Baltimore, MD - With a 2-0 victory, the University of Hartford men's soccer team handed the Retrievers of UMBC their first loss at UMBC Soccer Stadium since September 15, 2007 in an America East contest on Wednesday.  Hartford improves to 6-3-2 overall and 2-0-0 in the America East with the win, which was the Hawks' fifth in their last six outings.  UMBC snapped a three-game winning streak with the loss, falling to 5-3-2 overall and 0-1-1 in the conference. 

The Retrievers, who entered this afternoon's match with a record of 7-0-2 in their last nine home games, battled the Hawks through a scoreless first half with both teams finishing virtually equal in shots.   Hartford finished the first half with just two shots, while UMBC closed out the first period with three.  

The Hawks took over in the second half, registering nine shots to the Retrievers' six.  In the 59^th minute of action, junior Carlos Villa struck for his 10^th goal in 11 games this season, recording his fourth game-winning goal of the season.  Villa, who entered today's match as the nation's seventh-leading goal scorer, connected on a pass from sophomore Sam Groves, sending the ball past UMBC goalkeeper Steve King from 20 yards out. 

Hartford added another notch on the scoreboard in the 70^th minute, as sophomore Bojan Delibasic scored on a rebound from a Villa direct kick.  Delibasic now has two goals on the season.  With the assist, Villa continues his scoring surge, leading Hartford with 23 points.  Freshman Luke Citriniti recorded three saves to post his second career shutout in just three starts in goal.  He now has 12 stops on the season.  UMBC goalkeeper Steve King tallied six total saves.

Junior transfer Ivan Guarin was voted the "Man of the Game" for Hartford, while UMBC senior midfielder Kevin Gnatiko received the honors for the host team.

“We came in knowing that UMBC would be a difficult place and team to earn some points,” stated Hartford coach Dan Gaspar.  “The objective was to come home with a minimum of one point and we managed to get three points, which is a difficult challenge when you play on the road.  Our goal was to not only survive, but to conquer, and we were fortunate to do that.”

Hartford returns to Al-Marzook Field on Saturday, October 11 to host Maine in another America East conference match up at 7:00 p.m.