Ravens: no rest for new champs
By Ken Murphy
Sentinel Staff
RINDGE - Several days have passed now since Franklin Pierce
returned home from the Gulf Coast late Sunday night with the NCAA
Division II men's soccer national championship.
Coach Marco Koolman can still envision the shot that will forever
mark the Ravens as champions.
The shot came from - who else? - David Clifton after 88 minutes and
10 seconds of scoreless play.
"From where he shot the ball, it was right in line where I was
standing," Koolman said of the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over
Lincoln Memorial in Oragne Beach, Ala. "As it was floating, I was
watching and I thought it would sail over the crossbar. It took a
dip and went in, and I looked at my assistant, Willie Davis, and we
couldn't believe it.
"The first thing I did was to run to one of my players on the bench
I needed because we needed to add a defensive player. It was hard
to get to because everyone was going crazy and going nuts.
"The last minute and a half," Koolman said, "I was trying to get
everyone to stay relaxed. Then the clock started clicking down. It
was crazy and amazing to know that we would be handed the national
championship trophy."
The national championship trophy. It's the goal of every team at
the beginning of the season. Now, it belongs to Franklin Pierce -
after 12 previous tries in the NCAA tournament, including a
heartbreaking loss in the 2005 national championship finals.
The men's 3-1 loss to Fort Collins (Colo.), however, was not nearly
as heartbreaking as this year's loss for the Franklin Pierce women,
who were denied a matching national title on penalty kicks. It was
the first time in tournament history a championship match went
beyond double overtime.
Franklin Pierce's men now have one title to five for the women,
whose last championship came in 1999.
So, time to relax? Hunker down by the hearth while snow covers
Sodexho Field and cold winds whip across a frozen Pearly Pond?
Hardly.
Koolman planned to be in Florida on Wednesday for a recruiting
trip, three days after his Ravens captured the title. On Tuesday,
Koolman was working the phones, talking to recruits.
"I'm enjoying (winning the championship) while I'm working,"
Koolman said. "You have to strike when the iron is hot and it's
very hot right now."
Koolman said he received a verbal commitment Tuesday from
Merrimack's Brad Hilton, who led Merrimack to the Class L state
title this season. Koolman said Franklin Pierce's national
appearance on cable TV (CSTV) for the final did not sway Hilton's
decision, though the subject did come up.
"He made it very clear his impression of Franklin Pierce had
nothing to do with us winning a national championship," Koolman
said. "He said he had his mind made up before we made it to the
national semifinals."
When he was talking about locking up Hilton, Koolman seemed as
excited as he did when remembering Clifton score Sunday's
game-winner. Such is the life of a coach, especially one with a
program on the top of its game.
"You can't dwell on years past because personnel changes, but now
(that we've won the title) we do have a very good understanding of
knowing what it takes. Moving forward, it's making sure your
recruiting class is stronger, if not stronger than before," Koolman
said.
The new recruits will have big shoes to fill. They may also one day
win a national championship, but the program's first national title
will always be associated with certain names.
Like James Thorpe, the four-time reigning Northeast-10 Conference
goalkeeper of the year who had already achieved legendary status on
campus even before his performance in the national semifinal, when
he simply stonewalled Midwestern State to will Franklin Pierce to
the finals.
"From day one his stock has risen," Koolman said. "His character,
his leadership on the field, his humble personality. He really
provided us comfort. He's grown to the point where it almost was
people were saying, 'It doesn't matter (if we're outplayed) because
we have James.'
"It became the infamous chant, whether it was key moments or
penalty kicks or whatever. 'We have James.' He was the first to
rise to the challenge of the national championship when he made
those saves and he brought everyone else with him."
So did Clifton, whose goal Sunday was his NCAA Division II record
ninth of the tournament and record 10th in NCAA tournament play
throughout his career. Franklin Pierce scored 11 goals in its five
NCAA tournament games. Clifton scored the last eight.
"If anyone was deserving of scoring the goal to win us the national
championship, it definitely had to be David Clifton," Koolman said.
"It was very appropriate he put the ball in the back of the
net."
In addition to Thorpe, a senior co-captain, and Clifton, a graduate
student, Franklin Pierce will lose defender Mike Lima, senior
co-captains Michel Vitulano and Peter Petropanagos and graduate
student Adam Gardiner. Bisharra Ettienne, a senior defenseman, has
one year of eligibility remaining.
And even though Koolman is working hard on securing a new set of
players, that doesn't make it any easier to let go of the ones that
delivered the program its first national championship.
"You always want to win more than one and we know it's going to be
hard, or harder (to win again)," he said. "It takes special people,
special character and motivation and this group exemplified it in a
great way.
"What we have to do next year, we'll deal with that down the
road."
Even as recruiting rolls on, the Ravens are trying to take at least
a little time to savor the goods.
