierce locked down
defensively the rest of the way to make the two-goal lead stand up.
The Ravens held a commanding 27-8 edge in shots (19 shots in the
second half), and only allowed four to go on goal. Junior keeper
Sam Meza (Whittier, Calif.) turned aside all four
UNH attempts to earn the win to improve to 8-6 on the year.
The win came on a special night for
the program as the Ravens celebrated the accomplishments of six
seniors prior to the game. In addition to Dudney, who was playing
in his final regular season match on Sodexo Field, Terence
Ciavarra (Sutton, Mass.), Chris Stoker (Holden, Mass.), Ryan
Ruffing (Westborough, Mass.), Jefferson Rojas (Pawtucket,
R.I.) and Jared Taber (Waltham, Mass.),
were honored pregame for their contributions to the program over
the last four years.
The victory was especially
satisfying for Dudney, who has been with the program for all four
years, and has been a part of a pair of NE-10 championships, an
NCAA regional title, and a trip to the Division II Final Four
during his time in Rindge.
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Wednesday when the Ravens take on Merrimack at 7 p.m. in North
Andover.
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(.)
