Clifton’s first half double enough to send Ravens to second Final Four in three years, break NCAA II Tournament record

RINDGE, N.H. (November 17, 2007) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s soccer team rode the record-setting performance of grad student David Clifton (London, England) to a 2-1 victory over defending NCAA Division II Champion and 6th-ranked Dowling College in quarterfinal round action of the 2007 NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Tournament at Sodexho Field tonight.

Franklin Pierce (16-2-3), regular season champions of the Northeast-10 Conference and New England region champions, advances to the NCAA Division II Final Four for the third time in program history and second time in three years. The Ravens will face Midwest Region champions and 7th-ranked Midwestern State University (19-3-0) in a national semifinal in Orange Beach, Ala., Friday, November 30. MSU, who hosted Franklin Pierce at the 2005 Final Four in Wichita Falls, Texas, edged Far West Region champs and 11th-ranked Sonoma State (19-4-2), 3-2 in double-overtime tonight. Dowling sees defense of its 2006 National Championship come to an end with an overall mark of 17-3-3.

“At the end of the day it was a sweet, hard fought victory,” said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Marco Koolman. “Credit to our back four, they battled and played like it was their last game and God bless them because they were phenomenal tonight.”

Clifton, the Daktronics New England Region and NE-10 Player of the Year, netted both Franklin Pierce goals to break the NCAA Division II Tournament record of seven set by Lee Paul Scroggins of Lynn University in 2005. Clifton has scored seven-straight Raven goals and eight of their ten overall in the NCAA Tournament. Junior Marek Hawrylik (Olsztyn, Poland/The Winchendon (Mass.) School) and senior Mike Lima (Ludlow, Mass./Ludlow) dished assists for Franklin Pierce.

“It’s really nice,” said Clifton of breaking the NCAA record. “I didn’t realize it was for the whole tournament until a minute ago, I thought it was just these three games. It’s always good to score goals as a forward, but as long as we keep winning it doesn’t matter who scores.”

Senior All-America goalkeeper James Thorpe (East Longmeadow, Mass./Bridgton Academy) made two saves to preserve the victory for Franklin Pierce. Junior Nemanja Veljovic (Belgrade, Serbia) also posted two saves in goal for Dowling, who out shot the Ravens 9-6 for the match.

Franklin Pierce struck early, opening the scoring 9:12 into the match when Hawrylik sent Clifton in one-on-one with Veljovic for a low shot from the left side to match the tournament goals record.

“Henning (Comé) stepped over it and fooled the defender,” said Clifton. “Which is good, I got free and just nicked it past the goalie.”

The Ravens doubled their lead just 13-seconds before halftime, when Clifton shook off two defenders for a side-footed shot from eight yards past Veljovic for his record-breaking goal (NE-10 best 24th of the season) off a long pass from the left side by Lima. The assist is the third of the NCAA Tournament for Lima.

“I think someone mis-headed it and it just fell to me,” said Clifton. “There was a bit of a melee and I just smashed a hook in.”

Dowling awoke hopes of a comeback when it drew within one with just 4:15 to play in regulation. Senior back Meshach Tinglin (Portmore, Jamaica) fired a shot from deep down the left side that ricocheted off the crossbar, pulling Thorpe out of the goal. The rebound dropped to the feet of sophomore Steven Schneider (Westbury, N.Y.) who calmly tipped the ball into the open net.

The Golden Lions continued to press forward, and with Veljovic joining the offensive attack in the closing seconds, forced the Franklin Pierce defense to clear a corner kick after a long scramble off a Dowling free kick.

“A credit to Dowling, who played very well tonight,” said Koolman. “They put us under some pressure we had to deal with.”