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Franklin Pierce Men's
Soccer team gears up for postseason
by David Vishniac
Exchange Staff
Franklin Pierce University has seen its
Men's Soccer team and players improve tremendously over the past few years,
which have included trips deep into the postseason. This year the team not
only finished with an undefeated Northeast-10 Conference record, but was
also the source of outstanding scoring ability as well as program,
conference, and NCAA records broken by a single player in his final year
playing at the collegiate level.
For only the third time in program history, the Ravens went unbeaten in conference play for the first time since 1995 when the team posted a record of 9-0-1 in the New England Collegiate Conference. Last week the Ravens were ranked sixth in Division II, the highest ranking they have had all season. The record of 11-0-2 is good for best in the conference this season and will give the Ravens home field advantage throughout the NE-10 Tournament. The Ravens will host the NE-10 Quarterfinal on Sunday, October 28 at a time and against an opponent still to be announced later this week. With the highest seed in the tournament, Franklin Pierce will face the lowest seed.
The Ravens are no strangers to the postseason. Franklin Pierce has won the NE-10 regular season title the past three seasons and reached the 2005 Division II National Championship for the first time in program history. Senior tri-captain Michel Vitulano, who was a part of the team that reached the National Championship game against Fort Lewis, said that the team always has high expectations.
"Every year our goal has been to become National Champions," Vitulano said. "Our expectation is to always go a step further than last year, but reaching the final in 2005 is always motivation to go back to the top."
Senior tri-captain goalkeeper James Thorpe adds that there is unfinished business from last season to take care of for this postseason.
"Everyone on the team from last year remembered how our season ended by losing to Southern Connecticut 2-1 with 20 seconds left and that sour taste that we had in our mouth for the rest of the school year," Thorpe said. "With the team we saw during pre-season, we knew we could have a successful season."
This season there has been a focus on scoring goals, especially down the stretch of the season. The Ravens have scored four more goals (44) up to this point in the season than the number of goals scored all of last year.
"With [graduate] David Clifton and [sophomore] Henning Come playing with each other they combine for 29 goals this season," Thorpe said. "We do not have to depend on one person to score like we did in the past. Everyone who plays in the starting lineup can score and that's what we were missing last year.
Come lead the team and conference in scoring for much of the season, filling in for Raphael Guimaraes, who injured his knee during the off-season and was redshirted for this season. Guimaraes was the leading goal-scorer last season for Franklin Pierce, scoring ten goals and three assists for 23 points. He is also tied for 19th place in program history for career points with 41 while his 17 career goals are good for 15th place in program history, one goal behind Franklin Pierce Women's Soccer team head coach Jeff Bailey, who graduated in 1992.
"I think we found a natural scorer in Henning Come," Vitulano said. "He's always in the right places to finish up the chances. The two forwards complete each other very well."
Clifton has been a force for Franklin Pierce offensively late this year. Clifton missed the first few matches of the year because of off-season surgery, but since his return has passed Come for the team and conference lead in scoring. In fact, Clifton has had three hat-tricks in the past six matches. With 16 goals and 2 assists for 34 points in 12 matches played, Vitulano says his team is grateful to have Clifton playing again.
"It's great to have Clifton back," Vitulano said. "He helps us so much going forward because he's able to hold up the ball, while our team pushes up the field.
The Ravens have also been fortunate to have Thorpe playing goalkeeper for the past four seasons. Thorpe has practically re-written the record books for goalkeepers for both the program and conference. He has collected a team and conference record 46 shutouts over his career and has an excellent chance of breaking the program record for career goals against average with a current 0.68 GAA. He also posted a Division II-leading and program record 14 shutouts his freshman year. Last season he had a Division II-best 0.45 GAA, which was also good for a program record. Along with being the first three-time NE-10 Goalkeeper in conference history, Thorpe recently broke the Division II record for career minutes played by a goalkeeper with 7,736 minutes and 55 seconds. Despite all of the accolades, Thorpe tries to keep his accomplishments in perspective.
"Over the four years it feels amazing to break numerous records, but none of it would happen if it wasn't for my teammates helping me," Thorpe said. "Before going to pre-season, I looked at what the men's soccer program has done and the records that apply to me. Most of [my personal goals] I set I've accomplished but there is one that I have not and that is winning a National Championship. But I do not play soccer alone; I play with ten other teammates. What is my success is my teammates' success as well."
The Ravens began this season on a negative note, losing to University of Bridgeport 2-1 on August 24. After defeating Post University 5-0 on August 26, the Ravens would tie Nyack before defeating UMass Lowell 1-0 at Sodexho Field at Franklin Pierce in what both Vitulano and Thorpe say was the game that defined what kind of team the Ravens are this year.
"We were entering the UMass Lowell game without four of our starters," Thorpe said. "The four starters that took their place were three freshmen and one sophomore who were starting in their first collegiate game in their career. After that game we all noticed how much depth we have on the team. At any given moment, we have anyone on the field to play with us and keep the playing level high."
Since the win against UMass Lowell the Ravens have had a record of 11-0-2. Despite the success of this season, Thorpe is cautious making predictions for the postseason.
"What I expect from my own team is to come with the same attitude that we have had going into every game and step it up even more in the playoffs, because now we are in the playoffs and it's not like the season when you lose you are guaranteed to play another day," Thorpe said. "You lose and your season is over, so we need to be hungry to keep winning and that we are not satisfied until we are on the top of the mountain, meaning when we go to the national championship."
Vitulano agrees with Thorpe but does express his hope in making it to the National Championship for the second time in three years.
"I expect to go all the way, but the important thing is not to think ahead, to take any treat every game as a final and play for 90 minutes at a time rather than think about the final four and the National Championship." Vitulano said.
The first game in the 2007 postseason for the
Ravens will be on October 28 at Sodexho Field.
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