RINDGE, N.H. – The College of Saint Rose has added another chapter to its historic 2019 campaign. The Golden Knights punched a ticket to their first-ever Northeast-10 Conference Championship match after advancing on penalty kicks at #18 and three-time league champion Franklin Pierce tonight.
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"Unbelievable! Just unbelievable! Franklin Pierce is one of the best teams in the region and to win at their place in a game of this magnitude is just so amazing. This is just such a special group of guys who are so unified. Their resiliency to come back in the second half and press on was inspiring. I'm just so proud to be the coach of this team, and I'm just so happy for them," said head coach
John Ciano.
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The two sides played to a 1-1 deadlock after 110 minutes of soccer. However, the five Saint Rose PK shooters each scored while a Ravens attempt hit the left post to afford the Golden Knights (10-5-4) all they needed to extend their season to Saturday's final as a sixth-seed. Senior midfielder
Niv Fogel, the fifth Saint Rose shooter, delivered the decisive strike after the Franklin Pierce (13-3-2) miscue.
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They Golden Knights will visit fifth-seed Assumption, which upended eighth-seed American International 3-2 in tonight's other semifinal.
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The Saint Rose (10-5-4) defense kept a daunting Franklin Pierce offense in check throughout the final 76 minutes. The second-seed Ravens entered the contest 9-0 at home, where the they had outscored their opponents by a 29-2 margin. Franklin Pierce characteristically manufactured a 25-13 shot advantage and an 11-4 differential in those at frame. However, the Golden Knights defense was on point while senior keeper
Gianni Carillo recorded 10 saves.
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Sophomore midfielder
Filippo Bellú; leveled the contest for Saint Rose with 50:08 elapsed when he deked a defender on a counter and finished for his seventh goal of the year. Midfielder Javier Garcia Borrás, a graduate student, put Franklin Pierce up 1-0 at the 34:02 mark when he one-timed a cross into the lower right corner that was delivered by junior forward Antonio Ferreira from the left sideline.
Saint Rose Notes: The Golden Knights made their first NE10 Championship semifinal appearance tonight…This is their fourth overall appearance after also qualifying in 2017, 2015, and 2013…Saint Rose reached the 10-win mark this autumn for the first time in the program's 38-year history…The Golden Knights previously posted nine wins in 1989 and 1990, going 9-11 and 9-8 respectively when they were an NAIA member…Saint Rose is now unbeaten in five of its last six matches…Nine different players have found the back of the net…As a team, Saint Rose is second in the NE10 with a 1.19 goals-against-average…Freshman forward
Hilmar Halldorsson is tied for third among the league leaders with a team-high nine goals…Carillo has started the last six matches…He has surrendered just four goals throughout 600 minutes of action during that span.
Five Earn All-Conference Accolades: A school record five players earned seven different All-Conference awards. Halldorsson was named the Co-Rookie of the Year in addition to a second-team All-League and All-Rookie selections. He was joined on the second team by junior midfielder Oskar Aaströem. Senior midfielder
Victor Goncalves-Rocha and senior back
Jaakko Teräsranta garnered third-team accolades, while freshman back
Nick Koenig was also chosen to the All-Rookie squad.
NE10 Championship Notes: The last time neither a first or second-seed made the NE10 Championship Final was 2007, when third-seed Southern Connecticut State beat fifth-seed Merrimack 2-1…The lowest seed ever to win the NE10 Men's Soccer Championship is a fifth-seed, when New Hampshire College (Now Southern New Hampshire) beat second-seed Saint Anselm 1-0 in 2000…American International and Assumption, along with Saint Rose, have never reached the NE10 Championship Game.
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