BOSTON, Mass. – A header goal from Lucas Ordosgoitia (Cartagena, Colombia) off of a Douglas Silviera (Revere, Mass.) corner kick in the first two minutes would be all that men's soccer would need as they managed to hang on for 88 minutes to defeat the visiting Colonials of Western Connecticut State University by the final of 1-0 Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center Field.

The deciding tally, which marked the second of the season for the freshman forward, was scored at 1:46 in the first half.  With the victory UMass Boston improved to 4-9-2, 1-5 in the Little East Conference and brought an end to the Beacons four-game skid as well. 

The loss marked the second straight 1-0 loss for the Colonials as they fell to 3-10-2, 2-4 in the conference.  Saturday's defeat also pushed Western Conn. State out of playoff contention, with only one Saturday left in the regular season.  To date the Colonials sit tied for fifth with Rhode Island College, with only the top-4 teams advancing to the conference tournament.

Other than the early go-head goal from the Beacons, Saturday's match was primarily a back-and-forth stalemate.  Both teams had their chances to find the back of the net, but a majority of the match was played in the middle third. 

Western Connecticut did have an opportunity to tie the game just moments after the Beacons go-ahead score.  Following an UMass Boston offside call, WCSU goalkeeper Jack Holub stepped up to take the indirect kick.  The senior crushed the ball into the Beacons defensive third, and with a wild hop managed to bounce over the head of sophomore goalkeeper Bryce Menard (Randolph, Mass.) and into the Beacons goal.

However with no player touching the ball on either team the ball was brought back out, despite heavy argument from the WCSU coaching staff.  The only other solid chance that the Western Connecticut offense came when Gabriel Goja tried to place the ball to the near post with less than 10 minutes to play in the first half.  The ball was just about to cross the goal line, when a sliding Reyn Johnson (Mangilao, Guam) deflected the ball out of the goal preserving UMB's slim lead.

After the halftime break, WCSU and UMB continued to move the ball up-and-down the pitch, with neither really able to get anything going.  As time continued to wind down on the Colonials the pressure began to build to score the neutralizer.  However every attempt was met by the Beacons defense which on the day held the Colonials to just seven shots, three of which were on goal.  Menard notched his first collegiate shutout with Saturday's win after posting just two stops.  Holub finished with three saves for the Colonials, as he faced a combined eight shots, four on goal from the Beacons. 

The host Beacons also held a slight advantage in corner kicks posting eight on the day, while Western Connecticut finished with seven.

Prior to the start of Saturday's contest the Beacons honored their seven senior members in Brycen Dowd (Mansfield, Mass.), Victor Hugo Costa (Brasilia, Brazil), Dan Purchia (Winchester, Mass.), Luis Saquich (Marlborough, Mass.), Brian Sanz (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), Hamza Abdul (Chelsea, Mass.) and Johnson.

Men's Soccer returns to action on Tuesday when they travel to Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a 7 p.m. non-conference match.