NCAA TOURNAMENT: #12 Dowling Stops Franklin Pierce, 3-1
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2006 champion Golden Lions open 3-0 lead, eliminate reigning champions
BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. (November 16, 2008) - 2006 NCAA Division II Champions and second-seeded Dowling College, ranked 12th in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, opened a 3-0 lead and never looked back in eliminating 2007 National Champions and sixth-seeded Franklin Pierce in semifinal round action of the 2008 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship's East Regional at Golden Lions Field this afternoon.
Dowling (17-3-0) advances to the East Regional championship match, where it will host fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell (13-3-4) next weekend. UMass Lowell advanced with a 2-1 victory over top-seeded and No. 8-ranked Southern New Hampshire University in today's other regional semifinal in Manchester, N.H. Franklin Pierce sees its season come to a close at 13-8-2 after posting a 9-3-1 clip in the Northeast-10 Conference.
Junior forward Lamine Traore (Mali, Africa) played a role in all three Dowling goals, posting a goal and two assists on the afternoon. Junior Moussa Keita (Guinea, West Africa) and sophomore El Hadji Mbow (Theis, Senegal) also netted goals for the Golden Lions.
Senior goalkeeper Nemanja Veljovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) made one save in the winning effort for Dowling. Freshman Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) stopped three shots for Franklin Pierce. Dowling finished with a 12-4 advantage in shots for the match, including a 4-0 edge in the second half.
Senior Cole Larned (Wilton, Conn./Wilton) netted the lone Franklin Pierce goal with a penalty kick late in the first half, but the Ravens couldn't muster a shot over the final 45-minutes to make the comeback.
Traore put Dowling in front just 7:11 into the match when he took a cross from the left side by junior Carl Rydin (Göteborg, Sweden) and fired in his 23rd goal of the season. Traore turned provider for the Golden Lions next two goals which came in the span of 2:02 midway through the half. Keita took a Traore pass from the right side and found the middle of the net from ten yards out for his sixth goal of the year in the 25th minute. Mbow took a pass from Traore during a scramble in front of the net and found the right side of the goal for his first marker of the season at 26:38.
Larned got a goal back for Franklin Pierce in the 41st minute with a penalty kick after a hard foul inside the 18.