BRISTOL, R.I.- Niall Shea (Portsmouth, R.I.) could not have picked a better time to score his first career goal, as with just 81 seconds remaining, he leapt and headed a Javi Beltran (Madrid, Spain) corner kick into the back of the net to lift the Roger Williams University Men's Soccer team to a thrilling, 4-3 victory over the Wentworth Institute of Technology, to open Commonwealth Coast Conference play at Bayside Field on Saturday afternoon. It was Beltran who handled the Hawks offense prior to that point, posting his first career multi-goal game by recording a hat trick to setup Shea's heroics.
 
With the win the Hawks improve to 2-3-2 on the season, and 1-0-0 against CCC opponents. Meanwhile, the Leopards drop to 4-3-0 including 0-1-0 against conference foes.
 
For Beltran, his three-goal performance is the first hat trick the men's soccer program has seen since Tyler Kuchenbecker netted a trio of scores against Gordon College on October 28^th, 2014. Add in his assist on the game-winner, and Beltran had seven total points in the contest, making him the first RWU player to reach that mark in a single game since Daniel Caruso against Eastern Nazarene College on September 10^th, 2011.
 
It was a seesaw affair between the two clubs featuring three lead changes, and three ties but when the dust settled, the Hawks claimed their first win over Wentworth since 2014.
 
Jack Avellar (Orleans, Mass.) handled the goaltending duties for RWU in this one, allowing three goals while making four saves, but he did enough to earn the win to improve to 2-1-2 in goal. Robbie West (Weymouth, Mass.) fell to 2-2-0 for the Leopards despite making nine saves while allowing four goals.
 
Hawk Highlights
Javi Beltran: 3 goals, 1 assist, 9 shots, 5 shots on goal
Niall Shea: 1 goal (GW), 3 shots, 1 shot on goal
Justin Horvath: 1 assist, 1 shot
 
Jack Avellar: 4 saves, 3 goals allowed, 90:00 minutes in goal
 
For The Opponents
Jomar Martins: 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 shot, 1 shot on goal
Nick Lenz: 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 shot, 1 shot on goal
Paolo Ruggeri: 1 goal, 2 shots, 2 shots on goal
 
Robbie West: 9 saves, 4 goals allowed, 90:00 minutes in goal
 
How It Happened
The winning tally for the Hawks came in the 89^th minute of play. Niall Shea (Portsmouth, R.I.) took a shot that was blocked out of bounds by the Leopards, thus rewarding the Hawks with a corner kick. Javi Beltran (Madrid, Spain) took the corner, sending a beautiful feed to top of the six-yard box off the far post that found the head of Shea, and he redirected it into the back of the net, sending Bayside Field into a frenzy, and sending the Hawks to a victory.
 
Earlier in the contest, Beltran got his historic performance started all the way back in the 11^th minute. He and Justin Horvath (Stratford, Conn.) ran a give-and-go down the left sideline leading to a Horvath cross from the left side of the 18-yard box. On its way in, Beltran managed to get a piece of the ball and deflect it in to open the scoring and give RWU the early advantage.
 
Wentworth would answer with a pair of scores within 70 seconds of each other with the first occurring in the 24^th minute. The Leopards ran a little give-and-go play of their own with Jomar Martins (Braintree, Mass.) and Nick Lenz (Danbury, Conn.). The result was Martins getting freed up for a good look from roughly 12 yards away on the right side of the box, and he shot to the bottom right for the score.
 
It appeared for a moment like the game might get away from the Hawks as just 68 seconds later, Wentworth struck again. After a foul on Roger Williams, Wentworth opted to go with a long send on their free kick. This resulted in a contested header from straight away just beyond the 18-yard box that took a bad bounce off the head of a Hawks defender. Lenz would win the race to the loose ball and went to the top right side of the net to give the Leopards a 2-1 advantage, but as it turned out, we were just getting started.

Roger Williams nearly tied the score in the 31^st minute as Beltran got loose in front of the goal from about ten yards away, but he clanged his shot off the left post, and WIT retained the advantage.
 
Wentworth did enter the break with the lead on the scoreboard, but it was RWU who held the advantage in shots, 7-5, and corner kicks, 3-1, while both squads had four shots on goal.
 
Things really got crazy in the second half, and that began just 44 seconds into the frame. A handball in the box courtesy of Erik Treble (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) gifted the Hawks a penalty kick. They opted to go with Beltran and he took advantage blasting a shot into the left side of the net around medium height to even the score in the 46^th minute.
 
The Leopards regained the lead in the 70^th minute. After the Hawks committed a penalty, WIT was rewarded with a free kick from near midfield. Once again, they opted to kick a long send, this time with by Alex Moore (Salem, Conn.), and it found the head of Paolo Ruggeri who redirected it into the net to give guests a 3-2 edge.
 
That lead would not last as RWU got the equalizer in the 75^th minute. Wentworth once again committed a foul in the box, this time resulting in a yellow card distributed to John Dauphin (Yorba Linda, Calif.). Once more, Roger Williams received a penalty kick and Beltran did not miss it, going to the bottom left corner to tie things up at three.
 
RWU nearly grabbed the lead in the 84^th minute. Jack Wetzel (Northport, N.Y.) fired a shot from the left side of the six-yard box that was saved by Robbie West (Weymouth, Mass.) on the dive. The ball remained loose, and it looked like the Hawks would take the lead as it rolled to Beltran, who then took a shot from the right side of the box. However, West miraculously recovered and was able to turn away Beltran's shot to keep the game tied. But, as it turned out, all he did was prolong the inevitable, as it set the stage for Shea's game-winning score.
 
The Hawks largely controlled the ball throughout the contest holding the edge in shots, 28-10, shots on goal, 13-7, and corner kicks, 9-1.

Coach's Corner
The win was huge for our team in several respects. First of all, to get three points in the opening CCC match is massive.

Secondly, all of our current team has never beaten Wentworth and they ended our season two years ago so it was great for our upperclassman to get some retribution. Also, our team showed incredible character coming back from two deficits to get a game winner in the 89th minute, it was incredible.

Javi Beltran had a historic performance with three goals and an assist, and Niall Shea headed home the game winner for his first career goal at a very opportune time. It was a huge boost far team as we hope to continue our run in CCC  play.

What's Next
Roger Williams returns to the pitch to dual number-eight nationally ranked Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Tuesday afternoon in Worcester. Start time is slated for 7:00 PM.