BRISTOL, R.I. – A goal in the 65^th minute was all the scoring, as the Roger Williams University Men's Soccer team fell to the number-three regionally ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1-0, on Wednesday evening at Bayside Field. The late tally, courtesy of Hendrick Mayer (Monteville, N.J.), was all that was needed for the Engineers to grab their first win over the Hawks since 2016.
 
With the shutout loss, RWU falls to 1-3-2 on the season, and have been shutout in three of their six games thus far this year. Meanwhile, MIT improves to 4-1-0 on the campaign.
 
The contest was a defensive struggle the entire way, as the teams combined to only get nine of their 27 shots on goal, and there was only the one goal scored in the game.
 
John Padavano (Flemington, N.J.) got his first start of the season, and made five stops, but allowed the one score as well to take the loss and fall to 0-1-0 on the year. Zak Zhang (Bellevue, Wash.) also made his third start of the season for the Engineers, and he stopped three shots to record his first career shutout and improve to 3-0-0.
 
Hawk Highlights
Javi Beltran: 4 shots, 1 shot on goal
Matt Bagley: 2 shots, 1 shot on goal
Jack Wildermann: 1 shot, 1 shot on goal
 
John Padavano: 5 saves, 1 goal allowed, 90:00 minutes in goal
 
For The Opponents
Hendrick Mayer: 1 goal (GW), 2 shots, 1 shot on goal
Will Seiple: 1 assist, 1 shot, 1 shot on goal
Loukas Carayannopoulos:  shots, ## shots on goal
 
Zak Zhang: 3 saves, 0 goals allowed, 90:00 minutes in goal
 
How it Happened
It was a quiet first half of play, as the teams combined for just 12 shots, with only two shots on goal for each side in the frame.
 
However, the half also saw the Hawks best scoring opportunity of the contest in the ninth minute. Jack Wetzel (Northport, N.Y.) received a pass-back on the right sideline and proceeded to send a long crossing pass toward the net that was collected by Matt Bagley (Trumbull, Conn.) just outside the six-yard box beyond the right post. He settled the ball at that spot and fired a shot that was saved by the charging Zak Zhang (Bellevue, Wash.). He got another chance though, as the rebound came right back to him but his left-footed put-back attempt was blocked by Andreu Dumitrescu who came flying across the goal line to prevent the score.
 
In second half, the Engineers got a pair of great scoring chances that were turned away. First, in the 58^th minute Will Seiple (Boulder, Colo.) got the ball deep against the RWU defense and took a shot from the right side of the six-yard box toward the far corner of the net. However, John Padavano (Flemington, N.J.) turned it away by making a diving stop to his right. A few minutes later, in the 64^th minute, MIT received a corner kick from the left corner and ran a play that opened up Peter Novoa (Omaha, Neb.) at close range off the left post. He gathered, turned, and shot but Padavano was once again up to the task as he stepped up and slid to knock it away.
 
MIT finally broke through in the 65^th minute, as once again they received a corner kick from the left corner. Richter Brezeski (Los Angeles, Calif.) sent the kick long to Seiple on the weak side of the net, he gathered, and as the RWU defense tried to recover, sent a pass to Hendrick Mayer (Monteville, N.J.) who found space in front of the net from about eight yards away. He used one touch with his left foot to send his shot into the left side of the goal to score what would ultimately be the game winner.
 
Roger Williams tried to get the equalizer, and took five shots from that point on, but could not even the score and fell, 1-0.
 
The Engineers had more chances in the contest, doubling-up the Hawks in shots, 18-9, and shots on goal, 6-3. They also took one more corner kick than RWU, 6-5.

Coach's Corner
This was a hard fought game against a very good MIT team. I thought we played very well defensively throughout the match. We had some good scoring chances in the first half and we need to do a better job of taking care of those opportunities. Our goal is to play a very competitive out of conference schedule to prepare us for CCC play. We have played some very strong opponents and I believe our team is prepared and motivated. Looking forward to starting our new season with conference play against Wentworth on Saturday. 

What's Next
Things do not get much easier for the Hawks, as they open up Commonwealth Coast Conference play by hosting number-ten regionally ranked Wentworth on Saturday afternoon. Start time is set for noon.