College Notebook: PSU to celebrate 50 years of soccer next weekend

THIS WILL BE a family reunion to remember.

Plymouth State University is celebrating 50 years of soccer with a Silver and Gold Weekend that culminates next Sunday with a men's soccer match against the University of Southern Maine.

The Plymouth Teachers College played its first men's soccer match on Oct. 1, 1957 against the Gorham Teachers College — now know as the University of Southern Maine. Twenty-five years later, Plymouth State College fielded its first women's soccer team recognized by the NCAA.

Those two milestones — and a lot of history made since then — will be relived during the Silver and Gold Weekend. More importantly for the future of soccer at what is now known as Plymouth State University are the improvements that will be officially unveiled at Panther Field next weekend.

A $100,000 campaign by a fundraising team led by Scott and Patti Biederman resulted in new lighting, an upgraded public address system and scoreboard, and covered bench areas.

Biederman's Deli and Pub is a Plymouth institution, but the devotion of Scott and Patti to this weekend goes beyond business. Both graduated from Plymouth State and their son Bryan is a senior co-captain of this year's PSU team.

Among the 14 people on the fundraising team were former Panther coaches Shawn Griffin and Gerd Lutter.

The weekend includes an alumni golf outing, an open training session with the current PSU team and a reception at Biederman's on Saturday. There is an alumni game Sunday at 10 a.m., followed by the PSU-Southern Maine game at 1.

The men's soccer team has had just four losing seasons since Lutter's 23-year run as coach began in 1969. The Panthers have gone to the NCAA tournament 16 times, the last in 2000, and have made 10 trips to the ECAC tournament, winning three times.

The current PSU team under fifth-year coach Rob Wright was 6-1-1 before last night's home match against rival Keene State College. Long-time KSC coach Ron Butcher is a notable Plymouth State College alum.

The women's team has also been successful, reaching the NCAA tournament 10 times — nine straight from 1986 to 1994 — and the ECAC tournament eight times. The Panthers won three ECAC championships.

The Panther women, under second-year coach Gene Smith, were 4-3 entering yesterday's game at Keene State.

NEW LOOK: Daniel Webster College in Nashua continued its efforts to enhance its public profile this week by unveiling a new athletics logo.

Ryan Keough, a 2001 graduate who is the college's associate director for marketing, designed the new logo.

"We feel this will allow our athletics program to create a more readily identifiable brand as well as enhance marketing and merchandising opportunities both on the campus and off," said Phil Rowe, the college's assistant vice president of student affairs for athletics.

MARATHON WOMAN: Breanne Lucey of Keene State is pulling double duty for the Owls. The senior from Keene is a standout runner and soccer player, and is doing both on the same day at least twice this fall.

She took part in yesterday's KSC cross-country invitational and followed up by playing for the women's soccer team against Plymouth State later in the afternoon. Next week, she is planning to head down to Boston to run in the New England Championships at Franklin Park at noon, and then try to make it to Willimantic, Conn., to play in a soccer game against Eastern Connecticut at 2.

Lucey, a midfielder and former Little East Conference rookie of the year, has started six games for the Owls this year and has one goal and one assist.

Lucey is running cross-country for the first time in college. She made her debut earlier this month by finishing second at the Dartmouth Invitational. She is a two-time Division III indoor national track champion (winning the 800 and running the anchor leg of the winning distance medley relay team) and a two-time All-America outdoors at 1,500 and 5,000 meters.

WONDER WELCH: Tara Welch of New Boston/Goffstown High became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Holy Cross field hockey program last week.

The senior forward had 49 goals and 16 assists for 114 career points going into yesterday's game against Lafayette. She leads the Crusaders this year with nine goals and 20 points, and currently ranks 13th nationally in with 1.0 goals per game.

Welch was a Division I Academic All-America and the leading point scorer in the Patriot League as a junior.

ON THE SUBJECT OF . . .: Talking about field hockey players from New Boston and Goffstown High, Stonehill junior forward Caitlin Gleason will be featured in Faces in the Crowd in this week's edition of Sports Illustrated.

Gleason was honored for setting a school record with four goals and two assists in a recent win back home in Goffstown against St. Anselm.

She is the fifth Stonehill athlete to make Faces in the Crowd in the past year. Erin Acone of Bow, a former All-America in lacrosse, was also featured. Rumor has it that savvy Stonehill sports information director Jim Seavey might get into Faces in the Crowd for setting a record for the number of athletes he has gotten into the magazine.

MARK TWAIN WOULD LOVE THIS: The reports of the death of the Franklin Pierce College women's soccer program may have been a bit exaggerated.

The Ravens were 1-2 after three games this year, had lost two straight matches in the Northeast-10 Conference, leaving veteran coach Jeff Bailey concerned. His team was having trouble scoring and defending, and was staring at the hardest part of the schedule coming up.

Six games later, all seems well again in Rindge.

Thanks to the addition of Gabriela Demoner, a junior who played on Brazil's national indoor team, the Ravens had rattled off six straight wins going into last night's game against Southern New Hampshire. Demoner and junior midfielder Thatiene Preisler were late to school while waiting for visas that would allow them to leave Brazil and come to the United States.

Demoner has been a force with five goals and 16 points in six games for the Ravens (7-2), who should return to the national rankings again this week. They fell out two weeks ago, marking the first time in 15 years they were not ranked.

Sunday News staff writer Jim Fennell's college notebook appears weekly. Information about a college athlete from New Hampshire can be sent to him by e-mail at: jfennell@unionleader.com