RINDGE, N.H. (8/30/22) – It was a warm afternoon at Sodexo Field for the Franklin Pierce University men's soccer home opener, where sophomore forward Braudilio Rodrigues (Lisbon, Portugal) heated up with a hat-trick performance to pace the Ravens past St. Thomas Aquinas by a 4-1 final score.

Following the victory in the mid-week, non-conference matchup, Franklin Pierce remains perfect and moves to 3-0-0 on the season. With the loss, the Spartans slip to 1-1-0 overall.

The Ravens scored the lone goal in the first half, which belonged to Rodrigues off of a free kick delivered by junior defender Bernardo Prego (Evora, Portugal) at the 10:30 mark. The Ravens would go on to finish the half with a whopping 14-1 shots advantage over the Spartans.

With the slim 1-0 margin in hand going into intermission, Rodrigues returned for more in the second half, netting a pair of unassisted tallies just over two minutes apart. With a new 3-0 advantage, the Spartans were finally able to convert on a breakaway goal from Kevon Evans after catching a long stretch pass from midfielder Cole Allen at 78:74 mark, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Graduate Francisco Javier Llamas (Alicante, Spain) wrapped up the Ravens offense for the evening with 6:29 left to play, potting a goal after sneaking past the Spartan defense off a perfectly placed pass from Joao Valente (Averio, Portugal), who snatched his first collegiate point on the assist.

Recent Northeast-10 "Goalkeeper of the Week" selectee Kosta Maniatis (Montreal, Quebec) earned his third win of the season, facing just one shot on goal throughout the entire match.

Men's soccer remains on home turf for their next two matchups, with their next opponent coming up on Saturday, September 3^rd where they will kick-off versus Post University at 7PM.