RINDGE, N.H. – On Saturday evening, No. 21 Notre Dame College fought until the end and put a couple goals on the board in the final 25 minutes, but No. 1 ranked Franklin Pierce University advances past the Falcons in the NCAA Division II Tournament with a 6-2 win.
In just the third minute of action, a foul was called as play entered the box and Franklin Pierce was awarded a penalty kick. Braudilio Rodrigues took the shot and put it into the back of the net.
Pedro Alves made some tremendous saves in goal for the Falcons and the first one took place in the 11th minute. Vicente Valor Martinez sent a shot in that was approaching the crossbar and Alves jumped and punched the ball over the crossbar while in the air.
He made another nice save in the 21st minute as Miguel Gutierrez was one-on-one with Alves and the Falcons' goalkeeper went down to his knees before swatting the shot away.
Franklin Pierce, a team that was second in the country in total goals this season, scored four in the first half.
After the Ravens put a fifth goal on the board, early in the second stanza, Notre Dame began to find some room to maneuver on FPU's side of the field. The Falcons had just their third corner kick of the game in the 56th minute.
In the 69th minute, NDC broke through with a goal off the foot of sophomore
Carlos Almeida. Senior
Ned Dry tracked the ball down near the corner and sent it back to
Callum Cleary to start the play. After the ball was headed around in the box, Almeida took control and immediately fired the ball into the net, shocking the defense before they could react.
Franklin Pierce had allowed just four goals all season entering Saturday night, and did not allow a goal throughout the month of October. No team had scored more than one goal in a game against them this year.
After the Ravens responded with a goal to go up 6-1, NDC had an opportunity for a late goal and took it. After a foul, the free kick was taken just outside of the box and off to the left. Sophomore
Taylor Dyson used the set piece to NDC's advantage and put the ball on line to senior
Kai Wagner, who headed it through for the Falcons' second goal of the game, in the 88th minute.
The Falcons came up short on Saturday, but had a historic season. For the first time in the program's NCAA Division II era, NDC won 16 games. Seven of the games on the schedule this season were against an opponent that was ranked in the top 15 in the country. The Falcons qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 2018 and won the program's first NCAA tournament game since 2012. They were also ranked 21st in the country at the end of the regular season.
