Another find: Ravens strike gold in
Brazil with latest foreign soccer jewel

By:Ken Murphy


The package, postmarked from Brazil, landed on Jeff Bailey’s desk at Franklin Pierce sometime in the spring of last year. In it, a compilation of Gabriela Demoner highlights.

It didn’t take the Ravens women’s soccer coach more than one viewing — if that — to see that Demoner could play at the Division II level.

And play well.

“You could see enough to see she had incredible ability,” Bailey said. “She can do things with the ball that you very rarely see from a female.”

Two seasons, one All-America award and a Northeast-10 Conference player of the year award later for the Brazilian phenom, and it’s evident Bailey’s hunch has paid off, as it has with most foreign players who have played for Franklin Pierce.

And none better than Demoner.

“Certainly she’s been the most technically proficient,” Bailey said.

That includes, Bailey said, All-America forward Paulina Miettinen, who in her senior year in 1998 recorded the only 100-point season in program history, finishing with 105 to cap her four-year career with a Division II record 309 points as Franklin Pierce’s all-time scoring leader.

“Pauliina was more mature physically. Gabriela plays for fun,” Bailey said. “She wants to win, but Paulina had the desire to make herself better and drag everyone else along with her.”

Four of Demoner’s 27 goals have come so far in NCAA tournament play, as she scored a hat trick in Franklin Pierce’s win over Holy Family and added a marker in the Ravens’ victory over Bryant. Demoner has 65 points, good for third place in Division II, as Franklin Pierce continues its quest for a record sixth national championship Friday at 11 a.m. against Saint Rose in the NCAA Division II New England Regional in Albany, N.Y.

Demoner, a senior but with another year of athletic eligibility, led Franklin Pierce in scoring last season with 15 goals, 12 assists and 42 points, as well as a conference-high six match-winning goals in 19 matches. The Ravens were 17-1-1 down the stretch with Demoner after starting the season 1-2-0 without her.

A foreign player has led the Ravens in scoring in 11 of the last 12 seasons, with Meghan Welcome of Haverhill, Mass., the lone American on the list. Welcome led Franklin Pierce with 46 points in 2002.

In just two seasons, Demoner has vaulted into the top 10 on the Ravens’ career scoring list, with her 107 points putting her in 10th place, just ahead of Irish superstar Sonya Hughes.

Including Miettinen at the top, foreign-born players occupy eight of the top 10 spots on the program’s career scoring list.

How does Bailey always seem to land winners from abroad?

“I don’t know,” said Bailey, who has recruited five of the top 10 career scoring leaders and inherited others, including Miettinen. “We’ve had some good fortune.”

Bailey said part of the reason stems from the fact that Division I programs recruit earlier than Division II. In Demoner’s case, Bailey said he was still recruiting when he was initially contacted by Demoner. Most Division I programs had already locked up that year’s recruits.

“They specifically had us in mind. It was late. As it was, we were still looking at that point,” Bailey said.

Bailey said one of the challenges in recruiting foreign players is that when a team lands a superstar, other teams suddenly devote their recruiting efforts to landing the next superstar from the same country.

“As soon as people saw us have success with Finnish players, they go after Finnish players,” Bailey said. “As soon as someone in the college game has success, people see that and jump in.”

Demoner and Tatiane Preisler, who has 10 points for the Ravens on two goals and six assists, are Franklin Pierce’s first players from Brazil. With their success, they might not be the last.

“(Brazil) could be a gold mine in the future,” Bailey said, even though he acknowledged a personal recruiting visit is likely out of the question. “Unless you’re going to look at a specific player, it’s difficult. Maybe through Gabriela and Tatiane we may establish a (pipeline) there with a player or team.”

The next step, Bailey said, is to try to land two foreign superstars at the same time. Demoner arrived one year after the departure of Irish superstar Laura Hislop, who is second on the career scoring list with 222 points during her three-year career.

“The goal is to try and have a few of them here at the same time,” Bailey said. “If we could have had a Laura Hislop at the same time as Gabriela, that would have been something. As it is, this is the case this year where we have a lot of good players. Gabriela stands out.”

As did Hislop before her, Finland’s Minna Mustonen (171 points) before her and Miettinen before her. That’s the Raven way.