Men's Soccer

Franklin Pierce opens run at soccer repeat

By Ken Murphy, Sentinel Staff



There were no more games to play. That was it. Of the 174 NCAA Division II colleges and universities that carry men’s soccer, Franklin Pierce was the only team that made the postseason and finished its season with a victory. National champions.

Now comes the hard part.

Beginning tonight at 7:30, when the Ravens welcome the University of Bridgeport to Sodexho Field, Franklin Pierce will look to become just the second team in more than 20 years to repeat as national champions.

Southern Connecticut State won back-to-back championships in 1998-99, and Seattle Pacific was crowned Division II champs in 1985-86.

“Obviously you’ve got a bull’s-eye on your back,” said Coach Marco Koolman, who is entering his eighth season at the helm. “It’s a good position to be in. It’s easier to get there than to stay there. The challenge now is to work hard to stay at the top.”

Franklin Pierce will enter the season minus the face of the program over the past four seasons in goalkeeper James Thorpe, who is on the DC United roster but has yet to see action for the Major League Soccer team.

And, despite the fact that as of Wednesday night Koolman had yet to name a starting goalkeeper for tonight’s game, losing Thorpe isn’t something that keeps him up at night.

Even though Thorpe was the Division II player of the year and finished his college career with 49 shutouts and virtually every keeper record in program history, his loss — like every college player that uses up his eligibility — wasn’t unexpected.

“In general you know players come and go. They come in, and there’s a day they graduate,” Koolman said of his three-time All-America and four-time Northeast-10 Conference goalkeeper of the year.

And preparing for the future without Thorpe by giving time to an understudy — Thorpe logged an NCAA record 8,391 minutes in net — wasn’t on the table, Koolman said. Thorpe played every minute of every game for the Ravens last season, helping the team to its 17-2-4 record and its first national title.

“As long as you have (a goalkeeper) there’s no need to set up for the future because in each particular year you have a task at hand and that’s what you deal with,” Koolman said. “Even though it’s a key position, there’s 10 people the ball has to go through before it reaches the keeper. We’re confident with what we have.”

This morning, Koolman named sophomore Carl Contrascier the starter for tonight’s game. The Ravens also added freshmen goalkeepers Adam Margulies of Newtown, Conn., and Vinny Papageorgiou of Wilmington, Mass.

To a lesser degree, the Ravens had to deal with the loss of a marquee player in 2006, when the team was coming off an appearance in the national championship game, a 3-1 loss to Fort Lewis.

That season, Franklin Pierce came back without Christopher Joyce, who scored 44 percent of the team’s goals and accounted for 36 percent of the scoring.

Despite losing its two leading scorers from last year in David Clifton (25 goals, 53 points) and Henning Come (16 goals, 36 points), the situation this year isn’t comparable.

The Ravens do return some key playmakers from its national championship squad, including midfielder Marek Hawrylik (12 points), defenseman Bisharra Ettienne (seven points), who will move to midfield, and midfielder Frantz Francois (seven points).

Returning forwards Sean Ahern and Kensaku Tsuji, who played a combined 10 games between them last season, will see considerable time up front, along with newcomers Viktor Goncalves of Brazil and Mark McCarthy of South Africa, both freshmen.

Another player who will be given an opportunity up front is graduate student Casey Ftorek of Wolfeboro. Ftorek, the son of former Boston Bruins Coach Robbie Ftorek, won the Division III national championship with Middlebury last season.

Now he — and his new teammates — will see if they have what it takes to do it again.

“I feel we brought in some good players to integrate with what we have,” Koolman said. “(Tonight) will be a good test for us.”

Notes

Franklin Pierce is ranked atop the National Soccer Coaches Association of America preseason Division II poll. The Ravens lost seven regular starters from the national championship squad. ... The ring ceremony for the national championship is scheduled for Sept. 20 at Sodexho Field. The ceremony will start at 1 p.m. at Pierce Hall of the Emily Flint Campus Center. Tickets are $10 per person, which includes a light reception. An alumni game will follow at 3 p.m., then the Ravens will host NE-10 foe Southern Connecticut at 7 p.m.