Clifton’s second-straight hat trick leads Ravens to third New England Region title in four years

RINDGE, N.H. (November 10, 2007) – Top-seeded Franklin Pierce University, ranked fourth in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, came back from a goal behind to post a 3-1 victory over third-seeded and 12th-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell to claim its third NCAA Division II New England Regional Championship in four years at Sodexho Field tonight.

Franklin Pierce (15-2-3) advances to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament and will host the winner of tomorrow’s Northeast Region Championship between fourth-seeded New York Institute of Technology (13-3-3) and second-seeded Dowling College (16-2-3), being played in East Stroudsburg, Pa., next Saturday at 7 p.m. UMass Lowell (12-4-4) was making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in five seasons.

Grad student David Clifton (London, England) earned Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors for the New England Regional as his second-straight hat trick erased an early one-goal deficit for Franklin Pierce. Clifton scored six goals in the regional overall and is just one goal shy of the NCAA Division II Tournament single-season record of seven set by Lee Paul Scroggins of Lynn University in 2005.

“It’s weird because I went three or four games without scoring,” said Clifton. “Now it has been (six goals) in two games. That’s how it runs some times when you are playing up front.”

Senior All-American James Thorpe (East Longmeadow, Mass./Bridgton Academy), who earned a spot on the regional All-Tournament team, made one save for Franklin Pierce, while sophomore Ryan Richards (Holden, Mass./Wachusett Regional) finished with four saves and was also named to the All-Tournament team. Franklin Pierce finished with a 10-6 edge in shots for the match, including an 8-2 advantage in the first half.

UMass Lowell went on the attack in the early portions of the match, forcing a top-shelf save from Thorpe on a shot from senior Matt Dubois (Dracut, Mass./IMG Academy) less than three minutes into the match. The River Hawks efforts were rewarded in the 14th minute when junior Matias Pietropinto (Leominster, Mass./Worcester Academy) sent a pass over the top of the Franklin Pierce defense from just inside the halfway line to senior Edens Chery (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) who was in one-on-one with Thorpe and slotted a shot into the lower left corner of the goal from ten yards out in the right channel.

“We didn’t want to necessarily sit back and wait for (Franklin Pierce) to get into a rhythm,” said UMass Lowell Head Coach Ted Priestly. “We wanted to take the game to them and get an early goal, which we did. We were disappointed to concede the two goals in the first half.”

Franklin Pierce picked up the pressure from there, but Richards made three saves off point blank shots by the Ravens. Richards robbed junior midfielder Frantz Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.)) twice in the span of 90-seconds in the 24th and 25th minutes.

“We got a look at the stats at halftime and we should have taken care of this team in the first half,” said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Marco Koolman. “We had some clear cut chances one on one with the goalkeeper. In the playoffs you have to put those away.”

Franklin Pierce broke through at the 36-minute mark and equalized with Clifton’s first goal of the match as Francois sent him in one-on-one with Richards with a nice through ball. Clifton slotted his shot from 14-yards out into the left side of the net for his Northeast-10 Conference leading 20th goal of the season.

“Finally we realized it was a bit of a playoff game,” said Koolman. “I think some of the players didn’t realize it right from the get-go, but quickly became aware of it. We got a little of the emotion we needed to get ourselves awake.”

The Ravens forged ahead just 3:05 before the intermission when Clifton poked in a rebound at the doorstep after a header by senior All-American Bisharra Ettienne (East Elmhurst, N.Y./Dominica State College), off a cross from senior Mike Lima (Ludlow, Mass./Ludlow), caromed off the cross bar.

Franklin Pierce grabbed an insurance goal 3:09 into the second half when it was granted a penalty kick after UMass Lowell sophomore back Rudy Kocandrle (Northboro, Mass./Algonquin) hit the ball with his hand inside the penalty area. Clifton converted the kick to complete the scoring.

“The overall maturity and intelligence of this team put us where we had to be,” said Koolman. “Defensively, I thought we were very, very disciplined taking care of their tasks to take out some of their key players going forward.”

In addition to Clifton’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player award, freshman back Adit Phataraprasit (Bangkok, Thailand) was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Joining those two on the All-Tournament team from Franklin Pierce are Francois, Lima and Thorpe. Richards, Chery, Pietropinto and junior Jamie Wangia (Thika, Kenya) earned All-Tournament team honors from UMass Lowell. The complete team is listed below.


2007 NCAA Division II Tournament
New England Regional
All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding Offensive Player:
David Clifton, Franklin Pierce University

Most Outstanding Defensive Player:
Adit Phataraprasit, Franklin Pierce University

Frantz Francois, Franklin Pierce University
Mike Lima, Franklin Pierce University
James Thorpe, Franklin Pierce University
Edens Chery, UMass Lowell
Matias Pietropinto, UMass Lowell
Ryan Richards, UMass Lowell
Jamie Wangia, UMass Lowell
Ancil Farrier, Southern Connecticut State University
Mark Lukowiecki, Le Moyne College