#1 Men's Soccer Concludes Regular Season with 4-2 at Saint Michael's; Regular-Season Champions Now Turn Attention to Conference Playoffs
Ravens now set to host Merrimack on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the NE-10 Playoffs
COLCHESTER, Vt. (October 30, 2010) -- The No. 1-nationally-ranked and 2010 Northeast-10 Conference Regular Season Champion Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team concluded its regular season with a 4-2 win at Saint Michael's on Saturday afternoon in Colchester, Vt. The Ravens finished the regular season with a 14-1-1 overall record, a 12-0-1 mark in conference play and an unbeaten streak of 13-consecutive matches. The Purple Knights finished the campaign with a 7-6-4 record and a 4-5-4 mark in league action.
Four different Ravens scored on the afternoon, including graduate forward Shaun Taylor (Isle of White, England), graduate back Jeff Hay (Dudley, Mass.), junior midfielder Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) and junior midfielder Paul Latif (Newcastle, England). Taylor and Tabares each assisted on a goal to record three-point afternoons.
Taylor got the scoring started in the eighth minute when he blasted in a rebound attempt off a Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) shot. For Taylor, it was his fourth goal of the season and his third in the last four matches. Goncavles earned an assist on the play.
Saint Michael's tied the game at 1-1, 10 minutes later, when Rob Irving headed in a shot off a corner kick from Ryan Gannon, and that was the score heading into halftime.
However, the Ravens responded with the match's next two goals early in the second half to take a 3-1 advantage. Hay got the first of the two tallies in the 56 minute when he got his left foot on the ball to direct in a shot past the St. Mike's goalkeeper. Hay's shot came off a direct kick from Tabares, who earned the assist on the tally. It was Hay's seventh goal of the season, which is tops on the team.
After assisting on that goal, Tabares got the opportunity to notch his own tally just six minutes later as he scored off a direct kick. It was the second-straight match Tabares got in the goal-scoring column as he scored the game-winner in Tuesday's 1-0 win over 10th-ranked Southern New Hampshire.
The Purple Knights got to within 3-2 a minute later when Blake Schill scored on a penalty kick, but Latif put the match out of reach in the 75th minute with his fifth goal of the season. Latif took a nice pass from Taylor, and from 18 yards out, lifted a shot to the upper part of the net.
Franklin Pierce out-shot Saint Michael's 18-9 in the contest, including putting eight shots on goal. St. Mike's only managed four shots on goal. Ravens' junior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made two saves to earn the win as he concluded his regular season with a 14-1-1 record.
With the regular season concluded, Franklin Pierce will now turn its attention to the post-season and the Ravens will begin their march towards a Northeast-10 Conference title on Tuesday when they play host to Merrimack in Sodexo Field. The kickoff time is still to be determined. Franklin Pierce will enter the conference championship as the top-seed, while Merrimack will come in as the eighth-seed. The Ravens downed Merrimack, 2-1, in Sodexo Field earlier this season.
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).