McCabe earns 2nd Annual Jeff Burstein Award for stellar defensive effort

LOWELL, Mass. (October 5, 2002) - For the second time this season Franklin Pierce, ranked sixth in this week's New England Regional poll, played to a scoreless tie, this time with No. 23-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell in Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer action at Cushing Field this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce back Sean McCabe (Derry City, Northern Ireland) earned the second annual Jeff Burstein Award for his standout defensive effort on the day. The award is given annually to the Ravens "Man of the Match" in their regular season contest with UMass Lowell. Burstein is a 1998 Franklin Pierce alum who played soccer and baseball at the College before serving as an assistant coach in both sports at UMass Lowell. He was tragically killed in an automobile accident near his hometown of Beachwood, N.J., in August 2001. Ravens student assistant coachDavid McDermott (Liverpool, England) received the inaugural award last fall.

It marked the second scoreless draw of the season for the Ravens this season as they played to a standstill at Saint Michael's College on September 7. The two scoreless matches in one season is a first in program history.

Franklin Pierce had two outstanding chances to go ahead during the second half, the first coming on a breakaway by junior striker Bjorgolfor Takefusa (Reykjavik, Iceland) 20-minutes into the second half. His initial shot was stopped by River Hawks freshman goalkeeper Bobby Ritter, then Takefusa collected the rebound but his second shot missed wide.

Junior Robin Drastig (Hofheim, Germany) had another bid with seconds to go in regulation that rolled just wide of an open net.

UMass Lowell had the best bid to end things in sudden death, but it could not gather a loose ball in front of the net. Ritter finished the match with six saves on the afternoon, while Franklin Pierce junior goalkeeperDomenico Roma (Windsor, Ontario/Ste. Annes) registered three saves in posting his third shutout of season (7th career).

Franklin Pierce (5-3-3, 2-2-3 NE-10) returns home for the first time in two and a half weeks when it hosts Assumption College on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. UMass Lowell (8-2-1, 5-1-1 NE-10) hosts Southern Connecticut State University on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Franklin Pierce 0, UMass Lowell 0 

Scoring Summary: None
Goalkeepers: FP: Domenico Roma (110:00) three saves; UML: Bobby Ritter (110:00), six saves.
Shots: FP: 11, UML: 23