No. 4 Men’s Soccer Claims NE10 Regular Season Title with 1-0 Win over No. 23 AIC
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
No. 23 American International (12-3-1, 9-3-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Franklin Pierce (16-1-0, 11-1-0) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
RINDGE, N.H. (November 3, 2021) – The Northeast-10 Conference regular season title was on the line on Wednesday afternoon at Sodexo Field, in the regular-season finale for the No. 4 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team and No. 23 American International College. The Ravens took the title and the top seed in the upcoming NE10 Championship with a 1-0 win, courtesy of a 25th-minute goal from graduate student Pedro Juan Vicente (Elche, Spain).
The Ravens improved to 16-1-0 (11-1-0 NE10) with the win, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 12-3-1 (9-3-0 NE10). It was the 11th shutout of the season for the Ravens, who honored the accomplishments of their 12-player senior class with a Senior Day ceremony prior to the game.
For Franklin Pierce, it is the program's sixth NE10 regular-season title in program history, and the first since the 2011 squad made it back-to-back years at the top of the table. The Ravens will open pursuit of their fourth NE10 Championship title on Sunday, when they host eighth-seeded Southern Connecticut State in a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. at Sodexo Field. Franklin Pierce blitzed the Owls, 7-0, in the regular-season meeting between the two.
In the first half, the Ravens outshot the Yellow Jackets, 7-0, as Franklin Pierce controlled the tempo and shut down any opportunities the Yellow Jackets had before they could get towards goal. In the 25th minute, Juan Vicente took control of a costly AIC turnover and scored his seventh goal of the season on a breakaway, for what would stand as the game's only tally.
Franklin Pierce picked up right where it left off in the second half, played aggressive defense, and limited what AIC was able to accomplish offensively. The Ravens outshot the Yellow Jackets, 14-3, in the second half and posted final margins of 21-3 in shot attempts and 7-1 in shots on goal for the full 90 minutes.
Franklin Pierce junior goalkeeper Kosta Maniatis (Montreal, Quebec) needed to make only one save in the win (13-1-0) to get his ninth shutout of the season. For the Yellow Jackets, freshman goalkeeper Lucas Morales-Fernandez (12-3-1) made six saves on seven shots in the loss.
