West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford men's soccer team opened its 2008 campaign with a 4-0 victory over the Red Foxes of Marist Saturday evening at Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium.

Forward Carlos Villa led Hartford in his first game as a Hawk. Villa tallied two goals and an assist in the shutout.  “Carlos proved he's a class player [tonight]. Our players put on a great show for the crowd,” said Hawks coach Dan Gaspar of Villa and the team.

Sophomores Bojan Delibasic and Sam Groves recorded a goal apiece for Hartford, while junior goalkeeper Nenad Cudic earned his first shutout of the season, saving the two shots he faced from Marist (0-1-0).

 “It was a magical start,” Gaspar remarked about the first game of the season. “We scored four goals, conceded none and had no cards issued to our players. We managed to play all of our players this evening.”

Villa scored the first goal of the game at the twenty minute mark after a cross from freshman Patrick Boucher.  Fourteen minutes later, Villa drilled in a direct kick past Marist goalkeeper Marcelo del Rio to give Hartford a 2-0 lead.  Delibasic's goal at the forty minute mark gave the Hawks a comfortable 3-0 lead going into the half.

At the seventy minute mark, Groves received a pass from Villa and put it in the low left corner of the net to push the Hartford lead to the eventual 4-0 final.

The Hawks are now 1-0-0 on the season and will face nationally ranked Maryland next weekend. “We need to keep our feet on the ground and continue to work each day,” Gaspar said. “We go to Maryland next weekend to play the University of Maryland ranked 8th overall in the nation [according to the NSCAA/addias National Rankings] with the number one recruiting class in the nation.”