Southern Maine Edges Maine Maritime 1-0

GORHAM, Maine  --  Junior forward Sinisa Bajic (Belgrade, Serbia/Portland) scored the only goal in the 78th minute and sophomore goalkeeper David Kreps (Agawam, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson) made three saves to give the University of Southern Maine Huskies a 1-0 victory over the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners in a non-conference men's soccer match Tuesday afternoon at the USM Soccer Field.

The win snapped a two-match losing skid for the Huskies who improve to 7-5-1 overall.  The Mariners fall to 3-8-2 overall.

Bajic knocked in the rebound of junior midfielder Ben Slagle's (Scarborough, Maine/Bridgton Academy) shot which was stopped by MMA freshman goalkeeper Randy Bartlett (Lincoln, N.H.).  Slagle received the ball to the left of goal and let a low drive go back to the right that Bartlett got a hand to, but the rebound went right out to Bajic who booted home a 10-yard shot from a bad angle.

Kreps posted three saves, all in the first half as the USM defense did not permit many scoring opportunities in the second half.  MMA's best opportunity in the second half came off the foot of senior midfielder Tyler Eads (Belfast, Maine), but his long shot sailed over the crossbar.

Bartlett played a strong game making 11 saves.  He made two stops on Bajic, one on a point-blank blast, to keep the game scoreless before Bajic knocked in the lone goal.

Southern Maine had a decided edge in shots in the match, 20-9, and rolled up a 9-3 advantage in corner kicks.

The Huskies will play their final regular season home match this Saturday (1:00 p.m.) when they host Eastern Connecticut State University in a Little East Conference match.  The game pits the top two teams in the LEC standings.  The Mariners return to action on Friday (3:30 p.m.) when they travel to the University of Maine Farmington.