Anchormen Blank Huskies, 1-0

GORHAM, Maine—Junior Derek Rocha (Durfee/Fall River, MA) scored the lone goal of the match in the 36th minute to lead the Rhode Island College to a 1-0 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference men's soccer match at the USM Soccer Field this afternoon.
            

The win keeps the Anchormen undefeated on the season at 3-0-0, while Huskies had its four-match winning streak snapped and fall to 4-3-0 overall. The match was the conference opener for both sides.
           

Rocha gathered a loose ball inside the 18-yard box and beat Southern Maine senior goalkeeper Chris Willard (Parish Hill/Willimantic, CT) with a low shot from about 15 yards out for his second marker of the season. Willard turned in nine saves in the loss.
            

Willard got some help from his defense in the first half when sophomore defender Colin Reilly (Evergreen, Col.) chased down a rolling ball and cleared it off the line to keep the margin at one goal.
            

RIC junior netminder Sean Gonsalves (Somerset, MA) did not need to record a save to pick up the shutout as the Anchormen defense limited to Huskies to just four shots. 
           

RIC took 20 shots and had a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks.
           

Rhode Island College returns to action at 6 p.m. on Sept. 19, when the Anchormen host Johnson and Wales University.