Last season's assist leader, Gareth Dudney, nabs assist on season-opening goal

RINDGE, N.H. (September 5, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team staged a valiant second-half comeback Thursday night, but it wasn't enough as Wilmington's Elton Joe sent home a shot in the 107^th minute to lift the Wildcats to a 2-1 double overtime win over the Ravens at Sodexo Field in Rindge. Franklin Pierce fell to 0-1-0, while WilmU improved to 1-0-0.

Joe was able to track down a free ball near the top of the box off a quick pass from Tom Quaranta, and in one quick motion turned and slipped a shot to the lower left corner of the goal to ignite Wilmington's bench into celebration.

The winning tally was only the seventh shot of the night for Wilmington, as the Raven defenders did a solid job of limiting the Wildcats looks throughout the contest.

Quaranta assisted on the winning tally, but it was he who got the scoring started just nine minutes into the contest as the roles were reversed with Joe sending a pass towards the striker, who dribbled down the left side and blasted a shot from near the top of the box to exact same corner of the net as the winner did.

The strike came on the first shot of the game for either side and staggered the Ravens for the next several minutes.

Franklin Pierce finally gathered its footing midway through the frame and strung together a 14-4 advantage in shots through the first 45 minutes.

The Ravens couldn't capitalize on any of those chances, but kept the pace of play moving in the second half, and finally broke through with the equalizer in the 67^th minute when senior forward Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) fired a corner kick attempt to the mouth of the goal where graduate student Ryan Ruffing (Westborough, Mass.) was able to battle his way through a mass of bodies to head in a shot to the upper left corner of the net.

It shouldn't have been surprising that both players factored into the season's opening goal, as they were the top two returning scorers from a season ago with five tallies apiece. Dudney, who earned an assist on the play, even led the squad in 2012 with four helpers and ranked second with 14 total points.

Franklin Pierce had multiple prime scoring chances late in regulation and overtime, but offside whistles halted those opportunities, including one that nullified a goal from freshman Dallas Donovan (South Yarmouth, Mass.) midway through the first extra stanza.

The Ravens held a 24-7 edge in shots, but Wilmu keeper Frank Hall, who came on midway through the second half to replace injured starter Spyros Stergiotis, made one save to keep Franklin Pierce scoreless and earn the win. Before Stergiotis left with a setback, he had stood strong in goal with six saves, including a diving save late in the first half.

Junior keeper Sam Meza (Whittier, Calif.) made his first career start in goal for the Ravens, and made four saves despite being tagged with the loss to fall to 0-1-0. It also marked just his second career collegiate appearance in net.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens play host to Bridgeport at 4 p.m. in Sodexo Field in Rindge.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's soccer, please visit the team's page at http://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/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's soccer apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)