Franklin Pierce tied for most All-Americans in the Northeast-10 Conference

RINDGE, N.H. (December 2, 2009) – Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer standouts Frantz Francois (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Kevin Neumen (Miller Place, N.Y.) were named 2009 Daktronics Second-Team All-Americans on Wednesday, as announced by the organization.

Franklin Pierce and Southern New Hampshire tied for the most All-America honors of any school in the Northeast-10 Conference. Le Moyne and Merrimack each had an athlete earn All-America recognition.

A graduate midfielder, Francois earned All-America honors for the second-straight season as he was also recognized as a third-teamer by Daktronics in 2008.

He led the team in goals (10) and points (22) this past season, and each of those totals also ranked among the top-10 in the Northeast-10. Three of Francois’ 10 goals went as game-winners during the campaign. The All-America honor was the third post-season award for Francois this season, as he was also named to the Northeast-10 Conference and Daktronics, Inc. All-East Region First-Teams last month.

In his only season with Franklin Pierce, Neumen, a graduate defender, helped anchor a defense which produced 10 shutouts and allowed an average of just 0.82 goals a match. Neumen, like Francois, was named to both the Northeast-10 Conference and Daktronics, Inc. All-East Region First-Teams last month.

The two graduate players helped Franklin Pierce earn the program’s seventh-consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament this past season. The fifth-seeded Ravens downed No. 4-seed Dominican, 2-1, in the first round, before dropping a close 1-0 decision to No. 1-seed Le Moyne in the second round.

Franklin Pierce, which was ranked 25th nationally in the NSCAA/adidas Top-25 poll at the time of their final contest, put together a strong 13-5-3 record in 2009 under first-year head coach Craig Stewart.

Sports information directors from NCAA Division II schools and conferences sponsoring men’s soccer selected the Daktronics All-America teams. The process began at the regional level with all first-team All-Region picks advancing to the national ballot. This is the fourth year Daktronics has sponsored the NCAA Division II men’s soccer All-America and All-Region teams.

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