Franklin Pierce Men's Soccer: What To Know About The National Champs
Franklin Pierce Men's Soccer: What To Know About The National Champs
Here’s a look ahead at Franklin Pierce men’s soccer’s 2024 season and what to know about the Ravens as they aim for national a three-peat.
What’s the best word to describe the past two years of play for Franklin Pierce’s men’s soccer program?
Dominance.
FPU has almost forgotten how to lose, having joined a rare fraternity of Division II men’s soccer teams who have won consecutive national championships while also having won nearly every game over the past three years.
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The Ravens are a powerhouse of D-II men’s soccer that doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. With a historic three-peat now up for grabs, as well, FPU will be looking to continue its reign atop the pyramid and bring another piece of hardware back to campus.
Here’s a look ahead at Franklin Pierce men’s soccer’s 2024 season and what to know about the Ravens going into their first match:
What Is The History Of The Franklin Pierce Men’s Soccer Program?
The Ravens have fielded a men’s soccer team since 1966 — six years before the NCAA held its first D-II men’s soccer national tournament — and have seen plenty of success over the decades, being one of just six programs all-time with at least three national championships in the division.
A proving ground for multiple rising stars in the college coaching ranks, former FPU head coaches Ruben Resendes and Craig Stewart now lead the programs at Bryant and Providence, respectively, while another ex-coach in Marco Koolman stepped down at Holy Cross this year after 12 seasons at the helm.
What Conference Does Franklin Pierce Men’s Soccer Play In?
Franklin Pierce plays in the Northeast-10 Conference, of which the school has been a full member of the league since 2000. With the school located in Rindge, New Hampshire, FPU’s conference sees it play a plethora of teams located close by geographically in and around New England.
The NE10 additionally entered into an exclusive multi-year media rights deal with FloSports over the summer, meaning that FloSports will be the home of all 24 of the NE10’s men’s and women’s sports from its 11 schools all throughout the academic year.
Who Is The Coach Of Franklin Pierce Men’s Soccer?
Travis Brent took over prior to last season after Resendes left for Bryant following a national title-winning season in 2022, and there’s been absolutely no drop-off in quality for the Ravens on the pitch since.
Hired on at FPU after being an assistant with another D-II men’s soccer blue-blood in Charleston (West Virginia) for four seasons, Brent’s Ravens didn’t miss a beat in his first year as they didn’t lose a game en route to winning their second consecutive national championship with a 21-0-2 record. FPU had 12 shutouts and an attack that averaged 3.17 goals per game in 2023, the latter stat of which was the fourth-best in all of D-II.
How Long Is Franklin Pierce Men’s Soccer’s Unbeaten Streak?
Though winning back-to-back national championships is a tremendous feat on its own, it’s even better when you don’t lose a single game in regular play on your way to doing it.
Entering the 2024 season — which FPU began Thursday night when it hosted Bridgeport on FloFC — the Ravens are riding an incredible 57-match unbeaten streak in which they have not been toppled (with the exception of penalty kicks) since they were defeated in double overtime by Stonehill on Oct. 23, 2021.
Dating back to the 2021 spring season, FPU has won or drawn 73 of its past 74 matches to solidify itself as the dominant force in D-II at the moment, and it was picked to be the favorite to win the NE10 once again by the league’s coaches in its preseason poll released last month.
How Many National Championships Has Franklin Pierce Won?
FPU is a three-time national champion in men’s soccer, having won titles in 2007, 2022, and 2023.
Only Seattle Pacific (1985, 1986) and Southern Connecticut (1998, 1999) had previously won back-to-back championships at the D-II level before the Ravens pulled off the feat last season, having taken down Colorado State Pueblo on both occasions in the national title match to add to their trophy haul.
Interestingly, each of FPU’s titles has been won by different coaches; Koolman led the Ravens to the mountaintop in 2007, then Resendes and Brent did it with the 2022 and 2023 squads, respectively. If Brent can lead FPU back to the national championship in 2024, not only will he become the first multi-time national title winner in program history, but the Ravens will also become the first D-II men’s soccer program ever to three-peat national championships.
