Rindge, N.H. – On Saturday, the Le Moyne College men's soccer team will have the chance to win a Northeast-10 Conference Championship, but to do so they will need to become the first team to hand #1 Franklin Pierce University a loss in 2022.
 
The match will be played in Rindge, New Hampshire, on FPU's Sodexo Field, where the Ravens have not lost a game since October 22, 2018.
 
Franklin Pierce has been the No. 1-ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches National Top 25 Poll for four consecutive weeks now, and they currently hold an undefeated 19-0-1 record.
 
FPU's only non-victory this season, a 0-0 draw, occurred against the Dolphins on Ted Grant Field back in September.
 
Le Moyne graduate goalkeeper Josh Mahr (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) recorded five saves during that game, one of his five clean sheets in 2022, but this time around Le Moyne will have to achieve a positive result against Franklin Pierce on the Ravens' home field.
 
Four of the five major NE10 All-Conference Awards, as well as nine of the 13 First Team All-Conference spots went to members of the Franklin Pierce team.
 
Franklin Pierce sophomore forward Braudilio Rodrigues was named NE10 Player of the Year after leading the conference in goals scored during the regular season. FPU's Aitor Aguado was selected as the conference's Defensive Player of the Year, Kosta Maniatis won the Goalkeeper of the Year Award, and Ruben Resendes won Coach of the Year after Franklin Pierce captured their second consecutive NE10 regular season championship.
 
Forwards Younes Addar and Rodrigues; midfielders Jonas Cervera Anchel, Vincente Valor Martinez, and Rodrigo Vaza; defenders Aguado, Jesus Gonzalez Diaz, and Bernardo Prego, as well as Maniatis, were all named to the NE10 All-Conference First Team after Franklin Pierce's 17-0-1 regular season.
 
Three more Ravens players were named to the All-Conference Second Team, and one player was a Third Team honoree.
 
Le Moyne graduate midfielder Tom Henne (Hamburg, Germany/Gymnasium Buckhorn) was a 2022 NE10 First Team All-Conference midfielder, while defenders Jack Goodrich (Kelsall, England/King's School Chester) and Ben Quigley (Perth, Scotland/Community School of Auchterarder/University of Stirling) both earned Third Team All-Conference recognition, and forward Cameron Stuart (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) was named to the NE10 All-Rookie Team after leading the Dolphins in goals and assists during the regular season.
 
The Dolphins scratched and clawed their way into the NE10 Conference Championship with two road victories as the No. 7 seed in the tournament.
 
It took two overtime periods, 110 minutes of action for Le Moyne to get past the No. 2 seed, Southern Connecticut State University, by a score of 3-2 in the quarterfinals.
 
Second-half goals from Noah Sperduto (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira) and Stuart gave Le Moyne a 2-0 lead on the Owls, but SCSU battled back and scored twice to send the match to overtime.
 
An attacking sequence for Le Moyne at the end of the first overtime period saw Goodrich make a run into the left side of Southern Connecticut State University's penalty area where he cut the ball back to his right and drew a foul, earning the Dolphins a PK.
 
Goodrich converted the kick himself to provide Le Moyne with the game-winning goal and put them through to the tournament semifinals.
 
For their NE10 Championships Final Four match, the 'Phins traveled to Garden City where they battled the No. 6 seed Adelphi University Panthers.
 
The Dolphins had previously bested the Panthers 3-0 in Syracuse during the regular season, but still history was not on Le Moyne's side.
 
Prior to Wednesday's match, the Le Moyne College men's soccer program was 0-4 all-time against Adelphi University in the NE10 Championships, with all four previous games being played in Garden City.
 
An injury-plagued Le Moyne team weathered the storm of attacks from a talented Adelphi offensive unit during the first 45 minutes, and then the Dolphins looked to be the more aggressive team throughout the second half and the first overtime period.
 
Le Moyne and Adelphi, who went through two overtime periods and penalty kicks to defeat the No. 3 seed Assumption during their NE10 Quarterfinals match, both did their best to survive the second overtime without conceding, and braced for the match to be decided via penalty kicks.
 
Following an action-packed 110 minutes of soccer on Motamed Field, the penalty kick shootout between the Dolphins and Panthers was a spectacle unto itself.
 
Victor Castel converted the first kick of the shootout to put the Panthers up 1-0, then Adelphi goalkeeper Daniel De La Heras made a great save on Le Moyne's first kick, putting the Dolphins on the ropes and energizing the Adelphi team.
 
Mahr came up huge for Le Moyne on the next kick. Alessio Consoli put the ball on the spot for Adelphi, and went with a slow run up, hoping to goad Mahr into revealing his defense strategy. Le Moyne's graduate keeper didn't budge until Consoli drew his leg back to kick the ball. Mahr finched slightly to his left, then pounced to his left and got both hands on Consoli's shot. The ball bounced off the post and away from the goal line, erasing Le Moyne's first PK miss.
 
What Jack Goodrich did next for Le Moyne was casually extraordinary. Le Moyne's talented Third Team All-Conference left back leads the team in minutes played this season with 1,489. He played the full 110 minutes against SCSU in the quarterfinals, and then played 110 more minutes in the semis against the Panthers. Goodrich is not only relied on as a physical, quick left back that can lock down opposing attackers on his side of the field, the redshirt sophomore from Kelsall, England is also an integral component of Le Moyne's offense.
 
