Marius Preber has three-point evening on goal and assist

RINDGE, N.H. (October 22, 2013) – Freshman Pedro Espindola (Sao Paulo, Brazil) struck home a pair of goals, and the Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team exploded for a 4-2 win over Saint Michael’s on Tuesday night at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

The win was the Ravens’ fourth in their last five matches as they improved to 7-6 overall and 6-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Purple Knights dropped their fourth straight in falling to 5-7 and 5-5 in league play.

Espindola wasn’t the only Raven to factor into a pair of goals on the evening, as senior Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) and sophomore Marius Preber (Jessheim, Norway) each logged a goal and an assist in the offensive outburst by the Ravens.

Franklin Pierce, as a team, recorded 17 shots with 13 going on net. Dudney had five (all 5 on goal), while Espindola and Preber each attempted three. Espindola was a perfect 3-for-3 putting his on net, while Preber fired on net at a 67 percent clip (2-of-3). Nine Ravens in all had at least one shot in the contest.

Espindola’s first marker in the 44^th minute touched off a string of three-straight goals by the Ravens to break a 1-1 tie and allow them to cruise home for the win. He took a nice feed from Preber, dribbled to the upper left corner of the box and fired a shot past the diving St. Mike’s keeper into the lower right corner of the net.

It didn’t take long for the Ravens to strike again in the second half, as in the 60^th minute Preber took a lob pass from Dudney inside the box, and struck a shot to the upper right corner of the goal.

Preber’s triple flip goal celebration caused the crowd to explode, but Espindola answered with a triple flip celebration of his own seven minutes later after he took a misplayed ball from the Purple Knights keeper and chipped a soft shot into the back of the goal to make it 4-1. Freshman Justin Corday (Somerset, Bermuda) was given an assist on the play as he sent the ball towards the net that was misplayed by the keeper.

St. Mike’s keeper Nicco Roque took the loss to fall to 5-7, while Ravens keeper Sam Meza made three saves to earn the win to improve to 7-6 on the year. The Purple Knights registered 14 shots on the evening with five going on net.

Dudney opened the scoring in the fifth minute by deflecting in a shot off a crossing pass from Ryan Ruffing (Westborough, Mass.), but Saint Michael’s countered in the 21^st with a goal off a free kick attempt from Chris George.

George had three points on the night as he also assisted on Aaron DaCosta’s team-leading sixth goal of the season in the waning moments of the match.

Dudney’s goal was his fourth of the season, which moved him into a tie for the team lead in markers with freshman Dallas Donovan (South Yarmouth, Mass.).

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday night when the Ravens play host to New Haven at 7 p.m. on Sodexo Field in Rindge. The game will mark Senior Night, as it will be the last regular season home game for the Ravens in 2013.

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 http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)