Defending Champion Franklin Pierce Earns 14th NCAA Tournament Berth (DATE CHANGE!)
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Sixth-seeded Ravens to face third-seeded Le Moyne in opening round on Thursday at Dowling on Long Island
RINDGE, N.H. (November 10, 2008) - Reigning National Champions Franklin Pierce University will get the chance to defend its title, having earned its 14th bid to the NCAA Division II men's soccer tournament when the field of 32 was announced tonight.
Franklin Pierce (12-7-2, 9-3-1 NE-10) is the No. 6-seed in the East Regional and will battle fellow Northeast-10 Conference member and No. 3-seeded Le Moyne College (13-5-3, 9-3-1 NE-10) in the first round on Friday at 1 p.m. The match will be played at Dowling College's Golden Lions Field in Brookville, N.Y. Dowling (16-3-0, 8-0-0 ECC) is seeded second and will host one of two East sub-regionals. The winner of the Franklin Pierce/Le Moyne match will advance to face host Dowling in an East Regional semifinal on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Northeast-10 Tournament and regular-season co-champions Southern New Hampshire University (15-2-4, 9-1-3 NE-10) has earned the top-seed in the East Region and will host the other sub-regional in Manchester, N.H., Friday and Sunday. The Penmen will await the winner of Friday's match up between fifth-seeded Molloy College (12-5-2, 5-2-1 ECC), the East Coast Conference tournament champions, and fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell (11-3-4, 9-1-3 NE-10), regular season NE-10 co-champions (3 p.m.). That regional semifinal will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Franklin Pierce, making its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, has earned berths now in six-straight seasons. The Ravens captured their first National Championship last fall, posting a 1-0 victory over Lincoln Memorial University in the final in Orange Beach, Ala. Franklin Pierce has won three of the last four regional championships and reached the Final Four twice in the last four years (three times overall).
Thursday will mark the third time Franklin Pierce and Le Moyne have opened the NCAA Tournament against one another, but the first on a neutral field. The Ravens posted a pair of 5-0 victories over the Dolphins in opening round matches in 2005 and 2007 - both of which were played at Sodexo Field in Rindge.
Franklin Pierce is led by All-American Bisharra Ettienne (Point Michel, Dominica) in the back, senior Frantz Francois (Saint-Marc, Haiti/Palm Beach Lakes (Fla.)) in midfield and freshman Viktor Gonçalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) up top. Ettienne, the three-time NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year, leads a defensive unit which ranks second in the NE-10 with eight shutouts and fourth with a 1.06 team goals against average. Francois, named to the NE-10 All-Championship team on Saturday, has posted five goals and four assists for 14 points, while Gonçalves, the NE-10 Freshman of the Year, leads the Conference with 29 points and 12 goals to go with five assists (9th NE-10).
2008 NCAA Division II
Men's Soccer East Regional
Friday, November 14
First Round
Dowling College (Brookhaven, N.Y.)
#6 Franklin Pierce (12-7-2, 9-3-1 NE-10) vs. Le Moyne (13-5-3,
9-3-1 NE-10), 1 p.m.
Southern New Hampshire
University (Manchester, N.H.)
#5 Molloy (12-5-2, 5-2-1 ECC) vs. #4 UMass Lowell (11-3-4,
9-1-3 NE-10), 3 p.m.
Sunday, November 16
Regional Semifinals
DowlingCollege (Brookhaven, N.Y.)
Franklin Pierce/Le Moyne winner at #2 Dowling (16-3-0,
8-0-0 ECC), 1 p.m.
Southern New Hampshire
University (Manchester, N.H.)
Molloy/UMass Lowell winner at #1 Southern New Hampshire
(15-2-4, 9-1-3 NE-10), 1 p.m.
The regional championship will be played the weekend of November 22-23 at the site of the highest remaining seed. The East Region champion advances to the Final Four in Tampa, Fla., hosted by the University of Tampa.