Men's Soccer

Clifton Appears in SI’s “Faces in the Crowd”

London, England, native second member of men’s soccer team
this fall to appear in national publication

RINDGE, N.H. (December 26, 2007) – Franklin Pierce University graduate student David Clifton (London, England) is featured in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of the December 31 issue of Sports Illustrated. The end of the year double issue hits newsstands this weekend and is featured online at www.si.com/faces.

Clifton is featured for scoring an NCAA Division II tournament record nine goals, including two hat tricks, while leading Franklin Pierce to its first national championship. He is the second member of the National Champion men’s soccer team to appear in “Faces in the Crowd” this season, joining sophomore Henning Comé (Göteborg, Sweden) who appeared with his younger brother, Marcus from Dowling College, in the October 29 issue. Three Franklin Pierce student-athletes have appeared in the magazine section in the last year.

Clifton is the tenth student-athlete or coach from Franklin Pierce to be featured in “Faces in the Crowd”, and the third men’s soccer player – joining Comé and senior All-American James Thorpe (East Longmeadow, Mass./Bridgton Academy) who appeared in the December 13, 2004, issue. Others who have been included in “Faces in the Crowd” from the University are women’s soccer All-Americans Laura Hislop (10/31/05), Meghan Welcome (12/15/03) and Pauliina Miettinen (11/10/97) and Hall of Famer Nathalie Geeris (12/26/94), women’s soccer head coach Jeff Bailey (December, 1999), women’s basketball All-American Johannah Leedham (1/15/07) and men’s basketball Hall of Famer Bob Szklarz (1968).

Clifton earned Daktronics New England Region and Northeast-10 Player of the Year honors for Franklin Pierce this fall. The NSCAA/adidas and Daktronics All-American and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American led the NE-10 with 53 points (2nd nationally) and 25 goals (2nd) to go with three assists in 19 matches this season. His seven match-winning goals led the Ravens and shared the lead in the NE-10.

In setting the NCAA Division II tournament record with nine goals, Clifton netted nine of the Ravens 11 goals in their National Championship run – including their last eight of the season. He scored the winning goal in their 1-0 victory over 16th-ranked Lincoln Memorial University in the championship match. His ten career NCAA Tournament goals are also a Division II record and he earned Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors at both the Final Four and New England Regional this fall.

Clifton finished his two-year career at Franklin Pierce ranked eighth in program history with 33 career goals, while his 70 career points are good for 13th in program history in 35 career matches. He also netted five hat tricks this season and was named NE-10 Player of the Week five times, including each of the last three weeks of the season.

Franklin Pierce (17-2-4, 11-0-2 NE-10), in addition to capturing the first National Championship in program history, also collected their third-straight Northeast-10 regular season title. The Ravens earned their fifth-straight NCAA Tournament berth (13th overall), advancing to the Final Four for the third time in program history (1991, 2005, 2007).