Franklin Pierce men's soccer earns second national title in program history with win over CSU-Pueblo

Dec. 3—SEATTLE — It took 30 minutes for the Franklin Pierce men's soccer team to score in Thursday's NCAA semifinal.

In Saturday's Division II championship game, it took only 11 minutes.

Senior Miguel Angel Pastor Gutierrez used his left foot to give the Ravens an early lead, and that goal served as the go-ahead score as Franklin Pierce downed CSU-Pueblo, 2-0, to earn the D-II national title at Interbay Stadium in Seattle.

It's the Ravens' second national championship in program history, the first coming in 2007.

"Our guys came in with a pretty clear game plan, with only a couple of days to prepare," said Franklin Pierce head coach Ruben Resendes. "But executed pretty well and in the big moment, put the ball in the back of the net."

Franklin Pierce (25-0-1) completes its undefeated season with the national championship. The Ravens become the first D-II men's soccer program to finish the season without a loss since Pfeiffer University did it in 2015.

The loss ends one of the best seasons CSU-Pueblo has put together in program history — if not the best. The ThunderWolves set the program record for most wins in a season (previous high was 15) and earned its first-ever championship game appearance.

"It was a fantastic run, the boys played admirably," said CSU-Pueblo head coach Oliver Twelvetrees. "We knew that we had to play a perfect game to win the match, and we needed to have some things go our way and, unfortunately, probably both those things didn't quite happen today, but it's been a phenomenal season."

Franklin Pierce controlled the first 10 minutes of the game and put pressure on the ThunderWolves defense, and Gutierrez finally got through in the 11th minute. Bernardo Prego started the play and, after his shot was blocked, Gutierrez corralled the ball in the box and buried it.

"For me, this goal means a lot," Gutierrez said. "All my teammates deserve it. All the community — all the Ravens — that have been supporting us all year.

"Usually the most difficult part for us is to score the first goal," Gutierrez added. "Scoring a goal in the first 10 minutes is so important for us. For the team, it released a lot of pressure so we can play our game."

CSU-Pueblo (18-4-2) immediately responded and was inches away from the equalizer in the 13th minute after crashing the net hard, but the ball somehow stayed out.

After that first goal, the game favored the ThunderWolves for the rest of the first half — although both teams created scoring chances — but both defenses stood tall, and the Ravens went to the break ahead 1-0.

CSU-Pueblo's best opportunity for the equalizer came in the 62nd minute, after Mario Sandoval got past the Franklin Pierce backline and put a strike right on net, saved by Raven goalkeeper Javier Torres. Gabriel Campora scooped up the rebound and had an open net as Torres had come out to play the original shot, but the ball never crossed the backline before the Ravens defense cleared it out and preserved the 1-0 lead.

Senior Younes Addar scored the insurance goal for the Ravens in the 74th minute after he was left wide open down the right side of the pitch. CSU-Pueblo goalie Nils Roth came out of the net to defend senior Jonas Cervera Anchel, so Anchel just dumped it off to Addar.

The ThunderWolves seemed to think Anchel was offside on the play, which allowed Addar to get open, but the referee said the play was legal and that was that.

"Before I go to the field, I talked with my coach and he told me I would score," Addar said. "It was so easy for me. Jonas did the most difficult part. But I'm very happy because with the 2-0, we were more calm."

The game got a bit chippy as the clock continued to wind down, but the ThunderWolves didn't get many scoring chances from there on out.

The clock hit zero, and the celebrations commenced as the Franklin Pierce bench flooded the field.

Five Ravens earned a spot on the All-Tournament team, highlighted by junior Vicente Valor Martinez who earned the Most Outstanding Player award. Jonas Cervera Anchel, Bernardo Prego, Younes Addar and Braudilio Rodrigues were also recognized.

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler.