Three Ravens Earn
ESPN The Magazine
Academic All-District Honors
Petropanagos and Clifton voted to first team, Vitulano collects second team honors

RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2007) – Three members of the Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team have earned spots on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I teams as selected by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) members in New England and New York.

Grad student David Clifton (London, England) and senior captain Peter Petropanagos (Mississauga, Ontario/York University) were both selected to the Academic All-District first team and are now eligible for Academic All-America selection, while senior captain Michel Vitulano (Montreal, Quebec/College de Maisonneuve) collects second-team honors. The three honorees boosts Franklin Pierce’s all-time total to 20 Academic All-District selections, including 14 first team honorees with its two this year.

Petropanagos becomes the first three-time Academic All-District first team selection in program history. He has earned a 3.865 cumulative grade point average as a pre-med major at Franklin Pierce and is one of just two two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selections in program history, earning first team honors in 2006 after being voted to the third team as a sophomore. Petropanagos is a three-time NE-10 All-Academic first team pick and NE-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll Gold Scholar as well as a member of Chi Alpha Sigma National Student-Athlete Honor Society.

Petropanagos, a tri-captain for Franklin Pierce this fall, has played 89 of a possible 91 matches (88 starts) over his four-year career and has been a key cog in a Ravens defensive unit that has been ranked among NCAA Division II leaders each fall. Franklin Pierce posted a Division II best and program-record 0.44 team goals against average and 15 shutouts in 2006 and ranks 11^th in Division II this year with a 0.69 team GAA and tenth with nine shutouts.

Petropanagos is a two-time All-Northeast-10 selection, also collecting second team All-New England region honors in 2006. This season, Petropanagos has netted a goal (first of career) and dished two assists for four points. He has totaled a goal and seven assists for nine career points from the back line and helped the Ravens compile a 62-16-13 overall record since stepping on campus with three NCAA Tournament berths. The team advanced to the 2005 National Championship match, and has captured a program record three-straight NE-10 regular season championships and the 2006 NE-10 Tournament title. Franklin Pierce is 42-5-5 in Conference play over the last four seasons.

Clifton, an Academic All-District selection for the first time, has earned a 3.618 grade point average in Franklin Pierce’s Master’s of Business Administration program. Earlier this fall, he also earned NE-10 All-Academic honors for the first time and the second-year post grad earned NE-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll Gold Scholar status in 2006-07. He graduated with First Class Honors from Loughborough University in England in 2006.

Clifton leads the Northeast-10 with 35 points (3^rd in Division II) and 16 goals (4^th) to go with three assists in 14 matches since returning to the Franklin Pierce lineup after a preseason injury. The two-time NE-10 Player of the Week put on a true goal-scoring display on the Ravens run to their third-straight regular season Conference title, netting three hat tricks over a five match span (scoring 11 goals in all over that stretch). He is second on the team with four match-winning goals (4^th NE-10) this season.

A third-team All-Northeast-10 selection in 2006, Clifton currently ranks 12^th in program history with 24 career goals, while his 52 career points are good for 16^th all-time in 30 matches for Franklin Pierce over two seasons.

Vitulano, who joins Petropanagos as the only two three-time Academic All-District selections in program history, earns a spot on the District I second team for the third-straight year. The two-time NE-10 All-Academic honoree has earned a 3.466 cumulative GPA while majoring in mass communication, with a minor in graphic design, at Franklin Pierce. The Chi Alpha Sigma National Student-Athlete Honor Society member is a two-time Northeast-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll Bronze Scholar.

The Franklin Pierce defender is a three-year captain and key member of a Ravens defensive unit that has ranked among NCAA Division II leaders each fall – posting a Division II best and program-record 0.44 team goals against average and 15 shutouts in 2006. He earned second team All-Northeast-10 honors in 2006 and was selected to the NCAA New England Regional All-Tournament team in 2004. This season, Vitulano leads the team with eight assists (4^th NE-10) and is again a key part of a defensive unit which ranks second in the NE-10 with a 0.69 team GAA (11^th in Division II) and nine shutouts (10^th).

In 73 career matches played, Vitulano has totaled five goals (three match-winners) and 12 assists for 22 points. He has helped Franklin Pierce compile a 62-16-13 overall record since stepping on campus with three NCAA Tournament berths. The Ravens advanced to the 2005 National Championship match, and has captured a program record three-straight NE-10 regular season championships and the 2006 NE-10 Tournament title. Franklin Pierce is 42-5-5 in Conference play over the last four seasons.

Franklin Pierce (13-2-3, 11-0-2 NE-10), ranked 4^th in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll and first in the New England Region, awaits word on its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament berth (13^th overall) when bids are announced on Monday, November 5.