West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford men's soccer team picked up its first conference victory in the opening game of America East conference play, defeating New Hampshire 1-0 on Saturday evening. With tonight's win, the Hawks remain unbeaten at Al-Marzook Field and have been victorious in four out of their last five games..
Hartford freshman Patrick Boucher scored the lone goal of the game as the Hawks improved to 5-3-2 overall and 1-0-0 in the America East. New Hampshire dropped to 5-2-2 overall and 0-1-0 in the America East, losing its first road contest of the season.
“This was a crucial win against a conference team who had lost just one game in their non-conference schedule,” commented head coach Dan Gaspar. “We could not have asked for a better start to America East conference play, beating a top-team in front of our own crowd on our home field.”
Although the first half of action remained scoreless, Hartford saw several opportunities to put the first notch on the scoreboard, taking six shots to New Hampshire's three. In the 11th minute of play, junior Howard Wong attempted to set up teammate Carlos Villa on a breakaway, but the pass was just wide to the right out of Villa's reach. Just one minute later, Wong entered the 18 uncontested, but Wildcat goalkeeper Colin O'Donnell was able to make the save.
With three minutes remaining in the first half, Boucher put the Hawks on the board as he snuck a shot into the bottom left corner of the goal past O'Donnell. The goal was Boucher's second on the season. Villa was credited with the assist, his second on the season.
The second half proved to be a defensive battle between the Hawks and the Wildcats, as both teams took just four shots throughout the final 45 minutes of play. New Hampshire's best scoring opportunity came in the 64th minute as Wildcat Kyle Urso fired a shot at Hartford goalkeeper Luke Citriniti. The freshman goalkeeper made a diving save to prevent the Wildcats from tying the match.
Freshman Luke Citriniti made his second start in goal, tallying three saves on the evening for his first complete shutout of his collegiate career. He now has nine saves on the season and improves his record to 2-1. O'Donnell recorded two saves in the Wildcat loss.
Hartford travels to Baltimore for a Wednesday afternoon contest against America East conference foe UMBC. Hartford will then return home to face Maine on Saturday, October 11 at 7 p.m.
