BOX SCORE

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Victor Hernandez scored twice to lead Southern Connecticut State University to a 2-1 Northeast-10 men's soccer victory over No. 5 Southern New Hampshire University Saturday night at Larkin Field.  The Owls improved to 12-4-1 overall and 9-3-1 in the NE-10, while the Penmen saw a 14-game unbeaten streak halted as it now stands 13-2-2 overall and 10-1-3 in the league.

SNHU will be the top seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Tournament that starts a week from Sunday (Nov. 1), while Southern Connecticut assured themselves of a first round home game with Saturday's victory.

The Penmen jumped out to a 1-0 lead just over 16 minutes into the contest.  A clearing attempt by Southern Connecticut keeper Daniel Hadjucky ricocheted off SNHU's Ethan Lapierre (Manchester, N.H.) and bounced into an empty net.  The Owls would tie the game just over 10 minutes later when Jeremy Tavares sent a pass through the middle that Hernandez redirected on a header into the goal.

Hernandez would register the game-winner 2:42 into the second half when the Penmen defense broke down and he was able to catch SNHU keeper Sean Lambert (Rehoboth, Mass.) out of the goal.  He would put home a 10-yarder and was credited with an unassisted tally.

The Penmen had several key chances to tie the game.  Just over a minute after Hernandez' second goal, Mark Cotton (Londonderry, N.H.) had a close shot following a scramble following a corner kick, but his shot was stopped by an Owl defender.  Christian Rodriguez (Manchester, N.H.) lifted a shot with just under 13 minutes to play that looked headed for the upper right corner, but Hadjucky was able to tip it over the crossbar.

Hadjucky had one save for the Owls while Lambert made two stops.  Southern New Hampshire generated a 10-9 shot advantage on the evening.

Southern New Hampshire travels to the University of Bridgeport on Wednesday afternoon for a 4:00 non-league contest.