By Andrew Hush
December 6, 2005

In the aftermath of his side's 3-1 loss to Fort Lewis in the final of the NCAA Division II tournament, Franklin Pierce coach Marco Koolman was left to bemoan that his side did not quite catch enough breaks to bring the championship back to New England. However, despite the defeat, the Ravens' coach was a proud man, particularly given the way his side stepped up, having been written off prior to Sunday's final:

"After Friday I think a lot of people had counted us out because we did not have a good match but we played very well and dominated for a lot of the game. The ball just wouldn't bounce our way after we equalized but we will walk away with our heads held high."

The Ravens had fought their way back into the game and tied the score at one through Christopher Joyce. The talismanic Englishman curled home a masterpiece of a free-kick just after half-time and Koolman's side, sensing victory, went after the knockout blow. Alas, it was not to be as the unbeaten Skyhawks instead took the game away in the final ten minutes.

Commenting on those final minutes, Koolman noted that the winning goal was another example of luck just not being on the side of his team. Furthermore, he admitted the loss to a red card of Michel Vitulano was a blow and his side just could not fight back:

"(The winning goal) was off a counter attack, which was a strength of theirs, down the right side. (James Thorpe) made a save at first but the ball bounced off him and we couldn't get a hold of it before one of their trailing players was able to put it in.

"Whether (the red card) was the right call or not didn't really matter, the referee made that call. We started to push people forward to try and make things happen but we just weren't able to do it. We had some half chances and the boys kept battling and battling with ten men."

As disappointing as the final loss will be to Franklin Pierce, Koolman was adamant that this season has been a great success for the program and it is hard to argue with him. For so long the poorer half of the soccer dynasty at the Rindge, NH, school, the 2005 Ravens' men have increased the profile of their program and the young side is likely to challenge again next year for national honors, despite the loss of their star striker.

"The only player we lose is Chris Joyce, which is huge," admitted Koolman, "but everybody else is coming back from the starting eleven. To establish what we have done this year has been great. I am very proud of the way they have hung in there and battled throughout the highs and lows. The PR we have provided for the school has been fabulous too.

"One of the first comments one of our players made was that we came one step short so we have already set our goal for next year, which is to get back here and see if we can get it all done."

Courtesy of Soccer New-England