NE-10 Player of the Year Tom Reilly assists on first two-goals; Michael Busto scores game-winner

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2010) – The top-ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team exploded for five goals in an 18-minute span late in the second half Tuesday night to pull off a come-from-behind 5-1 win over Merrimack in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Championship at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

The Ravens, who won the regular season championship and are the tournament’s top-seed, improved to 15-1-1 and will now face fourth-seeded Le Moyne in the semifinals on Friday in Rindge. The time of that match will be determined at some point on Wednesday. Le Moyne advanced to the semis after downing fifth-seeded Southern New Hampshire in penalty kicks on Tuesday.

Merrimack took a 1-0 lead in the match’s 60^th minute when Robbie Sabadoz scored off a crossing pass from Ben Paradis.

However, the Warriors’ goal did nothing but awaken the Ravens’ offensive attack as they quickly went right to work looking for the equalizer. Franklin Pierce knotted the game just nine minutes later when junior back and 2010 Northeast-10 Player of the Year, Tom Reilly (Wallasey, England), sent a nice lead pass towards the box, which junior forward Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) tracked down and blasted a strike past the diving Merrimack goalkeeper. Reilly was credited with an assist on the play, while Goncalves scored his fifth tally of the season.

It then took only three more minutes for the Ravens to get the eventual game-winner, which came off the foot of junior back Michael Busto (Honolulu, Hawai’i), who leapt in the air to blast a shot that went to the upper-left corner of the goal for the 2-1 Franklin Pierce lead. Reilly got his second assist on the goal as he headed a pass towards the net, which Busto was able to convert. For Busto, it was his first goal of the season and came in front of his parents who made the trip all the way from Honolulu.

Franklin Pierce struck again three minutes later to open up a comfortable 3-1 advantage. Graduate forward Shaun Taylor (Isle of White, England) got the goal as he took a pass from Amory Houghton (Cape Elizabeth, Maine), dribbled down the right side of the box and past the diving goalkeeper, and struck a shot that went to the lower-left corner of the net. It was Taylor’s fifth goal of the season and his fourth in the last five matches.

After setting up Taylor’s goal, Houghton scored one of his own six minutes later in the 81^st minute as he redirected a Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) pass in front of the net for his fifth of the season.

The Ravens’ offensive outburst finally came to a close in the match’s 87^th minute as sophomore midfielder Samuel Kelley (Bedford, N.H.) intercepted a clearing pass and quickly sent back a shot to the upper-right corner of the goal for his first of the season.

Franklin Pierce owned a 13-7 advantage in shots, including putting seven on goal. Junior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made three saves to earn the win and run his record to 15-1-1 on the season. The Ravens’ quick ball movement enabled them to out-shoot the Warriors, while also forcing Merrimack to be called for 14 fouls compared to Franklin Pierce’s four.

Tuesday’s win also pushed Franklin Pierce’s unbeaten streak to 14-straight matches as the Ravens are 13-0-1 during that span.

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).