Franklin Pierce All-Americans
Collect NE-10 Honors
Demoner named women’s soccer Player of the Week
Thorpe collects men’s soccer Player
and Goalkeeper of the Week honors 

RINDGE, N.H. (October 22, 2007) – Franklin Pierce University All-Americans Gabriela Demoner (Curitiba, Brazil) and James Thorpe (East Longmeadow, Mass./Bridgton Academy) have both earned soccer Player of the Week honors from the Northeast-10 Conference today.

            Demoner earns Player of the Week honors for the third time this season (seventh career) after posting 13 points with six goals and an assist to lead the Franklin Pierce women’s soccer team to a pair of wins last week to round out the regular season. She netted a hat trick in both matches; scoring three goals in Tuesday’s 4-0 victory over No. 15-ranked University of New Haven and totaled a career-best seven points with three goals and an assist in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Southern Connecticut State University. Demoner netted the match-winner in Tuesday’s win, while assisting on the winner on Saturday.           

Demoner leads the Northeast-10 with 54 points and 22 goals, while her ten assists are tied for the team lead and rank second among NE-10 leaders. Her team-best three match-winning goals are good for third in the Conference and she has played a role in 58.2-percent of Franklin Pierce’s 55 goals scored this season, including eight of the Ravens last ten goals.

            Demoner, in her second season at Franklin Pierce, already ranks tenth in program history with 37 career goals, while her 96 career points rank 12^th all-time in just 36 matches played at the University. Her nine career match-winning goals are tied for ninth in program history. She earned first team All-America, All-New England and All-Northeast-10 honors in 2006.

Thorpe, also named NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Week for the second-straight week and third time this season overall (17^th career), collects Player of the Week honors for the first time this fall (third career). He did not concede a goal in 200-minutes of play as Franklin Pierce clinched its third-straight NE-10 regular season title with a 1-0-1 week. Thorpe made three crucial saves, including a pair from point-blank range with the match still scoreless, before the Ravens scored two late goals to secure a 2-0 victory at The College of Saint Rose on Saturday. He also turned in 110 scoreless minutes in Wednesday’s 0-0 double-overtime draw with rivals Southern Connecticut State to clinch the regular season title.

Thorpe also etched his name into the NCAA Division II record book in the first half of Wednesday’s draw with Southern Connecticut, breaking former Owls All-American Bob Oshoniyi’s career minutes played record of 7,580 minutes set from 1990-93. Thorpe has now played 7,736:55 in goal over 86 career matches played, with the Ravens posting a 61-13-12 record with him between the posts over the last four seasons.

Thorpe has played all 1,500 minutes in Franklin Pierce’s goal over 16 matches this season, posting a 12-1-3 mark. He now leads the NE-10 this season with his 0.66 goals against average and nine shutouts to go with a .776 save percentage (5^th).

Thorpe has pretty much re-written the Franklin Pierce goalkeeping record books over his career. In addition to his NCAA record 7,736:55 in goal, he has compiled a program and NE-10 record 46 shutouts, while his 0.68 career GAA is on pace to shatter the program mark, as well as set a new NE-10 best, and his .811 save percentage is good for second all-time. 

Last season, Thorpe posted a Division II-best and program record 0.45 goals against average, while his 14 shutouts as a freshman led DII and set a program record. Thorpe is the first three-time NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Year in Conference history and has earned All-America status two-straight seasons.       

Both the Franklin Pierce men and women will host a Northeast-10 Conference Tournament quarterfinal match on Sunday, October 28. Match times and opponents will be announced later this week based on the final round of NE-10 regular season matches through midweek.

The men (12-1-3, 11-0-2 NE-10), ranked 6^th in last week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll and first in the New England region, have clinched the top seed in the tournament and will be looking to capture their second-straight tournament title. The Ravens have completed just their third unbeaten regular season in Conference play in program history and first since posting a 9-0-1 clip in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) in 1995.

The women (12-1-4, 9-1-4 NE-10), ranked 18^th in the most recent NSCAA/adidas Division II poll and third in the region, will be seeded third as they defend their record seven-straight NE-10 Tournament titles. Their opponent is a little clearer as they will face Bentley College if the Falcons win their regular season finale against Merrimack College, or Saint Anselm College in Sunday’s quarterfinal round.