Angelika Johansson and Rachel Smith Also Named to East Region First-Team

RINDGE, N.H. (November 17, 2009) – Franklin Pierce University senior midfielder Gabriela Demoner (Vitoria, Brazil) was named the 2009 Daktronics, Inc. East Region Women’s Soccer Player of the Year on Tuesday. The player-of-the-year honor also allowed Demoner to headline a list of 13 student-athletes named to the All-East Region First-Team.

Demoner earned the East Region’s top-player award for the second time in her career and for the first time since the 2007 campaign. It also marked the fourth time in as many seasons she was named to the All-East team.

Demoner has scored 32 goals and assisted on eight others for 72 points this season. Her goals and points each rank among the top-five nationally, and she is one of just three players at the NCAA Division I or II levels that have scored at least 30 goals this season (NCAA statistical rankings as of Nov. 8 and 15).

Demoner has played a major role in Franklin Pierce advancing far in post-season competition this fall. She scored both goals for Franklin Pierce in its 2-1 win over UMass-Lowell in the semifinals of the Northeast-10 Tournament earlier this month, which allowed the Ravens to advance to the conference championship for the second-straight season and for the ninth time in 10 seasons. Demoner also scored a pair of goals in Sunday’s 4-1 win at Bridgeport, which enabled the Ravens to advance to this Friday’s NCAA Division II Tournament East Region Championship versus top-seed Saint Rose in Albany.

Tuesday’s honor for Demoner was her second player-of-the-year award this season, as she was also named the top player in the Northeast-10 Conference last month. By being named the player of the year in the NE-10, Demoner also earned a spot on the conference’s first-team. It marked the second NE-10 Player-of-the-Year award of her career and the fourth-straight year she was named to the all-conference first-team.

Joining Demoner on the Daktronics All-East Region First-Team Tuesday was senior back Rachel Smith (Chichester, N.H.) and junior forward Angelika Johansson (Falkenberg, Sweden). It was the third-straight year for both players being named to the All-East First-Team. Smith garnered a spot on the team by anchoring a defense that has produced 12 shutouts this season and allowed an average of just 0.73 goals per match. Johansson, the 2008 East Region Player of the Year, has scored 20 goals this season and assisted on three others for 43 points, which is one of the top totals in the Northeast-10 and nationally. She has scored four goals in the past three games for the Ravens.

Smith and Johansson have also enjoyed a long list of post-season awards this fall as well. Last month the conference honored Smith as its Co-Defensive Player of the Year (second-straight season she won the award) and placed her on the NE-10 First-Team. Johansson was also selected to the NE-10 First-Team.

The voting for the Daktronics All-East Region team and player-of-the-year honor was conducted among sports information directors at NCAA Division II institutions that are members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate, East Coast and Northeast-10 Conferences.

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