#18 Men’s Soccer Puts Bow on Impressive Regular Season, Sets Sights on NE10 Tournament

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (November 6, 2019) – The newly christened no. 18 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer program wrapped up an extremely successful regular season with their ninth shutout victory of the season, a 1-0 match to Northeast-10 Conference opponent American International College Wednesday evening on Abdow Field.

With the win, the crimson and grey finish their 2019 slate at 12-3-1, 10-2-0 NE10 while the Yellow Jackets drop to 7-6-3, 5-5-2 NE10. For Pierce, the 12 victories overall were their most since they won 12 games back in 2016. Their 10 league wins were also their highest total since the 2011 campaign when they went 12-0-1 in conference matches.

Franklin Pierce is back in the NE10 Championship Quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season and the first time under new head coach Ruben Resendes. The Ravens will host conference foe Bentley University, Saturday, November 9th at 5:00 p.m. with the right to advance to the semifinals on the line.

Shots were even in the contest (Ravens - 8, Yellow Jackets - 7) until the guests finally broke through and cracked the scoring column in the 54th minute. Javier García Borrás (Alzira, Spain) delivered a perfect pass to teammate Carlos Ferrando Felis (Tavernes de la Valldigna, Spain) and he cashed in a high attempt to the back center of the cage giving FPU a lead they would never relinquish.

Graduate goalie Clay Thomas (Franklin, Tenn.) drew the start in the cage for the Ravens and he improved to 7-3-1 on the year making two saves and earning his fourth shutout win. He finished the season ranked second in the conference in goals-against average (0.77) and allowed only eight goals all year.

For the Yellow Jackets, Ben Taylor suffered the loss as he fell to 5-6-2 on the season and stopped four shot attempts in the setback.

AIC, with 17 points, also qualified for the NE10 Championship Quarterfinals and they will travel to Long Island as they take on no. 6 nationally-ranked Adelphi University Saturday.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (https://shopfpuravens.com). You can also follow the men's soccer team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/fpumsoccer), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/fpumsoccer/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpumsoccer/).