Who Are Franklin Pierce Men’s Soccer’s Best Players In 2024?
FPU is no doubt going to miss the services of its pair of First Team D2CCA All-Americans from last year in striker Younes Addar Khanoussi and defender Rodrigo Parafita Bestilliero, both of whom were vital to the Ravens’ run to the national title in 2023. But the rest of the D-II soccer world knows by now that FPU is pretty much never in a position to rebuild — only reload.
Junior midfielder Antonio Lima, who scored 10 goals and four assists for the Ravens last season and was named the NCAA Championship’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player, will return to be another driving force in the Ravens’ rapid attack while starting goalkeeper Karl Vernet will continue to hold it down between the pipes after making seven saves in last year’s national title match.
Plus, keep an eye out on the man who will wear the No. 9 shirt this year, Guillermo Avendano. A transfer from the junior college ranks who scored 11 goals and racked up three assists in just 11 games last year, he has massive shoes to fill in being the main man up front after Khanoussi’s 21-goal season in 2023, but there’s plenty of hype surrounding him going into 2024.
What Is Franklin Pierce Men’s Soccer’s National Ranking?
Unsurprisingly, coaches across D-II have the two-time defending national champions being the team to beat for 2024. The only team that did not finish with a loss in 2023, the Ravens were picked as the country’s No. 1-ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches national preseason top-25 poll with their old rival, CSU Pueblo, right behind them at No. 2.
Unless FPU loses, it’ll be hard to see it moving much from that ranking anytime soon, especially with the pedigree that it’s built over the past few seasons — and its journey toward further putting its foot down as the cream of the crop of D-II men’s soccer begins this week.
Division II Men’s Soccer Rankings
Preseason Rankings:
- Franklin Pierce University (Prev: 1, W-L-T: 21-0-2)
- Colorado State University-Pueblo (Prev: 2, W-L-T: 18-5-3)
- Florida Tech (Prev: 3, W-L-T: 13-3-5)
- Lewis University (Prev: 4, W-L-T: 13-4-6)
- California State University-Los Angeles (Prev: 5, W-L-T: 18-1-3)
- Limestone University (Prev: 6, W-L-T: 14-3-2)
- Gannon University (Prev: 7, W-L-T: 18-2-2)
- Midwestern State University (Prev: 8, W-L-T: 20-1-1)
- University of Charleston (Prev: 9, W-L-T: 19-2-0)
- Cal Poly Pomona (Prev: 10, W-L-T: 14-2-5)
- Barry University (Prev: 11, W-L-T: 13-4-1)
- Maryville University of St. Louis (Prev: 12, W-L-T: 12-4-6)
- University of West Florida (Prev: 13, W-L-T: 12-1-6)
- Post University (Prev: 14, W-L-T: 13-2-6)
- University of Indianapolis (Prev: 15, W-L-T: 12-2-7)
- Clayton State University (Prev: 16, W-L-T: 15-3-3)
- University of Illinois-Springfield (Prev: 17, W-L-T: 13-1-7)
- California State University Chico (Prev: 18, W-L-T: 11-2-7)
- Lynn University (Prev: 19, W-L-T: 10-3-6)
- Wingate University (Prev: 20, W-L-T: 12-5-2)
- Fort Lewis College (Prev: 21, W-L-T: 12-5-4)
- Tiffin University (Prev: 22, W-L-T: 14-3-3)
- Southern Nazarene University (Prev: 23, W-L-T: 14-5-2)
- McKendree University (Prev: 24, W-L-T: 12-2-7)
- Millersville University (Prev: 25, W-L-T: 14-3-3)
Also receiving votes: Point Loma Nazarene University, California State University Monterey Bay, Lincoln Memorial University, West Chester University, Mississippi College, Lake Erie College, Fort Hays State University, Rogers State University, Colorado Mesa University
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