Dean College: Fall sports have winning season

The first snowfall in Franklin, Massachusetts this week signaled the official end to fall sports on the Dean College campus. Both men’s and women’s soccer, along with the football team ended their seasons with winning records. Below are recaps of each teams season.

Football  

Head Coach Todd Vasey and his staff followed up leading the Bulldogs to the Valley of the Sun Bowl win in 2011 with another strong campaign, as the Dean College football team officially ended their season with 7 wins and 3 losses. The 7-3 record was good for third place in the Northeast Football Conference.

There were too many individual standout performances to list here, though it is worth noting that the Dean College passing attack easily led the conference in total passing yards with 2,404 and passing touchdowns with 21. This vicious attack was led by first year quarterback Trevor Vasey (1,848 passing yards, 15 touchdowns) and Sophmore Wide Receiver Shavarez Smith (43 receptions, 685 yards, 6 touchdowns).

On defense, Dean was second in the conference with 15 interceptions and also second in the conference in sacks with 25 on the season, led by Defensive End Rashard Simmons with 6 sacks on the season. Also worth noting Linebacker Marcus Pittard led the conference in solo tackles with 50.

Team and individual statistics can be seen on the Northeast Conference Football website by clicking here.

Women’s Soccer

Dean College women’s soccer team made an incredible leap in 2012, as the team officially ended their season with 9 wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie, posting the first winning record for the program since 1998.

Many stellar individual performances contributed to the successful season, and four players were ranked within the top 50 in the country in NJCAA Division I. Sophomore Jessica Gelbman was ranked 6th in saves (147 saves) and 40th in save percentage (.821 percent). Freshman Morgan Mencio led the team in points with 42 (13 goals and 16 assists). She was ranked 9th with assists and 35th in points. Freshman Samantha O’Keefe had 15 goals and 7 assists on the season for 37 points, giving her a ranking of 49th with points and 47th in goals. Freshman Lauren Valdario was ranked 38th with assists, and had 12 goals and 10 assists on the season for 34 points.

As a result of this year’s success, Head Coach Laura Ray was named Region 21 Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year. This award is voted on by all NJCAA Division I and III Programs in Region 21. Dean College not only posted the first winning record since 1998, but tripled their wins from last season, as well as improved their overall goals for and goals against average. Congratulations, Coach Ray!

Men’s Soccer

Dean College men’s soccer team enjoyed quite a ride this season which included being ranked 17th in the nation, a Regional Championship win, and Divisional Championship game participation. Coach Jim Hopkins and his staff led the team to a 12 win, five loss and 2 ties season.

A big story this season which really drove the success of the team was Dean’s ferocious defense and goaltending, as the team held opponents to a 1.29 goals against average. Leading this effort was goaltenders Rafael Urbina (9 games played, 77 saves, 6 shutouts 1.87 goals against average) and Denzel Teleau (6 games played, 23 saves, 2 shutouts, 0.26 goals against average).

Offensively, Dean had a well rounded attack led by Gregory Smedberg (20 points, 8 goals, 4 assists), Paul Rocha Lima (16 points, 6 goals, 4 assists) and Michael Fitzgerald (12 points, 6 goals), along with great effort from Alex Bedrosian and Brandon Vasconcelos.

The team defeated Massasoit Community College in the Region XXI Championship game to advance to the District Championship tournament for the first time in 8 years. Despite a solid effort against #2 Monroe CC, Dean was defeated 4-1.

The bottom line

Dean College is very proud of the effort of all fall team student-athletes. Each and every player put in a tremendous amount of work and was rewarded with being part of a standout fall sports season.

For more about Dean visit their webpage:  http://www.dean.edu/

"it provides good information"

The Milford Daily News reports that the annual survey by the MetroWest Health Foundation is expanding this year. The expansion will cover all 25 of the communities covered by the Foundation.

The survey asks students about everything from their drug and alcohol use to their daily stress levels, providing schools and health officials with a valuable glimpse into their lives. Data gleaned from the questionnaire also influences where and how the MetroWest Health Foundation spends its program funding, which is another reason the organization wants as many towns as possible to participate, according to Donham. 

