RINDGE, N.H. (Aug. 30, 2000) - The Franklin Pierce University
women's soccer team kick off its
quest for an unprecedented sixth NCAA Division II championship
today when it travels to play a non-conference game against
the University of New Haven.
Game time today at Charger Field
in West Haven, Conn., is 3 p.m.
The Ravens won their fifth national
championship is six years last season and return seven starters
from a team that went 20-1 and beat Cal Poly Pomona, 3-1,
in the title game. An eighth starter, second-leading scorer
Angela Verdoes (Katwijk, Holland), is most likely out of
for the season after suffering a knee injury.
Franklin Pierce University
is one of
five schools that will debut in the Northeast-10 Conference
this year. The NE-10 released its preseason coaches polls
Tuesday and the Ravens were ranked first in women's soccer.
The Ravens were ranked third in men's
soccer. FP
opens its season Friday against nationally-ranked
Dowling College in the first round of the Fleet Classic
hosted by Assumption College. Game time in Worcester, Mass.,
is 2 p.m.
The Ravens were dealt a blow Tuesday
when it was learned that junior co-captain David McDermott
(Mersyside, England) will not be with the team this weekend.
McDermott left the team to return
home to join his family in the wake of the death of his
father.
``We're deeply saddened,'' first-year FP
Coach Marco Koolman said. ``Obviously, we will miss
David, but right now our thoughts are with him and his family.''
The first home games for the Ravens
will be Sunday when the women's soccer team host Dominican
at 1 p.m., and the women's tennis team plays Dowling at
11 a.m.
The rest of FP
teams begin later
in the month of September.