Franklin
Pierce Sweeps RINDGE,
N.H. (November 12, 2007) –
The NCAA Division II New England Region Champion Franklin Pierce
University men’s soccer team swept the weekly awards issued by the
Northeast-10 Conference on Monday. Grad student David Clifton (London, England) earned NE-10 Player of the Week honors, while senior All-American James Thorpe (East Longmeadow, Mass./Bridgton Academy) was named the NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Week and defender Adit Phataraprasit (Bangkok, Thailand) collected NE-10 Freshman of the Week accolades.
Clifton,
the Northeast-10 Player of the Year, earns Player of the Week honors
for the third time this season after he was named Most Outstanding
Offensive Player for the NCAA Division II New England Regional. He
scored six of Franklin Pierce’s eight goals over its two matches,
netting back-to-back hat tricks in wins over fourth-seeded Le Moyne
College and third-seeded and 12th-ranked University of
Massachusetts Lowell. Clifton scored three to help lead the Ravens in
Thursday’s 5-0 win over Le Moyne, before scoring all three goals in
Saturday’s 3-1 comeback win over UMass Lowell in the regional final. Clifton’s six goals are already within one of the NCAA Division II record for goals in a Tournament set by Lee Paul Scroggins of Lynn University in 2005. This season, he leads the NE-10 with 47 points and 22 goals to go with three assists in 16 matches played. His five match-winning goals lead the Ravens and are good for second among NE-10 leaders and he has also post five hat tricks throughout the season. Clifton has also earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District and NE-10 All-Academic first team honors this season.
Thorpe,
the first four-time NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Year in Conference
history, earns Goalkeeper of the Week for the fourth time this season
(18th career) after posting a 0.50 goals against average
and .750 save percentage with a shutout in Franklin Pierce’s two
NCAA Tournament victories this weekend. He made two key first half
saves to preserve his tenth shutout of the season (47th
career) in Thursday’s 5-0 decision over Le Moyne. Thorpe followed
that up with a key stop early in Saturday’s 3-1 comeback win over
UMass Lowell in the regional final. Thorpe, a two-time All-American and three-time first team All-New England region selection, leads the NE-10 this season with his ten shutouts, while his 0.68 goals against average is good for second and his .763 save percentage ranks sixth. Thorpe, who has played all 1,864:16 of Franklin Pierce’s minutes in goal this season, has set a new NCAA Division II goalkeeping record with 8,101:11 career minutes played.
Phataraprasit
collects Freshman of the Week honors for the first time after he
earned Most Outstanding Defensive Player honors at the NCAA New
England Regional. He totaled a goal and two assists for four points
and also played a key role in a Franklin Pierce defensive unit that
yielded just one goal and an average of five shots per match over the
two matches. Phataraprasit netted the match-winning goal and dished
two assists in the Ravens 5-0 opening-round victory over fourth-seeded
Le Moyne. The goal was the first of his collegiate career.
After serving in a reserve role through the regular season,
Phataraprasit has started all four of Franklin Pierce’s postseason
matches to date. He has totaled a goal and three assists for five
points in 12 matches played this season, and is a part of a defensive
unit which leads the NE-10 with a 0.68 team goals against average and
is second with ten shutouts.
Franklin Pierce (15-2-3, 11-0-2 NE-10), ranked fourth in the
National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division
II poll, captured its third New England Region title in four years
over the weekend and will host Northeast Region Champion and 6th-ranked
Dowling College, the defending National Champions, for an NCAA
Quarterfinal match on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Ravens have captured
three-straight Northeast-10 regular season titles and are making their
fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance (13th overall). |
