Box Score ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Hartford men's soccer team netted a goal early on Saturday night and never looked back as it scored a crucial 1-0 win on the road at Albany at Ford Field. Junior Damion Lowe provided the golden marker in the second minute of action to help the Hawks improve their point total to 10 in America East action and clinch a conference tournament berth in the process.

Earning its seventh road win, the most in a regular season by a Hawk squad since turning Division I in 1984, Hartford improves to 11-3-3 with a 3-2-1 mark in the conference. Albany drops to 4-10-4 and falls to 2-3-1 in America East contests. 

With one game remaining on the 2013 regular season slate – a Wednesday night home match with UMass Lowell at 7 p.m. – Hartford is tied with Vermont in the league standings for third place. Owning the tie breaker with the Catamounts, the Hawks are two points behind New Hampshire (4-2-0) in the standings.

A win over UMass Lowell coupled with a New Hampshire loss to Vermont on Wednesday would land the Hawks at second in the conference standings and result in a first-round bye for the squad. With the third and fourth seeds in the America East Championship hosting the quarterfinal round, Hartford can finish no lower than fourth in the conference. 

Hartford got out to an early 1-0 lead after converting on a volley off a corner kick with less than two minutes off the clock. Improving his assist total to four, a team-best, David Bernhardsson provided the pass to Lowe on a corner kick, who provided the finishing touches on the volley his career-best fifth goal of the season.

On the defensive side of the pitch, Lowe was just as solid, helping Hartford shut out its fourth-straight opponent. Keeping its opposition off the scoreboard for the last 391 minutes, Hartford has compiled 10 shutouts this season, a Division I school record.

David MacKinnon needed to make just one save between the pipes to earn his eighth win, marking the second-most by a Hartford freshman in the school's Division I era. His eight shutouts have also made an impression in the Hawks' record books as they are the second-most behind Chris Doyle who had 8.1 clean sheets in 1998.

Down the stretch, the match got physical as Lowe was assessed his second yellow card, resulting in the Hawks playing one man down for the final 15 minutes. Six total cards were issued, with Hartford grabbing all but one.