Jonathan French
Assistant Director of Communications and Media 
jfrench@trany.edu

LEXINGTON, KY- The Transylvania Pioneers opened up the 2025 campaign on Friday night against Asbury University. 

Transylvania's offense started quickly earning a corner kick just three minutes into the match. Reece Heisel's shot in the fifth minute was saved by Asbury goalie, Peyton French. A corner by both teams led to a Transylvania shot by Dylan Barnes, with French earning his second save of the match. Pioneer, Jackson Holt, made his first save of the evening in the 15th minute. Transylvania struck first in the 34th minute with a bar down shot by Cole Varela, with JT Roden carding the assist. 

After a hot start and corner from Asbury in the opening minutes of the second half, McKay Wheatley's shot in the 51st minute was saved by Asbury goalie. Just seven minutes later, Wheatley's second shot of the match rang off the crossbar. Asbury began to gain momentum with two corner kicks in the 61st minute. JT Roden's header found the back of the net from a Cole Varela cross, extending the Transylvania lead to 2-0. With 15 minutes to play, a deflected shot from Asbury's Eli Redpath shot brought the Eagles back within 1. The 90 minutes came to a close with a late shot effort in the final minutes by Asbury.

Head Coach Ben Federici stated post game, "Overall a solid performance today. It's always good to start the season with a win at home. We have plenty of things we can learn from moving forward. Really happy with our guys who came off the bench today. One of the strengths of this group is our depth and it showed immediately in game one. Job done today and now we are on to our next game tomorrow. ".

The Transylvania Pioneers are looking to keep the momentum rolling into the weekend, as they take on Heidelberg University. Kickoff is set for 3 PM in Tiffin, Ohio. Live Stats and Video will be available on transysports.com. 

Transylvania University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the HCAC. To keep up to date with all of Transylvania Athletics, check out our website at www.transysports.com and follow @TransySports on Instagram.