Daniel Donaldson scores a pair of goals to lead offensive attack

MANCHESTER, N.H. (November 1, 2011) – The No. 2 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team opened post-season play on Tuesday night with a 4-0 win over eighth-seeded Stonehill at Larkin Field in Manchester, N.H. The Ravens improved to 17-0-1, while Stonehill concluded its season at 10-9.

The Ravens will now advance to Friday’s Northeast-10 semifinals where they will play host to fourth-seeded Le Moyne at 4 p.m. in Sodexo Field. Tickets for the contest will be sold at the front gate on game day and are $5 for adults, $3 for children/seniors and $1 for college students with a school ID.

Franklin Pierce entered the NE-10 tournament as the top seed after claiming the league’s regular season championship for the second-straight year. Last year’s regular season title helped propel the Ravens throughout the tournament as they claimed the league championship with a 1-0 win over Bentley in the finals. Stonehill was the tournament’s eighth seed.

Franklin Pierce dominated the pace of play right from the beginning and eventually went on top, 1-0, in 15^th minute when graduate back Daniel Donaldson (Moenchengladbach, Germany) headed in a shot off corner kick attempt from senior midfielder Paul Latif (Newcastle, England). It was Donaldson’s fourth goal of the season and his third in the last three matches. Latif earned an assist on the play.

The Ravens also played well on the defensive end and held the Skyhawks to just one shot in the first half, which came 32 minutes into the stanza. Franklin Pierce recorded 10 shots in the frame, including putting four on goal.

Stonehill came out inspired in the second half and fired off several shots in the opening minutes of the frame. However, the Skyhawks could not get the equalizer as Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made a pair of saves to preserve the one-goal lead.

Franklin Pierce padded its cushion with 22:57 remaining in the contest when freshman Tom Wampler (Attleboro, Mass.) sent a through pass to senior Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.) down the right side of the field, and he followed by dribbling into the box and slipping a shot to the lower left corner of the goal for his ninth tally of the season. Wampler was credited with an assist on the play.

Tabares set up the Ravens third goal minutes later with a nifty dribble move along the right side of the box. He dribbled around the diving keeper, fired off a shot that was deflected away, but Wampler sent home the rebound for a 3-0 lead and his second marker of the season. Tabares earned an assist on the play.

Donaldson notched his second goal of the match with 10 minutes remaining to round out the scoring.

Papageorgiou made two saves to earn the win to run his record to 17-0-1 on the season. The Ravens outshot Stonehill by a count of 16-5.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).