Junior Brandon McFarlane made five saves, but a first half goal proved to be the difference for Bentley.

Bentley Trips Up Stonehill, 1-0

Nikiforov stops nine shots to hold Skyhawks off the board

Boxscore 

WALTHAM, Mass. (September 19, 2009) - Bentley University claimed a 1-0 victory over Stonehill College, ranked tenth in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II East Regional poll, in Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer action this afternoon.

Bentley senior goalkeeper Michael Nikiforov (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) registered nine saves to preserve his second shutout of the season. He made six stops in the second alone as Stonehill posted an 11-4 shots advantage for the half. Nikiforov twice denied Stonehill senior Shaun Keeley (Woburn, Mass./Woburn) with diving saves to his right in the early stages of the half, and then made another key save by denying junior Tyler Hebert's (Rockland, Mass./Sacred Heart) shot with a kick save in the 79th minute. The Skyhawks, however, nearly tied the score with just 37 seconds remaining when freshman Kristopher Brassard (Barre, Vt./Tilton School) had a wide open net in the box but shot high.

Bentley scored the lone goal of the match midway through the first half as a flick from junior Ryan Hatch (Haverhill, N.H./Woodsville) released senior Jimmy Alexander (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) for a breakaway. Alexander deked one defender and then fired a shot past Stonehill junior goalkeeper Brandon McFarlane (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) from five yards out.

McFarlane finished with five saves on the day for Stonehill. The Skyhawks finished with a 14-8 advantage in shots and took eight corner kicks compared to two for Bentley.

Stonehill (5-2-1, 1-2-1 NE-10) will try to get back on track on Tuesday when it hosts Merrimack College at 4 p.m. Bentley (3-4-0, 3-0-0 NE-10) hosts Le Moyne College next Saturday at noon.