Francois overtime goal lifts third-seeded Ravens past sixth-seeded Owls

Boxscore 

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2008) - Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University, the defending NCAA Division II Champions, rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory over sixth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University in quarterfinal round action of the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer championship at Sodexo Field this evening.

Franklin Pierce (12-7-1, 9-3-1 NE-10) advances to Wednesday's semifinal round and will travel to Manchester, N.H., to face second-seeded and No. 5-ranked Southern New Hampshire University (14-2-3, 9-1-3 NE-10). The Penmen advanced with a 1-0 victory over seventh-seeded Assumption College (6-7-5, 5-4-4 NE-10) earlier today. Match time for Wednesday will be announced on Monday. Southern Connecticut State sees its season come to a close at 6-7-5 overall, 5-3-5 in the Northeast-10.

Senior midfielder Frantz Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.)) played a role in both Franklin Pierce goals as the Ravens erased a one goal deficit early in the second half, netting the match-winning goal himself with just 1:27 to play in the first overtime. Freshman Viktor Gonçalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) also scored for the Ravens, while classmates Tom Reilly (Wallasey, England) and Michael Busto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) each dished assists.

Senior Djordje Jankovic (Sabac, Serbia) scored the lone goal for Southern Connecticut, who was out shot 17-4 by Franklin Pierce on the night, including a 14-3 advantage after halftime. 

Freshman Andrew Esposito (East Haven, Conn./East Haven) made nine saves in goal to keep Southern in the match, including six in the second half alone. Freshman Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) finished with no stops for Franklin Pierce.

After a first half which saw few offensive chances (four combined shots), Southern opened the scoring on what would prove to be its fourth and final shot of the night 9:22 into the second half as Jankovic knocked in a sharp cross from the left side by freshman Ian Serrao (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) into an open net at the far post.

Franklin Pierce answered right away, equalizing the match just 3:03 later. Francois whipped a cross in from the right side that was headed back towards the middle of the field by Reilly and Gonçalves settled the ball and fired a rocket from the top of the 18 into the left side of the net in the 58^th minute.

Esposito made five saves to close out regulation for Southern Connecticut and force overtime. Esposito added another stop just 30-seconds into extra time, and sophomore Johan Torstensson (Falköping, Sweden) saw a shot just knick the top of the cross bar before Francois ended the match in the 99^th minute. He took a pass from Busto and walked in one-on-one with Esposito before drilling a shot into the left side of the net from 14-yards out to send the Ravens through to the semifinals.