(09-01-06) - Seniors Tyler Smith (photo) and John Macary scored twice each, and goalkeeper James Hilaire recorded his first career shutout, as the University of New Haven men's soccer team blanked Bloomfield College on Friday afternoon, 5-0 at Robert B. Dodds Stadium.
Smith scored the game winner just 7:15 into the match after converting a crossing pass from Ajani Maillard, and the outcome was never in doubt for New Haven (1-1-0). They scored twice more in the first half to take a commanding lead over Bloomfield (0-3).
Head coach Matt Verni was obviously pleased with his team's performance. "We played very well today and moved the ball very well. I was pleased with our commitment towards defending and our organized attack. Our aggression level was very high. We had a lot of crossing opportunities and exploited the flank well.
"You saw some good things out of Tyler Smith, obviously," Verni continued, "and a great job by James Hilarie with his first shutout. Credit his defenders as well for not allowing a lot of shots. "
At the 30-minute mark, Damien Slubowski converted on a Cristian Sanchez corner kick for a 2-0 Charger lead, and then eight minutes later Smith got his second goal of the contest on a long breakaway. Goalkeeper Hilaire punted the ball long, and Carmen Schiavo flicked it forward with his heel to send Smith free to score the goal.
Just one minute into the second half John Macary took a pass from Smith and made it a 4-0 ballgame, and six minutes later at 52:00, Macary scored unassisted to close out the scoring.
UNH out-shot Bloomfield 17-4 in the contest. Hilaire made three saves in the ballgame, including a beautiful leaping punch-out of a high scoring opportunity late in the second half.
UNH will now face three straight road contests in six days next week. They travel to Holy Family University on Monday before playing at UMass-Lowell on Wednesday. They close out the string with their first East Coast Conference match at Concordia (N.Y.) on Saturday, Sept. 9.
