#4 Franklin Pierce Clips Defending Champion #6 Dowling, 2-1
Clifton’s first half
double enough to send Ravens to second Final Four in three years,
break NCAA II Tournament record
RINDGE, N.H. (November 17, 2007) – The Franklin
Pierce University men’s soccer team rode the record-setting
performance of grad student David Clifton (London,
England) to a 2-1 victory over defending NCAA Division II
Champion and 6th-ranked Dowling College in quarterfinal round
action of the 2007 NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Tournament
at Sodexho Field tonight.
Franklin Pierce (16-2-3), regular season champions of the
Northeast-10 Conference and New England region champions, advances
to the NCAA Division II Final Four for the third time in program
history and second time in three years. The Ravens will face
Midwest Region champions and 7th-ranked Midwestern State University
(19-3-0) in a national semifinal in Orange Beach, Ala., Friday,
November 30. MSU, who hosted Franklin Pierce at the 2005 Final Four
in Wichita Falls, Texas, edged Far West Region champs and
11th-ranked Sonoma State (19-4-2), 3-2 in double-overtime tonight.
Dowling sees defense of its 2006 National Championship come to an
end with an overall mark of 17-3-3.
“At the end of the day it was a sweet, hard fought
victory,” said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Marco Koolman.
“Credit to our back four, they battled and played like it was
their last game and God bless them because they were phenomenal
tonight.”
Clifton, the Daktronics New England Region and NE-10 Player of the
Year, netted both Franklin Pierce goals to break the NCAA Division
II Tournament record of seven set by Lee Paul Scroggins of Lynn
University in 2005. Clifton has scored seven-straight Raven goals
and eight of their ten overall in the NCAA Tournament. Junior
Marek Hawrylik (Olsztyn, Poland/The Winchendon (Mass.)
School) and senior Mike Lima (Ludlow,
Mass./Ludlow) dished assists for Franklin Pierce.
“It’s really nice,” said Clifton of breaking the
NCAA record. “I didn’t realize it was for the whole
tournament until a minute ago, I thought it was just these three
games. It’s always good to score goals as a forward, but as
long as we keep winning it doesn’t matter who
scores.”
Senior All-America goalkeeper James Thorpe (East
Longmeadow, Mass./Bridgton Academy) made two saves to
preserve the victory for Franklin Pierce. Junior Nemanja Veljovic
(Belgrade, Serbia) also posted two saves in goal for Dowling, who
out shot the Ravens 9-6 for the match.
Franklin Pierce struck early, opening the scoring 9:12 into the
match when Hawrylik sent Clifton in one-on-one with Veljovic for a
low shot from the left side to match the tournament goals
record.
“Henning (Comé) stepped over it and fooled the
defender,” said Clifton. “Which is good, I got free and
just nicked it past the goalie.”
The Ravens doubled their lead just 13-seconds before halftime, when
Clifton shook off two defenders for a side-footed shot from eight
yards past Veljovic for his record-breaking goal (NE-10 best 24th
of the season) off a long pass from the left side by Lima. The
assist is the third of the NCAA Tournament for Lima.
“I think someone mis-headed it and it just fell to me,”
said Clifton. “There was a bit of a melee and I just smashed
a hook in.”
Dowling awoke hopes of a comeback when it drew within one with just
4:15 to play in regulation. Senior back Meshach Tinglin (Portmore,
Jamaica) fired a shot from deep down the left side that ricocheted
off the crossbar, pulling Thorpe out of the goal. The rebound
dropped to the feet of sophomore Steven Schneider (Westbury, N.Y.)
who calmly tipped the ball into the open net.
The Golden Lions continued to press forward, and with Veljovic
joining the offensive attack in the closing seconds, forced the
Franklin Pierce defense to clear a corner kick after a long
scramble off a Dowling free kick.
“A credit to Dowling, who played very well tonight,”
said Koolman. “They put us under some pressure we had to deal
with.”