"In order to have good data to supply to us, they need to take the survey," she said. 

This year’s participants have until Thanksgiving to complete the survey. Many districts are already done. 

The 2012 version includes several new question topics, including bystander behaviors and peer support. The high school questionnaire also has more questions about dating violence and sexting.

Read more of the Milford Daily News article: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x35737837/Student-health-survey-gets-full-participation#ixzz2C6A3pKV3

Franklin has been one of the 25 communities to participate in the survey and use the data to direct program efforts. Some of the related posts on the survey data can be found here:

2007 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2007/12/metro-westedc-adolescent-health-survey.html

2008 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2009/12/live-reporting-metrowest-health-update.html

2010 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/04/live-reporting-community-health-council.html


For more information on the MetroWest Health Foundation visit their webpage here  http://www.mwhealth.org/

Veterans Day - 2012

As we celebrate Veterans Day, if you haven't been to the Town Common recently to walk among the monuments these photos can help make that walk a virtual one.



My father was a veteran of World War II having served with the US Marine 4th Division on Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. He was fond of saying that the real heroes did not come home.

On this Veterans Day, let's remember those who are among us and those who have mustered on!

Franklin, MA: Election Turnout Percent 2003-2012

The voter turnout results for elections from 2003 to the most recent November 2012 has been updated and charted as shown here:

Feed the Need - Turkey Trot - Nov 22

If you are a runner, or walker you can help the Franklin Food Pantry.

Registration, course map and additional race information can be found at http://www.feedtheneed.org/

If you would like to organize a collection in your neighborhood, you can print out this flyer to use

Girls soccer head to final four at State level

The Franklin High School Girls soccer team have advanced to the final four for the State soccer tournament. They lead Oliver Ames 3-0 before conceding two goals to make the final minutes a nail bitter.

Luckily for the Panthers, they did, winning 3-2 and clinching their second sectional title in three seasons. They will now travel to Lynn's Manning Field for a 5:30 p.m. date in the state's final four. 

The Panthers are now 20-0-1, and their pursuit of an unbeaten season is still intact. Oliver Ames, the 2011 Div. 1 South champs, ends its season at 17-4-1. 

"We never like to make things easy on ourselves," said a relieved Franklin coach Tom Geysen. "We came out with some formations that they didn't recognize and were able to get up early. We did a good job of staying hungry to close out the first half. We played okay in the second half for the most part and then made a few mistakes late that almost cost us. But at this point, a win is a win and now we'll look ahead to a very good Beverly team."

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/local_sports/x1272756157/Franklin-3-Oliver-Ames-2-Heartstopping-victory#ixzz2C0J1dNLG

Dean College Hunger Awareness Banquet (Free Event)

Losing power seems to be a random event. Your residence loses power and folks on the next block still have power. Frustrating? You bet. During the recent storms, you can drive around Franklin and see houses with lights and power, and then rows of houses in the dark.

Hunger can be like that too. It is usually less visible. The person next to you looks normal. How can you tell if they are hungry? Dean students have set up this event to discuss hunger and its effects.

Taking a “can drive” one step further, Dean College invites the Franklin and surrounding communities to a public “Hunger Banquet” on Tuesday, November 13, in which participants will experience a meal either as an Upper Income citizen, Middle Income citizen, or Lower Income citizen. Dean Community Outreach students conceptualized and will emcee this learning experience where guests will be assigned a class upon arrival and will experience life as a member of that class for the duration of the program. Upper income class guests will receive a scrumptious meal served to them in an upper class setting at a roundtable. Middle income class guests will experience their meal middle class meal at rectangular tables, while the lower income class experiences their meal on the floor.

This event is free. Participants are asked to bring a canned good for the Franklin Food Pantry

Tuesday, November 13, 7:00 PM 

at the Dean College Campus Center

Info from the Dean College calendar
http://www.dean.edu/events/index.cfm?calid=4858

And Franklin Town News
http://franklintownnews.com/content/dean-college-hunger-banquet