RINDGE, N.H. (November 13, 2019) – The No. 18 nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce University men's soccer team's 2019 run in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship came to an end Wednesday evening as they  played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie before they were bettered 5-4 in penalty kicks by no. 6 seeded the College of Saint Rose Golden Knights on a cold and bitter night on Sodexo Field.

The tie sends Pierce to 13-3-2 overall and the Golden Knights to 10-5-4 on the season. The penalty kick "win", their second of the NE10 tourney, advances Saint Rose to their first-ever NE10 Championship game on Saturday at Assumption College while the no. 5 regionally-ranked Ravens wait to see if they earn an at large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament which will be announced on Monday, November 18th at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. The 2019 season marks the first time since 2007 that neither a no. 1 or no. 2 seed made the NE10 Championship game.

Both squads made the first four shootout attempts until Ravens junior forward Antonio Ferreira (Madrid, Spain) cranked one off the left goalpost. Golden Knights senior midfielder Niv Fogle blasted an attempt past a diving Jadel Poon-Lewis (Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago) for the championship game clincher.

FPU outshot Saint Rose 25-to-13 in the match including a 16-to-5 mark in the first stanza. The tied turned in overtime when the Golden Knights had a 2-to-1 shot edge while no team could rifle a shot in the final 10 minutes of OT. Pierce also had six corner kicks to their counterparts three.

The Ravens cracked the scoring column for their lone goal in the 35th minute. Ferreira roped a pass through the legs of graduate student Stefan Lohberger (Schoellnach, Germany) that was corralled by Javier García Borrás (Alzira, Spain) who one-timed his shot attempt in the lower right part of the cage.

Pierce held the one-nil lead at the break, but Filippo Bellu blew past the Ravens defense on a counterattack and put home the match tying goal in the 51st minute. In the 80th minute, a prime chance happed for the home squad as junior Yannik Felber (Vallendar, Germany) lifted a beautiful right to left cross towards Ferreira. Ferreira established possession and footed an attempt just wide of the mark sending the game into the extra periods.

Graduate student Clay Thomas (Franklin, Tenn.) (7-3-2) drew the start in the cage as he played all of regulation and OT making three saves before being lifted for Poon-Lewis in the PK round. Gianni Carillo (2-1-3) stopped 10 shots for Saint Rose.

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/).