SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 1, 2021) – The no. 2 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer program returned to the pitch and dominated Northeast-10 Conference opponent American International College 4-0 on Thursday evening on Ronald J. Abdow Field. The Crimson and Grey move to 2-0-0 in matches this year while the Yellow Jackets fall to 0-3-0.

Sophomore Gustavo Rodriguez (Mexico City, Mexico) powered Pierce with a goal and an assist as a substitute. Three of the Ravens four scores came from off the bench. The visitors outshot the hosts 19-3 in the contest with only one AIC chance coming on net. They held the Yellow Jackets to one shot attempt in the second half. Sophomore netminder Kosta Maniatis (Montreal, Quebec) drew the start in the cage and made one save for the W.

The Ravens had a golden chance to score the first goal in the 8th minute when graduate defender Josep Silvestre Pitarch (Esilda, Spain) launched a through ball from the right sideline to graduate forward Miguel Angel Pastor Gutierrez (Valencia, Spain). Pastor Gutierrez had a one-on-one with the goalie and his shot attempt was high off the mark.

Pierce kept attacking the AIC defensive zone and their persistence was rewarded with a few more great look at the cage that were either off the mark, blocked, or cleared out of danger by the AIC defenders. The Ravens, however, broke the deadlock in the 45th minute when junior midfielder Yanai Sayag (Yuvalim, Israel) corralled a pass from Rodriguez and Sayag put his attempt into the back of the cage putting Pierce ahead 1-0. In the first half, FPU outshot AIC 9-to-2 and had the corner kick edge 3-to-0.

During the second half, graduate midfielder Javier Nemesio García (Alacuas, Spain) found teammate, junior midfielder Marco Perez (Elda, Spain) for FPU's second tally of the contest in the 57th minute. With under 10 minutes to play Rodriguez and graduate forward Yannik Felber (Vallendar, Germany) tacked on insurance markers to wrap up the 4-0 victory.  

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (https://shopfpuravens.com). You can also follow the men's soccer team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/fpumsoccer), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/fpumsoccer/), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpumsoccer/).