GORHAM, Maine  – Senior Phil Dagostino (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) scored a pair of second half goals within one minute of each other to lead the Western Connecticut State University Colonials to 5-0 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference men's soccer game Saturday at Hannaford Field.

            The win snaps a two-game losing skid for Western Connecticut improving its overall record to 6-8-1.  Earning their first conference victory of the season the Colonials are now 1-4 in the Little East.  Suffering their fifth straight loss the Huskies drop to 2-12-2 overall and 0-4-1 in the LEC. 

            The Colonials struck early in the game to grab a 1-0 lead as freshman Shane Pugliese (Plainville, Conn.) collected a rebound off of a save shot attempt from freshman Shane Bierfeldt (Torrington, Conn.) just 1:32 into regulation.  Despite the early goal, the score remained 1-0 through the half.

            In the second half, both teams were held scoreless over the opening 20 minutes, before Dagostino scored the first of his two goals in the 54th minute.  Dagostino won the ball in the middle of the field and carried into the Huskies' 18 beating the Southern Maine sophomore Elijah Leverett (North Yarmouth, Maine/Greely) for a 2-0 Colonial lead.  Dagostino wasted little time scoring his second goal of the game and fifth of the season, again using his speed to beat the Huskies' defense in the 56th minute.

            With a three-goal advantage in hand, the Colonials tacked on two more goals for the 5-0 final.  Sophomore Aislan Sartori (Danbury, Conn./Abbott Tech) notched his third goal of the season in the 60th minute converting a direct kick with pinpoint accuracy to the near post, before sophomore Cole Hyla (East Haddam, Conn./Hale-Ray) ran onto a through ball from senior Andres Jimenez-Franck (Naugatuck, Conn.) in the 66th minute.

            Leverett made six saves in the loss for Southern Maine.  Freshman Austin Tierney (East Hampton, Conn.) earned the win for the Colonials making four saves while playing 76:41.  Freshman Lennart Van't Kruis (Nijmegen, Netherlands/Groene Hart College) played the final 13:19 without making a save.

            Southern Maine hosts Rhode Island College on Saturday (2:30 p.m.) in a Little East Conference match for its next game.  The Colonials travel to Ramapo on Wednesday (3:00 p.m.) for a non-conference game.

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