RINDGE, N.H. (November 20, 2021) -- A pair of first-half goals were more than enough on Saturday afternoon, as the No. 4 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team opened its 21^st all-time NCAA Championship appearance with a bang at Sodexo Field. Four different players found the net in the Super Region 1 second round game, as the top-seeded Ravens dispatched ninth-seeded Post, 4-0.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 20-1-0 and advances to the third round of the NCAA Championship, which is set for the week following Thanksgiving. The Ravens will take on the winner of a Saturday night game in Millersville, Pa., featuring fourth-seeded Millersville and fifth-seeded Gannon.

With the loss, Post wraps up its fifth NCAA Championship appearance and closes out its season at 13-6-1.

The half began with Post dominant in possession and playing a very similar style to the one the Ravens have played all season. Senior Sergio Diaz earned the first shot of the match, as he went to the bottom-left corner from long range and forced Franklin Pierce junior goalkeeper Kosta Maniatis (Montreal, Quebec) to dive and push the ball out for a corner kick in the sixth minute.

From that early scare, the Ravens began working their way back in and gaining control of the possession game. A pair of chances came in the 11^th and 12^th minutes. Sophomore Rodrigo Vaza (Torres Verdes, Portugal) earned the first with a shot off the left post. In the following minute, graduate student Jonas Cervera Anchel (Chiva, Spain) was sprung on a run down the left side, which drew out Post junior keeper David Mollenthiel, who was able to stem the run.

The first Raven goal came in the 37^th minute, through graduate student Antonio Santos Ferreira (Madrid, Spain). He latched onto a free kick by freshman Vincente Valor Martinez (San Juan, Spain) that came in low, and hammered the ball home from point-blank range at the right post, for his sixth of the season.

Franklin Pierce followed up and doubled the lead in the 44^th minute. Santos Ferreira sent a pass across the box to find senior Marco Valero (Alicante, Spain), who cannoned a shot from the top of the 18 that snuck over the keeper and under the crossbar to give the Ravens a 2-0 lead into halftime.

It would be more of the same to start the second frame. A cross from graduate student Javier Nemesio Garcia (Alacuas, Spain) found Martinez inside the box following a short corner. Martinez's touch was only able to flick the ball into the air but that was no problem for graduate student Miguel Angel Pastor Gutierrez (Valencia, Spain), who opted for the bicycle kick and beat Mollenthiel for his sixth goal of the season to make it a 3-0 lead in the 52^nd minute.

It would take some time, but Franklin Pierce would find the back of the net yet again to tack on even more insurance. Post sophomore Antoine Trifonov was carded for a handball inside the box, and the ensuing penalty kick was comfortably scored into the lower-left corner by graduate student Pedro Juan Vicente (Elche, Spain), for his eighth of the campaign, to create the 4-0 final.

Maniatis (17-1-0) needed to make just one save to record his 10^th shutout of the season. Mollenthiel (11-2-0) finished with five saves against nine shots in a losing effort for Post.