Sam Meza makes four saves to earn shutout win

RINDGE, N.H. (October 26, 2013) – Freshman Pedro Espindola (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and senior Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) booted home a pair of second half goals Saturday night to lift the Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team to a 2-0 win over New Haven at Sodexo Field in Rindge.

The Ravens won their second straight and fifth in the last six matches to improve to 8-6 overall and 7-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Chargers dipped to 1-13-1 and 1-10 in league play.

After a first half that featured hardly any highlights for either side, the Ravens exploded offensively in the second half.

Franklin Pierce turned up the momentum by firing off several attempts that narrowly missed in the opening minutes of the frame, but finally got one in the 60^th minute off the foot of Espindola, which was his fourth in the last four matches. He scored the goal after tracking down a stretch pass from Marius Preber (Jessheim, Norway), dribbling down the right side into the box and firing lower left corner past the New Haven keeper.

Espindola attempted six shots on the night with four going on net, and has logged 25 shots over the last four matches.

Espindola’s marker was his team-high tying fourth goal of the year, moving him into the team lead with Dudney and Dallas Donovan (South Yarmouth, Mass.).

However, Dudney four minutes later took over sole possession of the team lead in tallies as he buried a penalty kick attempt to put Franklin Pierce up by a pair.

Franklin Pierce locked down defensively the rest of the way to make the two-goal lead stand up. The Ravens held a commanding 27-8 edge in shots (19 shots in the second half), and only allowed four to go on goal. Junior keeper Sam Meza (Whittier, Calif.) turned aside all four UNH attempts to earn the win to improve to 8-6 on the year.

The win came on a special night for the program as the Ravens celebrated the accomplishments of six seniors prior to the game. In addition to Dudney, who was playing in his final regular season match on Sodexo Field, Terence Ciavarra (Sutton, Mass.), Chris Stoker (Holden, Mass.), Ryan Ruffing (Westborough, Mass.), Jefferson Rojas (Pawtucket, R.I.) and Jared Taber (Waltham, Mass.), were honored pregame for their contributions to the program over the last four years.

The victory was especially satisfying for Dudney, who has been with the program for all four years, and has been a part of a pair of NE-10 championships, an NCAA regional title, and a trip to the Division II Final Four during his time in Rindge.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday when the Ravens take on Merrimack at 7 p.m. in North Andover.

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(.)