#3 Men's Soccer Plays to 1-1 Tie Versus Bentley
Ravens' seven-match winning streak halted
RINDGE, N.H. (October 12, 2009) – The No.
3-nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer
team played to a 1-1 draw against Bentley on Tuesday night at
Sodexo Field in Rindge. The tie snapped Franklin Pierce’s
seven-match winning streak as the Ravens moved to 9-1-1 overall and
7-0-1 in Northeast-10 play. The Falcons had their three-match
winning streak halted as they moved to 7-2-3 overall and 4-1-3 in
league action.
Franklin Pierce opened the scoring in the sixth minute when sophomore midfielder Amory Houghton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) jumped in mid-air to kick in a crossing pass in front of the net from junior midfielder Paul Latif (Newcastle, England). For Houghton, it was his fourth tally of the season, which moved him into a tie for the team lead.
Franklin Pierce held steady the rest of the first half and took the 1-0 lead into intermission. However, Bentley started to pick up its offensive intensity early in the second half and just missed on back-to-back solid scoring chances 10 minutes in.
The failed attempts did not phase the Falcons as they knotted the contest at 1-1 in the 68th minute when Weston Zeiner headed in a shot off a free-kick attempt from Brennan DaCosta.
It was the Ravens’ turn to respond and they began to pick up the intensity. Both Shaun Taylor (Isle of White, England) and Victory Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) had breakaway opportunities late, but both of their attempts were stonewalled by Bentley goalkeeper Mike Nikiforov.
The end of regulation saw the score still tied at one and neither team could get the winner in either of the two overtime periods.
Franklin Pierce posted 19 shots compared to just 10 from Bentley. Eight of the Ravens’ shots were on goal and Latif led the way with five shots, narrowly missing on two of those in the extra sessions.
Franklin Pierce junior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made four saves as his record moved to 9-1-1 on the season. Nikiforov made seven saves in earning the split.
Prior to Tuesday’s match, Franklin Pierce had learned that it was ranked third in the latest edition of the NSCAA Division II National Top-25 Poll, marking the highest ranking for the Ravens this season. With the tie the Ravens are currently on an eight match unbeaten streak (7-0-1).
The Ravens return to action on Saturday when they travel to face Stonehill at 11 a.m.
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).