RINDGE, N.H. - The sixth-seeded Saint Michael's College men's soccer team lost to No. 3 Franklin Pierce University, 2-0, on Saturday in a Northeast 10 Conference Championship first-round contest on Sodexo Field. The Ravens, the 2022 and 2023 national champions, were fifth in this week's NCAA Super-Region 1 rankings.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-6-3), Franklin Pierce (10-3-3)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Garrett Smith (Gorham, Maine/Bridgton Academy/Bryant), 3 saves

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Guillermo Avendaño, 1 goal
• Junior Dani Almeida, 1 goal
• Senior David Skorodumov, 2 saves

GAME FACTS

• In just two years with the program, Smith finished fifth in school history in career goals-against average (1.17), tied for sixth in shutouts (11) and tied for eighth in wins (15).
• Wade Jean heads into the 2026 season with 99 wins as Saint Michael's head coach.
• The teams met in the postseason for the first time.
• Franklin Pierce is 61-1-8 at home since 2019 and undefeated in its last 22 postseason home contests since 2016.
• The hosts held slim leads in shots (9-5) and corner kicks (2-1).

THE ACTION

• In the 11th minute, first-year Guillermo Rios saved a ball along the Saint Michael's end line and crossed for Avendaño, who finished a one-touch at the left post on the game's first shot.
• The Purple Knights' best first-half scoring chance came in the 30th minute, when sophomore back Diego Aplicano's (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) dangerous cross into the box was redirected by a Raven before junior Marshall Butler (Middletown, Conn./Middletown) volleyed a bid high.
• In the 50th minute, junior Ronnie Riby-Williams (Montpelier, Vt./Montpelier) slipped a cross from the right corner into the box, where sophomore Iago Lopez (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) ran on and sent a shot just over Skorodumov's extended hand and the crossbar.
• The Purple Knight defense prevented a Raven chance late in the 60th minute, as senior back Drew Kull (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) stripped possession from driving sophomore Jesse Oostendorp near the corner of the box, and Smith rushed out to cover before starting a counterattack.
• Almeida doubled the lead in the 64th minute, heading home graduate student Christian Nieves Osuna's end-line cross.
• Smith kept it a manageable deficit with a diving stop of Avendaño's shot in the 77th minute, and Skorodumov had to leap to deny sophomore back Rodrigo Salamanca Lopez's (Madrid, Spain/Colegio Internacional Aravaca) long blast in the 80th minute.
• Late in the 89th minute, Riby-Williams blistered a shot from the right side of the box that Skorodumov dove to bat away to maintain the shutout.