No. 25 Men's Soccer Downs Dominican; Advances to NCAA East Region Semis
Tom Reilly scores game-winner in 73rd minute
VIDEO
HIGHLIGHTS
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (November 13, 2009) – The
25th-ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team
downed Dominican, 2-1, in NCAA Division II Tournament action on
Friday afternoon at Niland Athletic Complex on the campus of Le
Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y.
In the process, the fifth-seeded Ravens (13-4-3) advanced to the
semifinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament East Regional, which
will be held on Sunday in Syracuse. Franklin Pierce will face
top-seeded and No. 6-ranked Le Moyne at 1 p.m. at Niland Complex.
The winner of Sunday’s contest will earn a trip to the NCAA
East Regional Championship game next weekend at the site of the
highest remaining seed in the region.
It will also mark the third time that Franklin Pierce and Le Moyne
will be facing each other this season in Syracuse. The previous two
times the Ravens took a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime,
only to see the Dolphins score twice following intermission to pull
out 2-1 victories. The latest meeting between the two teams came
last week in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Semifinals as
Le Moyne scored in overtime to pull out the victory on its way to
the conference championship.
Friday’s first-round game featured several exciting plays at
both ends of the field.
The Ravens jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute on a goal
by sophomore midfielder Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil). It was the sixth goal of the season for the 2009
Northeast-10 First-Team selection. Goncalves scored the tally
following a nice cross pass from Frantz Francois (West Palm
Beach, Fla.), which he ripped from 15 yards out that beat
the Dominican goalkeeper to the lower-right corner of the net. It
was just the second assist of the season for Francois, but it added
to his team-leading total of 22 points.
Franklin Pierce took the 1-0 lead into the intermission and held
serve throughout the opening stages of the second half. However,
Dominican knotted the game at 1-1 in the 71st minute off an
unassisted goal from Joe Wright.
The Ravens didn’t fold and responded with a goal two minutes
later off a rocket of a shot from Tom Reilly (Wallasey,
England). The sophomore back blasted a shot from 25 yards
out from the left side of the box, which smacked off the bottom of
the crossbar and fell into the back of the goal. It was his first
tally of the season and proved to be the game-winning goal.
Franklin Pierce out-shot Dominican, 24-16, throughout the contest.
Franklin Pierce sophomore goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou
(Wilmington, Mass.) made one save to earn the win and run
his record to 11-3-2 on the season.
For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s soccer, please
visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)