Yellow Jackets score twice in five-minute span in second half to end Ravens quest for fourth-straight NE-10 regular season championship

Boxscore

LUDLOW, Mass. (October 29, 2008) - Defending NCAA Division II Champion Franklin Pierce University saw its shot at a fourth-straight Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship spoiled by a 3-2 setback to American International College in Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer action at Lusitano Stadium tonight.

Franklin Pierce (11-7-1, 9-3-1 NE-10) will be the third seed in the upcoming NE-10 Tournament and will host sixth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (6-6-5, 5-3-5 NE-10) for a quarterfinal round match on Sunday, November 2, on Sodexo Field. Official pairings and match times will be released tomorrow afternoon.

Grad student Benard Kessie (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat), junior Andrew Rousseau (Springfield, Mass./Central) and freshman Drou Goff (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) all scored goals for American International. Senior Frantz Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.)) and sophomore Shaliek Dawkins (St. Catherine, Jamaica) netted goals for Franklin Pierce.

Freshman goalkeeper Joe Ferrentino (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) made four saves to preserve the win for American International. Freshman Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) finished with one stop for Franklin Pierce. The Ravens posted a 12-9 advantage in shots for the match. 

On one of the more dramatic final nights for the Northeast-10 in recent memory, Franklin Pierce, the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Southern New Hampshire University all remained alive in hopes of claiming at least a share of the NE-10 regular season championship. Needing a win and UMass Lowell victory over Southern New Hampshire in Lowell tonight, Franklin Pierce seemed to be on its way to a fourth-straight title when Dawkins put the Ravens in front just shy of the hour mark when he scored off a pass from freshman Viktor Gonçalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to take a 2-1 lead. The goal came shortly after UMass Lowell had taken control of its match with Southern New Hampshire with its second goal in an eventual 2-0 victory.

However, AIC answered with an unassisted goal by Goff, his second of the season, in the 70^th minute, before Kessie netted the match-winner less than five minutes later off a feed from freshman Matias Mononen (Jeonsuu, Finland) in the 75^th.

While UMass Lowell's match ended, Franklin Pierce tried to force overtime and nearly did so, but freshman Michael Busto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) had his shot headed off the line and finally collected by Ferrentino with five minutes to play in regulation. The loss ended the Ravens title hopes and relegated them to the third seed in next week's NE-10 Tournament, while UMass Lowell and Southern New Hampshire share the regular season crown. UMass Lowell clinched the top seed in the NE-10 tournament as result of tonight's head-to-head win over SNHU.

AIC opened the scoring when Rousseau scored off a feed from senior Derick Ofori (Pawtucket, R.I./Charles E. Shea) 20:05 into the match. Franklin Pierce equalized with Francois' fourth goal of the season just 1:56 before halftime.

American International sees its season come to a close with a 5-11-3 record overall, 3-7-3 in the Northeast-10.