BOX SCORE
West Hartford, CT - University of Hartford senior Carlos Villa struck twice late in the second half to lift the men's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the season-opener at Al-Marzook Field on Saturday evening. The Hawks improve to 2-0 overall, while the Minutemen fall to 0-1-1 with the loss.
Following a scoreless opening stanza in which Hartford was the aggressor, the Hawks' attack continued to push as they rallied for two late second period goals. Villa netted the game-winner in the 69th minute, and followed up just six minutes later with the insurance tally.
Villa's first goal of the season came off a free-kick straight on towards the goal that slipped to the right side of the net, out of reach of Massachusetts keeper Shane Curran-Hays. The forward notched his second goal of the night in the 76th minute after connecting on a well-placed pass from classmate Ivan Guarin, sent from about 25 yards outside of the box. Villa received the pass square to the net, and buried the ball towards the right post past the Minutemen's keeper.
“It was a convincing victory against a quality Atlantic-10 team,” stated Hartford Head Coach Dan Gaspar. “I was particularly pleased with the second half, and overall, the complete game. It's nice to kick off the home season with such great fan support.”
The Hawks' defense held the Minutemen to just two shots in the first half, none of which were on target. Hartford held the advantage on the attack in the stanza, tallying six shots, four of which were on goal. Overall, the Hawks took finished with an 18-5 lead in the shots column, putting seven on goal.
Hartford senior Nenad Cudic needed just one stop to record the clean slate for the Hawks – the second shutout on the season and fifth of his career as a Hawk. He improves to 2-0 overall in 2009. In the Massachusetts loss, Curran-Hays made five saves in his season premiere in net.
Hartford will travel to University Park, PA for the Penn State Classic – the lone tournament inked on the Hawks' 2009 schedule. The tournament includes a pair of games opening with Ohio State on September 11 and concluding with a match-up with the host-team Nittany Lions on September 13.
