Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – Mohamed Toufik (Grande Synthe, France) scored a pair of goals as No. 10 Southern New Hampshire University defeated Bentley University 4-1 in Northeast-10 men's soccer Tuesday night at Larkin Field. The Penmen won their 13th straight game to improve to 13-1 and 11-0 in the NE-10, while the Falcons are now 7-5-1 and 6-4 in the league.
The win clinches at least a share of the Northeast-10 regular season championship for Southern New Hampshire, as well as the top seed in the Northeast-10 Championship. It marks the third regular season title for SNHU, with the others coming in 2008 and 2009.
SNHU opened the scoring in the 33rd minute. Brian Francolini (Ellington, Conn.) took a pass deep in the box and played it out to Toufik, standing at the top of the box. Toufik took a touch, deked a Bentley defender and fired it from just inside the 18 to give the Penmen the lead. Toufik's second goal came 5:25 before intermission as he headed home a right-to-left corner kick by Miguel Carneiro (New Milford, Conn.).
Things got interesting late, as Bentley halved the lead with 7:48 to play on a 25-yard blast from Marty Ryan that made it 2-1. SNHU quickly answered less than a minute later as Pierre Omanga (Paris, France) scored his 13th goal of the season to give the hosts a two-goal advantage. He took a touch pass from Carneiro at the top of the box and fired it home. Francolini closed out the scoring with less than a minute left as he took a long pass from Callum Williams (Ossett, England) and went in uncontested for his third goal of the season.
Dom DiMaggio (Rome, N.Y.) went the distance in goal for SNHU and did not make a save. Jack Blatchford played the first half in goal for Bentley and made one save before being relieved by Nick Gagnon, who made four saves over the final 45 minutes. SNHU outshot Bentley 23-3 and owned a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Southern New Hampshire returns to action Saturday when it hosts Le Moyne College for Senior Day in a 1:00 Northeast-10 contest at Larkin Field.
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