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South Easton, Mass. - Le Moyne College and Southern Connecticut State University will face each other in the Northeast-10 men's soccer championship final after semifinal victories Wednesday afternoon.

Le Moyne, the number two seed in the championship, advanced to its second-straight Northeast-10 Championship final after defeating number three Franklin Pierce University, 2-1, in double-overtime. Junior Angelo Reina (Frankfurt, N.Y.) scored the game-winning goal late in the second-overtime period for the Dolphins.  In the other semifinal match, Southern Connecticut's Cedric Panzu (Mons-En-Baroeul, France) scored the game's only goal as the Owls went on to a 1-0 victory over eighth seeded Saint Anselm College. With the win Southern Connecticut will be advancing to its fifth championship final in the past nine years.

Le Moyne and Southern Connecticut will face each other for the first time in the Northeast-10 Championship Final on Saturday, Nov. 7 in Syracuse, N.Y. for a 1 p.m. match. Live action can be seen on Northeast10.tv for all fans and free of charge.

In the first semifinal game of the afternoon, Franklin Pierce broke a scoreless tie late in the first half when sophomore Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) connected on a penalty kick for his third goal of the season.  The score remained in favor of the Ravens through halftime despite Le Moyne holding a 5-2 advantage on shots. 

With Franklin Pierce still leading, 1-0, late in the second half, Reina put Le Moyne on the board in the 79th minute after receiving a cross pass from 12 yards out to tie the game at 1-1. 

The game remained tied throughout the remainder of regulation as the two teams entered overtime.  In the first overtime period Le Moyne was held to just two shots, while Franklin Pierce was only able to get one shot off as the game remained deadlocked. 

In the second overtime period, Reina scored his 16th goal of the season from 12 yards out off a pass from sophomore Harrison Grubbs (Wildwood, Mo.) advancing Le Moyne to the Northeast-10 Championship Final. 

Le Moyne's Steve White (Cortland, N.Y.) pushed away two shots in net, while Franklin Pierce's Vinny Papageorgiou (Wilmington, Mass.) made five saves. 

With the win Le Moyne improves to 16-2-2, while Franklin Pierce is now 12-4-3 and will await word on a possible NCAA bid which will be announced on Monday, Nov. 9.

In the second semifinal match of the afternoon, Southern Connecticut's Panzu scored his second game winning goal of the Northeast-10 Championship in the 20th minute as sophomore Paul Templeton (Saltcoats, Scotland) assisted on the play.  Panzu scored the team's eventual game winner in the 2-1 quarterfinal win over Merrimack this past Sunday.

Southern Connecticut's goalkeeper Chris Rybacki (Putnam, Conn.) recorded nine saves in net, while Saint Anselm's freshman goalkeeper Eric Moriarty (Center Harbor, N.H.) made one save. 

The victory improves Southern Connecticut to 14-4-1, while Saint Anselm finishes the year 7-9-3. 

With 16 member institutions the Northeast-10 shares the distinction of being the largest Division II conference in the country along with the PSAC and WVIAC. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

- NE-10 -

Sunday, November 1
Quarterfinals - at Higher Seed
Match 1: #8 Saint Anselm 1, #8 So. New Hampshire 0
Match 2: #2 Le Moyne 1, #7 Bentley 0
Match 3: #3 Franklin Pierce 0, #6 Assumption 0 (Franklin Pierce Advances 4-2 PK's)
Match 4: #4 So. Connecticut 2, #5 Merrimack 1

Wednesday, November 4
Semifinals - at Higher Seed
Match 5: #4 So. Connecticut 1, #8 Saint Anselm 0
Match 6: #2 Le Moyne 2, #3 Franklin Pierce 1 (2OT)

Saturday, November 7
Championship
Match 7: #4 So. Connecticut at #2 Le Moyne - 1 p.m.