The Rivier College Men's Soccer team traveled to Hedley Field on the campus of Pine Manor College for today's match up against The Newbury College Nighthawks where the Raiders grabbed their first win of the season with a solid 3-0 victory.  

Senior captain Gustavo Marques (Lowell, MA) opened the scoring late in the first half. With time winding down junior Brian Joaquim (Mt. Vernon, NH) drove a ball into the 18 yard box off a dead ball restart. Junior Captain Chris Nugent (Camberly Surry, England) won the free kick, knocking the ball to Marques who was standing unmarked in front of the Newbury net with only 19 seconds left.  

The teams battled for the better part of the start of the second half. Both teams attacked the others' net and had dangerous penetrating balls. In the 60^th minute, junior striker Gustavo Paiva (Nashua, NH) received a ball on the right corner of the opponent's penalty area and made no hesitation. Paiva immediately drove at goal forcing the defense to foul him. Paiva stood up and handed the ball to classmate Chris Nugent who coolly and calmly struck his second penalty kick in as many matches and third on the season. The Raiders then settled down and played a short passing game that frustrated the Nighthawks. This led to the Raiders final goal. In the 81^st minute, off a rebound of a shot, junior Andrew McCarn (Laconia, NH) struck a ball that curved around the defense and beat Newbury keeper Steve Gratta to the far post.

Senior midfielder Robbie Belcher (Ocala, FL) played brilliantly at both ends of the field. Belcher shut down the Nighthawks outstanding sophomore speedster Andy Osei. Junior defenders McCarn, Sean Auclair (Ludlow, MA), sophomore Cameron Williams (Lisbon, NH) and freshman defender Mike Birecki (Andover, MA) won every long ball and cross that Newbury challenged them with. The defenders settled play, and controlled the tempo of the game throughout the second half.

Junior John Jarvis (Henniker, NH) started in goal making four saves on six shots. Freshman Matt St. Peter (Colchester, VT) took over in the second half St. Peter did not have any saves as his defense controlled the Newbury attack.    

The Raiders will play host to WPI on Thursday September 24 at 7:00 p.m.  On Saturday they travel to Emerson College for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match up. Emerson plays its home game at The field at Rotch Playground.