OAKDALE, N.Y. – The University of New Haven men's soccer team broke a scoreless tie late in the second half, upending the Dowling Golden Lions 1-0 in the season opener for both teams

With the win, New Haven is 1-0-0. The Golden Lions fall to 0-1-0.

Following an uneventful first 14 minutes of play, Chargers' keeper Stephen Sasso (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional) was called on twice to keep the match scoreless, making a pair of saves in a 90-second span in the 15th and 16th minutes. Neither team recorded a shot on net again until the 44th minute when a volley by George Tighe (Tauranga, New Zealand/Tauranga Boys College) was kept out of the net by Chris Friedl, sending the match level into halftime.

In the second frame, Dowling came out firing, but was unable to find the net, going wide three times in a two minute stretch. In the 77th minute, a foul on the Golden Lions gave the Chargers a free kick from 25 yards out. Oscar Johannesson (Hässleholm, Sweden/Hässleholms Tekniska Skola) converted the set piece to put New Haven up 1-0. Dowling was unable to find the equalizer as the Chargers held on for the victory.

Sasso made two saves in recording his first clean sheet for the Blue and Gold.

The Chargers are next in action on Sunday, Sept. 6 when they open their home slate against Holy Family at 1:00 p.m. at Kayo Field.