West Hartford, CT - The University of Hartford men's soccer team picked up its first America East victory of the season with a 5-0 decision over the University of Maine on Wednesday night at Al-Marzook Field.
The five goals were the most scored by the Hawks since a 5-3 victory against Iona during the 2002 season. Senior Kenniel Martin led the way with two goals and two assists as Hartford improved to 3-3-4 overall and 1-1-0 in the conference. Maine dropped to 0-10-0 overall and 0-2-0 in the America East.
Freshman Kevin O'Donnell Shaw also scored twice while classmate Kevin Hall added a goal, the first of his collegiate career. Freshman Scott Partridge made his first collegiate start in goal and needed to make only one save to record the clean sheet.
Hartford got on the board in the 15th minute when Maine failed to clear the ball on a corner kick. Martin made the most of the miscue, teeing up a shot from 18 yards out that found the back of the net to put the Hawks up 1-0.
Nearly 40 seconds later it was Martin who served up a ball for Hall. Junior Daniel Antunez found Martin on the left side, and he dribbled hard to the end line before firing a cross through the box to the right side. Hall was on the receiving end for the easy volley and his first tally of the season.
Shaw scored his first goal in the 24th minute on a feed from junior Gary Muir. The goal was the result of a sequence of pretty passes that ended with Muir leaving the ball off for Shaw, who rocketed his shot past Maine goalkeeper Giacomo Brunino.
Hartford netted one more goal in the first half to take a 4-0 lead into the locker room. Martin's second goal came in the 42nd minute after Brunino stopped but couldn't handle a shot taken by Muir. Martin collected the rebound and had an open net for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Shaw added his second score in the 73rd minute on what may have been the best goal of the night. The Hawks, who possessed the ball for most of the second half, passed the ball around the perimeter of the Maine defense while looking for a seam to attack. The Black Bears sagged off the ball to pack the box, so Shaw took a pass from Martin and blasted a shot from straight on and 35 yards out. He placed the ball just under the crossbar and Brunino, who had come out to the six, had no chance of making the stop.
“We had two freshmen score three of our five goals, so I think that shows promise for our future,” said head coach Dan Gaspar. “For the first time this season our team was rewarded for its effort. We've been playing at this level for the past few games, but tonight we finished on our chances.”
Maine's best scoring chance came seven minutes into the contest when Dimitri Anastasiou beat his defender down the right side and had an open shot against Partridge. His shot was forced wide when the Hartford rookie came out to take away the angle, missing the far post by a foot.
The Hawks finished with a 25-5 edge in shots and controlled the pace of the game throughout. Brunino finished with four saves for the Black Bears.
Hartford will next play at Binghamton University on Wednesday, October 4 at 3 p.m.
