Senior Tate Travis scored his sixth goal of the season versus Saint Anselm

Saint Anselm Rallies By Franklin Pierce, 2-1
Nylen double leads Hawks to key Conference win

RINDGE, N.H. (September 21, 2002) - Senior Kevin Nylen netted two goals in a six-minute span to lead Saint Anselm College, ranked fourth in the New England region and receiving votes in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, to a 2-1 victory over Franklin Pierce, ranked sixth in the region, in Northeast-10 Conference men’s soccer action at Crystal Field this afternoon.

Nylen’s double came moments after Franklin Pierce squandered two excellent scoring chances to take a two-goal lead. Saint Anselm defender Todd Michlovichmade the save of the match when he re-directed a shot from Ravens junior Bjorgolfor Takefusa (Reykjavik, Iceland) with just under 30-minutes remaining in regulation.

Takefusa missed again two minutes later on an excellent sliding bid that found the side of the net after a nice through ball from freshman Evan Luster (Newington, Conn./Newington).

The Hawks then took control and senior Jonathan Morin slid the ball across the slot to a wide-open Nylen, who blasted the equalizer into the lower left corner at the 66:07-mark.

Nylen’s game winner came just 6:45 later when he headed in a Connor Hardy corner kick at the far post in the 73rd minute.

The Ravens last real scoring bid came with just over eight minutes to play as a crossing pass caught Saint Anselm junior goalkeeper Robert Morongslightly out of position, but Franklin Pierce sophomore David Goulet (Plainville, Plainville) just missed putting a head on it.

The bid came just minutes after Saint Anselm went a man down when Michlovich was issued a red card for a hard tackle on Ravens junior Frank Ressel (Eschborn, Germany).

Franklin Pierce controlled the opening 45-minutes, but could push just one goal across the goal line. Senior Tate Travis (Detroit, Mich./UC Santa Barbara) tracked down a punt by Ravens junior goalkeeper Domenico Roma (Windsor, Ontario/Ste. Annes), beat one defender then got past Morong for a wide-open marker just 9:51 into the match.

Franklin Pierce held an 11-7 shots advantage for the match, but shots were even (5-5) in the final 45-minutes. Morong made three saves to preserve the win for Saint Anselm, while Roma registered three stops (all second half) for Franklin Pierce.

Franklin Pierce (3-3-2, 1-2-2 NE-10) returns to action on Wednesday for a non-conference match at University of Bridgeport at 3:30 p.m. Saint Anselm (4-3-1, 2-3 NE-10) hosts Assumption College next Saturday at 11 a.m.