Possessing great speed and a high-octane left foot that can precisely pick out Le Moyne attackers as they torpedo towards the goal line, Goodrich does an excellent job of providing service into the 18-yard box from the left wing, and he is tasked with taking many of the team's free kicks, corner kicks, as well as penalty kicks.
 
Suffice to say it's plausible that Goodrich was low on energy, and he did not waste any on his penalty kick run up. He set up behind to the right of the ball, then took two easy steps toward, blasted it perfectly into the upper right corner with his left foot and walked back to midfield as if he had done it a million times before.
 
With Le Moyne needing to capitalize on Mahr's save and record their first goal of the shootout, Goodrich knew that if his shot went according to plan there was zero chance for De La Heras to get to it. However, with that type of pace on an elevated shot, there is very little margin for error. In the biggest moment, Goodrich got it just right, and in this instance, fortune favored the bold.
 
Mahr amazingly stopped the next two Adelphi kicks to record three consecutive saves in the shootout.
 
Quigley expertly placed his kick into the bottom left corner for Le Moyne to put them up 2-1, then Terence Crysler-Howard (Toronto, Ontario/Toronto Prep School) faked out De La Heras and deposited his penalty kick into the right side of the net to end the shootout and send the Dolphins through to the NE10 Championship game.
 
The final month to Le Moyne's 2022 season has been special. It was a surprise to see the Dolphins hold a 1-3-4 record against conference opponents with three games remaining on their regular season schedule, but it was not surprising to see a Tom Bonus-led Le Moyne team find a way to earn one of the eight spots in the NE10 Conference Championships.
 
Competing in the program's 21st consecutive NE10 Conference Championships, and playing without a handful of talented players that the team relied on throughout the regular season, every step of Le Moyne's 2022 postseason journey has been physical, difficult, strenuous, mentally and physically demanding, as well as rewarding.
 
Franklin Pierce's 2022 NE10 Championships experience on the other hand has more closely resembled a walk through the park with your closest friends on a beautifully sunny day.
 
The Ravens have impressively ripped through the extremely tough Northeast-10 Conference tournament field on their way to the Championship.
 
#1 Franklin Pierce defeated Bentley University 7-0 in the first round, then took down Southern New Hampshire University 7-1 in the semifinals.
 
The Ravens have scored 74 goals in 20 games this season while conceding only four. They have allowed just one goal in their last twelve games. Franklin Pierce has tallied 15 shutout victories so far in 2022, including 10 straight following their draw at Le Moyne.
 
#1 FPU is currently on an 11-game winning streak, and have not given up more than one goal in a match this season.
 
Rodrigues leads the NE10 with 17 goals and 17 assists so far in 2022. He tallied one goal and five assists during the Ravens' semifinal win against SNHU.
 
Kosta Maniatis has had to make just 16 saves during his 14 wins and one tie in goal this season for the Ravens, however senior keeper Javier Torres started and played the full 90 minutes in goal for the Ravens against SNHU on Wednesday.
 
Le Moyne's goalkeeper Josh Mahr has been playing well as of late. He recorded eight saves during the team's regular season finale at Assumption and then eight more during the conference quarterfinals win at SCSU.
 
He recorded four saves during the 110 minutes of action in the semifinals at Adelphi, then displayed his goalkeeping prowess during the penalty kick shootout.
 
Le Moyne's dynamic All-Rookie selection, forward Cameron Stuart created several goal-scoring opportunities on Wednesday at Adelphi, and Le Moyne will surely strategize on how to maximize his offensive talent against a stingy Franklin Pierce back line.
 
Midfielder David Bosak (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus/Onondaga C.C.) has performed admirably for the Dolphins at right back during their two postseason matches in the absence of Brett Stern (Lockport, N.Y./Newfane/Duquesne). Bosak played the full 110 minutes at SCSU, and then again at Adelphi. Bosak had to contend with Adelphi's talented forward Victor Castel in the right side of Le Monye's defensive third all evening long, and he was pivotal in Le Moyne being able to record a clean sheet.
 
Bosak, Mahr, Goodrich, Quigley, Henne and Crysler-Howard have all been on the field for every single second of Le Moyne's 2022 postseason run, while Max Van Duin (Noordwijk, Netherlands/Teylingen College Leeuwenhorst/Free University of Amsterdam) played 104 minutes against Southern Connecticut State and then the full 110 against Adelphi.
 
Without the services of two very talented center backs Benedict Klimmek (Kiel, Germany/RBZ am Schützenpark) and Michael Lantry (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill/Syracuse/DePaul), center midfielder Alessandro Otte (Suderburg, Germany/Herzog-Ernst-Gymnasium Uelzen/Hochschule Wismar) has stepped in at center back for Le Moyne alongside Quigley, and the two have been rock solid together.
 
Freshman Jackson Card (McGraw, N.Y./McGraw) and redshirt sophomore Noah Sperduto have both been effective for the 'Phins in attack, while senior forward Owen Bauer (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/UNC Asheville) and center back DJ Taylor (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/SUNY Brockport) have been vital in their roles as substitutes during the two postseason contests.
 
Kickoff for the match is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., and it is available to stream online at ne10now.tv