Sixth-seeded Ravens continue National Championship defense against second-seeded and host Golden Lions on Sunday

RINDGE, N.H. (November 15, 2008) - Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University and second-seeded Dowling College, ranked 12^th in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, will square off in second round action of the 2008 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championships at Golden Lions Field on Sunday.

The match up between Franklin Pierce (13-7-2, 9-3-1 NE-10) and Dowling (16-3-0, 8-0-0 ECC) will feature the last two National Champions at the Division II level. Franklin Pierce are the defending National Champions after posting a 1-0 victory over Lincoln Memorial University in Orange Beach, Ala., last December, while Dowling captured the title in 2006 with a 1-0 decision over Fort Lewis University in Pensacola, Fla.

Admission for Sunday's match will be $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for students and senior citizens and $2.00 for children, with those under the age of two admitted free. Dowling will be providing live stats for the match, which will be available through both the Franklin Pierce athletics website (athletics.franklinpierce.edu) as well as Dowling's athletics site (www.dowlingathletics.com).

The winner of Sunday's contest will advance to the NCAA Division II East Region Championship next weekend. They will face the winner of Sunday's other regional semifinal between fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell (12-3-4, 9-1-3 NE-10) and top-seeded and host Southern New Hampshire University (15-2-4, 9-1-3 NE-10) in Manchester, N.H., at 1 p.m.

Franklin Pierce advanced to Sunday's match with a 1-0 double-overtime win over third-seeded Le Moyne College on Friday. Sophomore Johan Torstensson (Falköping, Sweden) scored the lone goal of the match in the 105^th minute, off a feed from senior Frantz Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.)). Freshman goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) made seven saves to preserve the shutout.

Franklin Pierce enters the match winners of five of its last six contests (5-1-1) after Friday's opening round win. The Ravens, who finished just a win away from claiming its fourth-straight NE-10 regular season title, is ranked third in the Conference with a 1.01 team goals against average and sixth in scoring with 1.64 goals per match. Since surrendering a combined eight goals in back-to-back losses during a trip to Florida in mid-September, the Ravens have conceded just ten goals over their last 16 matches (0.63/gm).

Papageorgiou has started the last 17 matches in goal for Franklin Pierce and posted a 0.74 goals against average (2^nd NE-10) and .772 save percentage (7^th) with eight shutouts (2^nd) in 1,579:33. The Ravens are 11-4-2 since he took over in goal.       All-American Bisharra Ettienne (Point Michel, Dominica) and sophomore Shaliek Dawkins (St. Catherine, Jamaica) are also keys to the Ravens defensive unit.

Viktor Gonçalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year, leads the NE-10 with 29 points and 12 goals this season, to go with five assists (10^th NE-10) in 22 matches. His four match-winning goals rank second among NE-10 leaders. Francois, a first team All-NE-10 pick, has added five goals and five assists (10^th) for 15 points, having registered a point in six of the Ravens last eight matches (3G, 4A). Junior Kensaku Tsuji (Tokushima, Japan), a second team All-NE-10 pick, has chipped in with three goals and a team-high six assists (4^th) for 12 points.  

Dowling, the East Coast Conference (ECC) regular season champions, will be trying to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to Molloy College in the ECC tournament championship last Saturday which snapped a 13-match winning streak. The Golden Lions lead the ECC with a 0.53 team goals against average and 12 shutouts, while ranking third in scoring with 2.11 goals per match.

Senior Nemanja Veljovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) anchors Dowling's defensive unit and has played all but just over 46-minutes of the season in goal. He has posted a 0.54 goals against average and .821 save percentage with eight shutouts in 19 matches.

Junior Lamine Traore (Mali, Africa) leads the Golden Lions with 46 points and 22 goals to go with two assists. He has scored nine of his team's 16 match-winning goals this season. Junior Steven Schneider (Westbury, N.Y./Jericho) has added six goals and a team-high five assists for 17 points, with five of his six markers match-winners. Junior Moussa Keita (Guinea, West Africa) has chipped in five goals and three assists for 13 points.

Saturday will mark the 13^th meeting all-time between the two programs, the fourth in postseason play. Each team has won six meetings in the all-time series, but Dowling holds a 2-1 advantage in NCAA Tournament play and has won four of the last five encounters including a 1-0 decision over Franklin Pierce in Brookhaven on September 7. Schneider scored the lone goal of the match in the 62^nd minute and Veljovic made five saves to preserve the shutout.

The two teams squared off in the quarterfinal round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament at Sodexo Field in Rindge, N.H. All-American David Clifton scored both Franklin Pierce goals as the Ravens opened a 2-0 lead and held on down the stretch to claim a 2-1 victory to advance to the Final Four for the third time in program history. 

2008 NCAA Division II
Men's Soccer East Regional

Friday, November 14
First Round
Dowling College (Brookhaven, N.Y.)
#6 Franklin Pierce 1, #3 Le Moyne 0 (2OT)

Southern New Hampshire University (Manchester, N.H.)
#4 UMass Lowell 3, #5 Molloy 2

Sunday, November 16
Regional Semifinals

DowlingCollege (Brookhaven, N.Y.)
#6 Franklin Pierce (13-7-2, 9-3-1 NE-10) at #2 Dowling (16-3-0, 8-0-0 ECC), 1 p.m.

Southern New Hampshire University (Manchester, N.H.)
#4 UMass Lowell (11-3-4, 9-1-3 NE-10) at #1 Southern N.H. (15-2-4, 9-1-3 NE-10), 1 p.m.