BOX SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University
advanced to the championship game of the Northeast-10 men's soccer
tournament when it edged No. 2 seed Southern New Hampshire
University 4-3 in penalty kicks after the two teams played to a 0-0
draw Wednesday night at Larkin Field. The game officially
counts as a tie for both squads, as the Ravens now are 12-7-2 on
the season while the Penmen, who are ranked No. 13 nationally among
Division II schools, are 14-2-4.
Franklin Pierce advances to
Saturday's championship game and will host No. 4 seed Le Moyne, a
2-1 double-overtime winner over top-seeded UMass Lowell in
Wednesday's other semifinal. The Penmen must now await word
of a likely NCAA Tournament berth, with selections for the 24-team
field to be announced Monday, November 10.
The Ravens went first in the
shootout and the two teams traded goals in the first two
rounds. Cole Larned struck first for FPU before
Richard Kentish (Kingston, Jamaica) buried his
attempt for the Penmen. Viktor Goncalves then converted for
Franklin Pierce before Paulson Edum (Calabar,
Nigeria) scored for SNHU.
Both teams would miss their next
attempt, as Frantz Francois's attempt was stopped by SNHU keeper
Sean Lambert (Rehoboth, MA) before Raven netminder
Vinny Papageorgiou turned aside a shot by Kevin
Woods (Alyth, Scotland). The Ravens' fourth shooter,
Shaliek Dawkins, put his team on top 3-2. Michael
Adam (Ludlow, MA) then tied it for the Penmen.
Bisharra Ettienne, Franklin Pierce's final shooter, scored to make
it 4-3. SNHU's final shooter, Ransford Shand
(Brooklyn, NY) lifted an attempt that sailed just over the crossbar
to give FPU its title game berth.
SNHU's best chance to score in
regulation came four minutes into the second half. Edum put a
shot on goal that was turned aside by Papageorgiou, resulting in a
Penmen corner kick. Off the corner, Kentish had a header from
five yards that Papageorgiou knocked away at the last second.
Papageorgiou made five saves for
the Ravens en route to the shutout. Lambert notched his
10th shutout of the season without being forced to make
a save, as Southern New Hampshire outshot Franklin Pierce 11-4 and
had a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks.
