Firebirds Shut Out Wildcats in 2-0 ECC Win at Daemen

AMHERST, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team defeated Daemen College, 2-0 Saturday afternoon in East Coast Conference play at Dimp Wagner Stadium.

With the win, the Firebirds improved to 5-8-1 overall and 3-4 in league play. UDC is now tied with three other schools for 4^th place with nine points in the league standings and has three conference games remaining. Daemen fell to 2-9-1 overall and 0-5-1 in league play with today's loss.

Sophomore transfer forward Maurice Schwab scored six minutes before halftime for the game winning goal, and senior midfielder Elio Hernandez added an insurance goal seven minutes into the second half to account for the UDC scoring. Meanwhile, the Firebirds defense allowed only five shots on goal, all of which were stopped by senior goalkeeper Louis Connor.

Both Schwab and Hernandez now rank T-8^th among 10 student-athletes in the ECC with four goals scored this season. Schwab's unassisted goal came in the 39^th minute when he fired a high shot from an extreme angle tight to the end line and snuck it in just under the bar on the inside post. Hernandez's goal came on a high shot, inside near post as well, as Hernandez took an assist from junior transfer forward Mehdi Badache and fired from 10 yards out.

Connor, who entered the game ranked 10^th in NCAA Division II for total saves, stopped all five shots he faced to tie his season mark from last season of 73 total saves. With 224 career saves, Connor needs 14 to tie Yankulov Buyon ('06) for No. 1 on the school's all-time career saves list.

The Firebirds are on the road for all three remaining games – all against ECC opponents. First up, is Molloy College on October 21^st at 4 p.m. The Lions currently stand alone at 3^rd place in the ECC standings with a league mark of 4-2 and 12 points. Molloy is 9-3 overall and winners of their last four games.