Ravens making 15th all-time NCAA appearance in program history

2009 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament Bracket

RINDGE, N.H. (November 9, 2009) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team on Monday evening earned its seventh-consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament berth. The Ravens will face Dominican (N.Y.) in the East Region First Round on Friday at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y.

Franklin Pierce (12-4-3) is the No. 5 seed in the East Regional, while Dominican (13-3-2) is the fourth seed. Le Moyne (16-2-2), who won the Northeast-10 Championship on Saturday, is the top seed in the region and will host the winner of the opening round match on Sunday in the regional semifinals. The Dolphins handed Franklin Pierce a tough, 2-1 overtime setback in the conference semifinals last Wednesday in Syracuse.

Wilmington (Del.) is the No. 2 seed in the region, but will travel to Southern New Hampshire for the other East sub-regional. Wilmington (19-2-1) will face the winner of third-seeded Southern New Hampshire (13-4-2) and sixth-seeded Southern Connecticut State (14-5-1), as those two NE-10 rivals will square off in the opening round on Thursday. Wilmington’s contest with either team will be held on Saturday.

The East Region semifinal winners will face each other on either November 21 or 22 in the regional championship. The winner of the regional title will advance to the NCAA Final Four the first weekend in December.

Franklin Pierce will be making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The Ravens captured their first national championship in 2007, posting a 1-0 victory over Lincoln Memorial University in the final in Orange Beach, Ala. Franklin Pierce has won three of the last five regional championships and reached the Final Four twice in the last five years (three times overall).

The Ravens are led by several players who garnered all-conference honors two weeks ago. Among the players are a trio of First-Team All-Northeast-10 selections in graduate midfielder Frantz Francois (West Palm Beach, Fla.), graduate back Kevin Neumen (Miller Place, N.Y.) and sophomore midfielder Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Francois ranks fourth in the league in goals this season with 10 and fifth in points with 21. Neumen has been an anchor on a defensive unit that has produced 10 shutouts this season and allowed just 16 goals for an average of 0.80 goals a game. Goncalves is among the team leaders in goals (5) and points (13).

Franklin Pierce is also boosted by the services of five other players who earned all-conference recognition this season, including second-team picks Diego Tabares (Seekonk, Mass.), Shaliek Dawkins (Kingston, Jamaica) and Tom Reilly (Wallasey, England), and all-rookie selections Tyler Rosa (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Sam Kelley (Bedford, N.H.).

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s soccer, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)


2009 NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer East Region Schedule
Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13
Opening Round
#4 Dominican (N.Y.) vs. #5 Franklin Pierce (at Le Moyne College, Syracuse, N.Y., Friday)
#3 Southern New Hampshire vs. #6 Southern Connecticut State (at SNHU, Manchester, N.H., Thursday)

Saturday, Nov. 14 and Sunday, Nov. 15
Semifinals
Dominican/Franklin Pierce winner vs. #1 Le Moyne (at Le Moyne College, Syracuse, N.Y., Sunday)
SNHU/SCSU winner vs. #2 Wilmington (at SNHU, Manchester, N.H., Saturday)

Saturday, Nov. 21 or Sunday, Nov. 22
Finals
Dominican/Franklin Pierce/Le Moyne vs. SNHU/SCSU/Wilmington (at highest remaining seed)