Ravens Give Koolman First Win at Franklin Pierce
Jump Out Early in 2-0 Win Over Nationally-Ranked Mercyhurst
Worcester, Mass. (September 3, 2000)-- The Franklin Pierce men's soccer team presented first-year Coach Marco Koolman with his first victory at Franklin Pierce, 2-0 win over Mercyhurst College in the second round of the Fleet Classic.
"The first one is always the toughest," Koolman said. "Now we can move ahead."
The Ravens (1-1) regrouped after a 4-2 loss to Dowling during Friday's first round of games at Assumption College.
Richard Gordon (Glasgow, Scotland) scored the game-winner off a feed from Chris Schwarz (Babenhausen, Germany) in the seventh minute. The sophomore midfielder also had a hand in the second goal, setting up Tate Travis (Detroit, Mich.) in the 24th minute.
Mercyhurst (1-1) went into the game ranked 22nd nationally in NCAA Division II and were riding the emotion of a 5-4 come-from-behind win over Assumption on Friday. However, there would be no comeback for the Lakers as the Ravens did a solid job on defense and senior goalkeeper Rob Scholz (Schenectady, N.Y.) made seven saves to preserve the shutout.
Franklin Pierce freshman back Paul Lindsay (Edinburgh, Scotland) was named the defensive MVP of the tournament. Schwarz and freshman forward Felix Brillant (Montreal, Canada) joined him on the all-tournament team.
"Our team defense was very good and our concentration was good,'' Koolman said. "We needed to prove that to ourselves.''
While the Ravens have played Mercyhurst just two previous times - the last coming in 1995 - Koolman was no stranger to the Lakers of Erie, Pa.
Koolman had spent the past 10 years in Erie, six as the head coach at Gannon University. Gannon went 74-29-6 during that time and made one trip to the NCAA Division II Final Four.
The Ravens have a week off before travelling to play the University of New Haven, Monday, Sept. 11 in West Haven, Conn.
| Teams (Record) | 1 | 2 | OT | OT | Final |
| Franklin Pierce (1-1) | 2 | 0 | - | - | 2 |
| Mercyhurst (1-1) | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 |
Scoring Summary
| Team | Period | Scorer | Assists | Time |
| FP | 1 | Gordon, Rich | Schwarz, Chris | 6:12 |
| FP | 1 | Tate, Travis | Gordon, Rich | 22:35 |
| Goalkeepers |
| FPC: Rob Scholz: 7 saves, 90 minutes |
| MC: Derian Tuitt: 7 aves, 90 minutes |
Tournament Individual Awards
Attacking MVP: Moussa Sy (Guinea), Dowling College
Defensive MVP: Paul Lindsay, (Edinburgh, Scotland),
FP
All-Tournament Team
Tom Aiello (Weymouth, Mass.), Neil Krause (Holliston, Mass.) and
Rafael Henckel (Novo Hamburgo, Brazil), Assumption College
Shawn Meyer (Bay Shore, N.Y.), Georges Haba (Guniea) and Karim Adul
Dialo (Guinea), Dowling College
Felix Brilliant (Montreal, QUE) and Chris Schwarz
(Babenhausen, Germany), FP
John Frost (Waterford, Ireland), Mark Fitzgerald (Kerry, Ireland)
and Anthony Maher (Green Creek, N.J.), Mercyhurst College