Ravens will face Le Moyne on Wednesday

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (November 1, 2009) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team played Assumption to a scoreless draw on Sunday night, but advanced to the semifinals of the 2009 Northeast-10 Tournament via its 4-2 shootout victory at Sodexo Field. The Ravens record went to 12-3-3 on the year, while the Greyhounds concluded their season with a 9-6-3 mark.

After a scoreless 110:00 of soccer, it came down to penalty kicks to decide who would win the quarterfinal match. Steve Blaisdell and Tom Carroll each scored on their respective kicks for Assumption against Franklin Pierce goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.).

Tom Reilly (Wallasey, England) was stoned on his first attempt for Franklin Pierce, but it didn’t matter as the next four shooters for the Ravens buried the ball in the back of the goal to pull out the win.

Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.), Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) and finally Frantz Francois (West Palm Beach, Fla.) all scored with high shots to push third-seeded Franklin Pierce into the semis at No. 2 Le Moyne on Wednesday afternoon in Syracuse, N.Y.

Papageorgiou, who allowed the goals on the first two shots he faced in the shootout, made the two critical saves after that to earn the extra-session victory. Papageorgiou stoned Pat Lindberg, who tried to slip it into the lower right corner, and then made a diving save on goalkeeper Brandan Sullivan, who tried to blast it into the middle left side of the goal.

Papageorgiou was solid in goal as he made three saves. His record went 10-2-2 on the season with the tie. Sullivan made five saves as his record went to 8-5-3. His best save of the contest came early in the first half when Tabares slipped through the Assumption defense and fired a point-blank shot at the net. Sullivan dove low and made the rolling save to preserve the scoreless tie at the time.

The match did not see many multiple-scoring changes in front of the goal. Both defenses were strong at limiting shots. Franklin Pierce held an 18-6 advantage in shots, including allowing just one in the two overtime sessions. Goncalves had five of Franklin Pierce’s 18 shot attempts, which was the most in the contest for either side.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)