Burnaby, BC – The Simon Fraser University men’s soccer team returned to Terry Fox Field in style on Friday night, with a 6-0 victory in the 2012 home opener over the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.

Carlo Basso (Coquitlam, BC) had a huge game to open his season with a five goal performance while goalkeeper JD Blakley (Saskatoon, SK) recorded the shutout.

Travis Froelich started in net for Thompson Rivers and allowed five goals.  He was relieved late in the game by Bavan Sahota who allowed one goal.

“It was a great start to the season after a pre-season where at times, we didn’t play our best,” said SFU head coach Alan Koch.  “It was great to see Carlo (Basso) score five goals tonight and Michael (Winter) was a workhorse in the midfield and kept us going."

Basso started the game, and the season, in memorable fashion with four goals in the first half, all of with came in just under 27 minutes of game.

Alex Rowley became the only player on SFU not named Carlo Basso to score in the game when he made it 5-0 in the 72^nd minute, scoring his first goal with the Clan.

Basso made his memorable performance a historic one, with his fifth goal of the game with just over three minutes to play. 

His five goal performance was just one short of the Clan record of six goals in a game, set by Rob Cirjak in 1988 and matched by Alex Hanne in 2009.

“This was a strong start to our 2012 season.  Now we’ll focus on Sunday’s match, a game which will be the battle of the Merriman’s as James’ father (Clan assistant coach James Merriman) coaches Vancouver Island,” finished Koch.

The 2012 SFU Clan men’s soccer season continues on Sunday at Terry Fox Field at 3:00 p.m. when they Clan face the Vancouver Island Mariners.