Taylor’s Goal Enough as No. 1 Franklin Pierce Claims NE-10 Title, 1-0 over Bentley

RINDGE, N.H. – Graduate student forward Shaun Taylor scored a 35th minute goal as top seeded Franklin Pierce defeated third seeded Bentley University 1-0 to win the 2010 Northeast-10 Men’s Soccer Championship on Sunday afternoon at Sodexo Field.

Taylor’s goal came when he took a cross from sophomore Amory Houghton and scored with a shot in front of the net.

Franklin Pierce’s defense and junior goalie Vinny Papageorgiou made it stand up the rest of the way, as the Ravens won their second NE-10 title.

The Falcons, making their first appearance in the championship game since 1994, fall to 11-3-6 on the season. It’s their first loss in nine matches. Franklin Pierce improves to 17-1-1.

Graduate student goalie Mike Nikiforov (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) made six saves and was named to the All-Tournament team. Sophomore back Weston Zeiner (North Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) was named to the team as well.

Bentley will now await word on whether they will be selected to the NCAA Tournament. They were ranked sixth in the latest NCAA East Region rankings and the top six will be selected.