Gareth Dudney logs five shots in final collegiate match

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (November 5, 2013) – Josh Gustafson scored with a little more than seven minutes remaining in regulation to lift Southern Connecticut State to a 2-1 win over the Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team on Tuesday night in the Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinals at Jess Dow Field in New Haven, Conn.

The third-seeded Owls improved to 10-5-1, and advanced to Friday’s semifinals where they will take on second-seeded Merrimack. Franklin Pierce capped its 2013 season at 8-8-1. It was the second time in as many matches that Southern Connecticut took down the Ravens, as the Owls did it in overtime last Friday by a 1-0 count in the regular season finale.

Gustafson’s goal broke a 1-all tie in the 83^rd minute, as he struck a shot from the right side of the box into the upper left corner of the net. Sebastian Brems fed the pass to Gustafson, and was credited with an assist on the play.

Gustafson’s tally came 14 minutes after the Ravens had knotted things up in the 69^th minute when senior Jared Taber (Waltham, Mass.) notched the first goal of his collegiate career off a rebound attempt in front of the net that beat SCSU keeper Stephen Sasso.

Franklin Pierce held a commanding 22-5 advantage in shots, but only Taber was able to solve Sasso, who made 11 saves on the night to earn the win. Sasso’s final save came with a little more than 60 seconds remaining in regulation as he stopped Ryan Ruffing’s (Westborough, Mass.) attempt with the Ravens forcing the issue to try and tie the game.

Sophomore Marius Preber (Jessheim, Norway) and senior Gareth Dudney (North Andover, Mass.) each fired off five shots for the Ravens, with the former putting three on goal.

After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, Southern Connecticut got the wild second half started with a marker eight minutes into the frame as Daquan King scored off a nice feed from Tyler Naef.

Three of the Owls’ five shots went on net, as Franklin Pierce keeper Mike Konzel (Webster, N.Y.) made just one save in suffering the loss in his first collegiate start.

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(.)