NEWARK, Del. - - Facing the third ranked team in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Coaches Poll, the Wilmington University men's soccer team battled back to tie the match at 3-3, but eventually fell, 5-4, to Franklin Pierce on Saturday afternoon in the team's 2012 home-opener at the new WU Athletics Complex.
Wilmington (1-3) scored the first goal of the contest with a penalty kick in the 10th minute and tied the match with back-to-back goals early in the second half, but a pair of second half goals by the Ravens (2-0) carried them to the victory.
Trailing 3-1 at halftime, the Wildcats fired back with a pair of goals in a 10 minute span to tie the game. Sophomore Pedro Moreira started the comeback in the 53rd minute with his third goal of the season. Musa Wiah sent a pass to Moreira just outside the six yard box and Moreira was able to stuff home the goal from in close to make it 3-2 with 37:59 left in regulation.
The Wildcats tied the match less than 10 minutes later as senior captain Ray Kuemmer converted a free kick from 22 yards out into his first goal of the season.
But Franklin Pierce responded with two goals of its own to retake the lead for the final time. The Raven's Greg Giguere finished off his hat-trick with a goal in the 71st minute, capitalizing on a misclear by the defense and beating Wildcat goalkeeper Chad Jenkins to make it 4-3.
Even after receiving a red card with 16:01 to play in regulation, the Ravens were able to extend the lead and put away what would be the game-winner. Less than five minutes after their fourth goal, the Ravens put the game away with a goal off a set piece as Gareth Dudney tallied his first goal of the year as he lofted a free kick from the left side towards Jenkins.
The goalkeeper challenged the ball off the line against another Raven and got a glove on the ball, but was unable to corral the ball in the air before it crossed the line to give the visitors a 5-3 lead.
Junior Matko Novak cut the lead back to one with 1:52 remaining on the clock as he put home a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box, rounding out the scoring for the afternoon.
Much like the score, the game was evenly contested throughout as Franklin Pierce narrowly outshot the Wildcats 9-8 and managed one more corner, 3-2, for the match. Both Jenkins and Raven goalkeeper Jake Wright made three stops in 90 minutes.
Tom Quaranta gave the Wildcats the early lead on a penalty kick 9:40 into the contest but the lead was erased 1:25 later as Franklin Pierce's Daniel Donaldson converted his own penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1 11:05 into the match. Giguere gave the Ravens a 3-1 lead at the break with goals at the 24:30 and 41:39 marks.
The Wildcats return to their CACC schedule on Wednesday as they travel to cross-town rival Goldey-Beacom for an afternoon matchup. The game is slated to start 4 p.m.
