ONEONTA, NY – A goal from defender Jack Miller (Commack, NY/Commack) in the 18^th minute stood up as the Hartwick College men’s soccer team scored its first ever Sun Belt Conference win on Saturday, 1-0, over regionally ranked New Jersey Institute of Technology. The win puts the Hawks in first place in the Sun Belt standings for the time being. Two other conference matches take place later this evening.
            Miller scored the lone goal following a long punt from Hartwick keeper Tom Buckner (Oxford, England/Henley College) who was credited with an assist. He finished the match with three saves to record his third clean sheet of the season and second in conference play.
            Buckner drove his punt over 60 yards and the ball bounced without an NJIT player getting a head on it. Miller, attacking up the right flank shook off a defender then won a 50-50 ball with Highlander goalkeeper Christian Foust. The ball fell right back to Miller who tucked the ball into an empty NJIT net and the Hawks had the lead.
            Hartwick had other chances in the half. David Styles (Bognor Regis, England/St. Phillip Howard) played a nice through ball to Mike Rood (Conklin, NY/Susquehanna Valley) who broke in alone with Foust. The NJIT keeper closed Rood down and denied his one-on-one shot with about 12 minutes left in the half.
            Two minutes later, a corner from Chris Walter (Amherst, NY/Nichols School) went long to the far corner of the box. Kit Tregear (Brighton, England/BHASVIC) hammered a volley which had Foust beaten, but a Highlander defender made a reactionary stop near the goal line to keep it out.
            In the second half, the Hawks had another attempt cleared off the line nine minutes in. Jamie O’Grady (Falkirk, Scotland/Falkirk) had a hard shot from 12 yards away on the far post but a defender kept it from going in for Hartwick’s second goal. On the resulting corner, a Tregear powerful header was stopped by Foust.
            NJIT pressed for the tying goal and generated some opportunities after the 65-minute mark. The first was a header from a free kick but it went right at Buckner for the save. Four minutes later, a service in the box from NJIT’s Marko Drjlic allowed Joshua Mercer to flick a header at goal which forced Buckner to make a low, diving stop. With less than 15 minutes left, Mamadou Guirassy, after just entering the game, blasted a shot that made it through some traffic but it was cleared off the goal line by a Hawk defender.
            The Hawks thought they had scored their second with just about five minutes left. Rood had a shot in close that was saved by Foust and Styles followed up the rebound and put it away but the assistant referee whistled for offside.
            ’Wick held the Highlanders down over the final five minutes, not allowing a shot to preserve the big victory.
            The Hawks are now 2-7-4 overall and 1-1-1 in the Sun Belt. The Highlanders, who entered the game ranked seventh in the NSCAA Southeast Region poll, slip to 6-4-4 and 1-1 in the league.  
            Hartwick travels to Colgate on Tuesday for a non-league match beginning at 7 p.m.