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Ravens score five unanswered goals to pull out the win

BOXSCORE                                           

RINDGE, N.H. (September 2, 2010) – The No. 16-nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team scored five unanswered goals to open their 2010 season with an exciting 6-2 win over C.W. Post on Thursday night at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 1-0, while the Pioneers fell to 0-1.

Six different Ravens scored, including junior forward Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), who collected the game-winning goal off a free kick to break a 2-2 tie in the 56^th minute. Goncalves is one of five Ravens who return for the 2010 season after collecting all-conference honors last season. He earned First-Team All-Northeast-10 honors, while also collecting Daktronics Second-Team All-East Region accolades.

Junior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) earned the save in net as he made eight saves to run his record to 1-0 on the campaign.

Franklin Pierce got the scoring started in the 16^th minute when Jeff Hay (Dudley, Mass.) scored off a scramble in front of the net following a corner kick. He was able to fight for the loose ball and slip it past the Pioneers goalkeeper for a 1-0 Franklin Pierce advantage. It was his first goal in a Ravens uniform after he transferred from Brown University during the offseason.

C.W. Post answered with a pair of goals over a 12-minute span to take a 2-1 advantage. However, sophomore midfielder Amory Houghton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) knotted the game at two for Franklin Pierce and that’s what the score was heading into halftime. Houghton’s goal came off a header attempt in front of the net in the 41^st minute.

Goncalves put the Ravens ahead to stay for good at 3-2 with his goal at the 55:48 mark, which came off a free kick 18 yards out.

Shaun Taylor (Isle of White, England), a transfer student from Boston University, notched his first Franklin Pierce goal just minutes later as he redirected a Samuel Kelley (Bedford, N.H.) pass into the lower right corner of the net.

The Ravens scored two more times in the closing minutes, including a goal from Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) in the 80^th minute and a tally from William Holland (Londonderry, N.H.) in the 82^nd minute. Marc Santos (East Hartford, Conn.) assisted on Tabares’ goal, while Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) assisted on Holland’s tally with a nice cross pass in front of the net.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday night during Pierce Pride Kickoff Weekend as it will play host to Molloy at 7 p.m. in Sodexo Field. It will be an exciting evening of Ravens soccer as the women’s team will take on Felician at 4 p.m., followed by the men’s game. The Franklin Pierce Athletics Department will debut the new Rocky the Raven mascot during halftime of the men’s game, with a post-game fireworks show to follow, courtesy of Atlas Pyrotechnics.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) You can also visit www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports and www.twitter.com/FPUathletics to find out more about the program.