Diego Tabares scores for the sixth time in the last five matches

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (October 11, 2011) -- The No. 6 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team got back to its winning ways on Tuesday night with an important 2-1 road win at Merrimack in North Andover, Mass. The Ravens improved to 11-0-1 overall and 7-0-1 in the Northeast-10 following Saturday's 1-1 draw with New Haven. Merrimack dipped to 6-5-2 and 4-4 in league play.

The match was scoreless for the first 76 minutes before Franklin Pierce senior midfielder Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) struck in the 77th minute when he took a pass from classmate Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and blasted a shot into the back of the net from 25 yards out. It was Tabares' team-leading seventh of the season, including his sixth in the last five matches. Tabares has recorded 13 points over the same time span. Goncalves was credited with an assist on the play for his 14th point of the season.

Senior midfielder Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) scored what would prove to be the match-winning goal a minute later when he dribbled down the field on the a break away attempt and slipped a shot past Merrimack goalkeeper Mattias Drummond. It was Latif's second marker of the season.

Merrimack continued to battle and scored in the 89th minute off a goal from Robbie Sabadoz to cut the deficit to 2-1. However, Franklin Pierce goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) would not allow the Warriors to pull off the comeback as he made five saves overall in the game to earn the win and improve to 11-0-1 on the season.

Both teams fired off 14 shots in the match, while Franklin Pierce was able to get seven shots on goal.

The Ravens return to action Saturday when they travel to Springfield, Mass. to face American International at 3 p.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).