Franklin Pierce Wins Opener Over Bridgeport, 6-1

Takefusa Nets Three to Spark Ravens in Debut

RINDGE, N.H. (Sept. 2, 2001) - The Franklin Pierce men's soccer team finally got its 2001 season underway as it dealt the University of Bridgeport a 6-1 setback at Crystal Field this afternoon. The Ravens were slated to open their season on Wednesday night against the University of New Haven at Southern New Hampshire University, but a power failure postponed the match.

Sophomore striker Bjorgolfer Takefusa (Reykjavik, Iceland/Vt.-Business) netted a hat trick in his Franklin Pierce debut to break open a close match. Franklin Pierce held a 2-1 lead at the intermission, then Takefusa took over with all three of his goals in an eight minute span from the 61st minute to the 69th. Sophomore All-American Felix Brillant (Montreal, Quebec/College Francais) logged assists on two of the scores.

Senior Chris Schwarz (Babenhausen, Germany/Viktoria Aschaffenburg) dished a pair of second-half assists to aid the victory.

The Ravens opened the scoring in the 29th minute as junior Tate Travis (Detroit, Mich./UC Santa Barbara) knocked in a cross from junior David McDermott (Merseyside, England/Saint Mary's).

Bridgeport evened the match at 1-1 on a goal from sophomore Ibra Jagne (Banjul, Gambia/Gambia Senior) who headed in a pass from classmate Alan Petit-Homme (Port-Au-Prince, Haiti) off a break in the 35th minute.

The deadlock didn't last a minute as senior Pat Teague (West Haven, Mass./West Haven) scored on a blast from 30-yards out, assisted by classmate Wolfgang Koschnitzki (Eschborn, Germany/J.W. Goethe) just seconds after the kickoff following the Bridgeport goal.

Freshman Oriol Figuerola (Barcelona, Spain/Pilgrim (R.I.)) notched his first career goal to round out the scoring in the 88th minute off a feed from Schwarz.

Senior goalkeeper Chris Hughes (Lenzie, Scotland/Lenzie Academy) earned the win for Franklin Pierce without making a save. Senior Adam Dodge (Westfield, Mass./Southwick) totaled two saves for the Purple Knights.

Franklin Pierce (1-0, 0-0 NE-10) returns to action on Wednesday, Sept. 5, when it opens its Northeast-10 Schedule at Stonehill College at 4 p.m.

Scoring Summary
FP: Tate Travis (David McDermott), 29th; UB: Ibra Jagne (Alan Petit-Homme), 35th; FP: Pat Teague (Wolfgang Koschnitzki), 35th; FP: Bjorgolfer Takefusa (Felix Brillant), 61st; FP: Takefusa (Chris Schwarz, Brillant), 64th; FP: Takefusa (Radek Majkowski), 69th; FP: Oriol Figuerola (Schwarz), 88th.

Goalkeepers
Adam Dodge (UB) - two saves; 90:00
Chris Hughes (FP) - no saves; 90:00

Shots
UB: 5-4=9
FP: 7-15=22