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Ravens get goals from three different players

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (October 5, 2010) – The No. 5-nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team got goals from three different players in an impressive 3-0 win over American International on Tuesday evening at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The win was Franklin Pierce’s sixth-straight and pushed its overall record to 8-1 and 6-0 in Northeast-10 play. The Ravens also halted AIC’s win streak at four matches as the Yellow Jackets fell to 5-5-1 overall and 3-3-1 in league action.

The all-around impressive win came just hours after the NSCAA Division II National Top-25 Poll was published, which announced that the Ravens had jumped up from 11^th to fifth place in the standings. It’s the highest ranking for the Ravens this season, as they were not even ranked in the national top-25 three weeks ago. Franklin Pierce also found out on Tuesday that it was ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA’s East Region Poll.

The high rankings in both polls were aided by the fact that Franklin Pierce completed a perfect 4-0 homestand on Tuesday night with the win over AIC. In the four-game homestand the Ravens downed some of the nation’s best teams, including Le Moyne (ranked No. 1 earlier in the season), Merrimack (ranked 16^th in the nation at the time of kickoff) and Southern Connecticut State (ranked in the top-25 earlier in the season).

The Ravens got on the board in the 22^nd minute as junior midfielder Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) converted a penalty kick, which was the team’s first try of such a shot this season. Latif drew the penalty kick attempt after he tracked down a long pass down the left-hand side of the box and dribbled towards the goal, but was taken off his feet as the AIC goalkeeper denied him an obvious scoring opportunity. The officials gave a red card to the Yellow Jackets’ goalkeeper, Corey Cameron, and off he went as he watched Latif bury the kick.

It was Latif’s team-leading fourth of the season, but his grip on sole possession of the team lead would not last long as junior forward Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) scored his fourth goal of the campaign in the 35^th minute to give Franklin Pierce a 2-0 advantage. Goncalves registered his tally off a long pass from Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) that he was able to track down just past the midfield stripe. Goncalves was able to get behind AIC’s backs, thus drawing out the goalkeeper, who came out too far, which allowed FPU’s striker to loft a shot over the final defender and into the back of the net. Tabares was credited with an assist on the play.

Graduate backer Jeff Hay (Dudley, Mass.) capped the scoring for Franklin Pierce in the 71^st minute with his third goal of the season as he headed in a corner kick attempt from Latif, who was credited with an assist on the goal. The helper gave Latif three points for the evening.

Franklin Pierce owned a commanding 25-6 advantage in shots with 10 of those blasts going on goal. Ravens’ junior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) needed to make just two saves to earn the shutout victory, which was his second-consecutive and his fifth of the season.

The Ravens return to action Saturday when they travel to Albany, N.Y. to face Saint Rose at 1 p.m. Franklin Pierce returns home next Tuesday to play host to Bentley at 7 p.m. in Sodexo Field.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).