Ravens advance to NE-10 title game for the second-consecutive season

RINDGE, N.H. (November 4, 2011) – The No. 2 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team advanced to the 2011 Northeast-10 Conference Championship via its 2-0 win over Le Moyne on Friday afternoon at Sodexo Field in Rindge. The top-seeded and NE-10 regular season champion Ravens improved to 18-0-1, while the fourth-seeded Dolphins concluded their season with an 11-8-1 mark.

Franklin Pierce will be appearing in the NE-10 title match for the second-consecutive season and will be looking to defend its championship following last season’s 1-0 triumph over Bentley in the finals. This year’s NE-10 finals will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Sodexo Field. The Ravens will face the winner of the UMass-Lowell-Southern New Hampshire match, which will be held later on Friday evening in Manchester.

Franklin Pierce has shutout the opposition in each of its first two post-season matches in the NE-10 tournament and has outscored the opponents by a combined score of 6-0. Friday’s triumph was the 10^th shutout of the season for the Ravens.

Franklin Pierce got goals from junior forward Greg Giguere (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and graduate back Daniel Donaldson (Moenchengladbach, Germany) to spark the offensive attack.

Giguere struck home the match’s first tally in the 42^nd minute off a pretty feed from graduate back Tom Leaver (Warwickshire, UK). The goal would prove to be the match-winner which was the third for Giguere this season. Leaver started the scoring play by dribbling down the left side of the field and floating a pass towards Giguere, who one-timed a strike in mid air into the upper right corner of the goal. It was Giguere’s fourth goal of the season, while Leaver earned an assist on the play.

Donaldson continued his hot offensive streak in the match’s 74^th minute when he headed in a deflection off the Le Moyne goalkeeper into the upper left corner of the net. It was Donaldson’s sixth of the season, but more importantly, his third post-season tally in just two matches. He also sent home a pair of makers in Tuesday’s 4-0 win over Stonehill in the quarterfinals.

Franklin Pierce outshot Le Moyne, 15-4, including putting seven shots on goal. The Dolphins struggled getting off shots and were only able to put on goal. The one that did go on net was swatted away by Ravens senior goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.), who earned the shutout victory to run his record to 18-0-1 on the season. The shutout came just two days after Papageorgiou was named the NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Year for his outstanding performances all season long.

The Ravens and Dolphins were facing each other for the second time in less than a week as Franklin Pierce pulled out a 2-1 win in Syracuse, N.Y. last Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams. The Ravens improved to 17-6-1 all-time against Le Moyne.

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).