Kevin Kozic	Tom O'Connor	Eric Hintz

Box score

Photo gallery (courtesy of Dan Ceccacci)

More than 80 minutes had elapsed with not much to separate the men's soccer teams for The University of Scranton and Drew University. That's when the Royals turned to a pair of seniors to make the difference.

Senior forward Kevin Kozic (Raritan, N.J./Immaculata) scored his fifth goal of the season on an assist from senior midfielder Tom O'Connor (Great River, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) in the 82nd minute to lift Scranton to a 1-0 victory in a battle of Landmark Conference unbeatens at Fitzpatrick Field on Wednesday night.

The win improved the Royals to 9-2-1 overall and 3-0 in Landmark Conference play, putting the Royals in a first-place with nine points, even with Catholic and Elizabethtown, which are both 3-1 in conference action. Drew fell to 6-3-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

The match-winning goal came when O'Connor got free down the left wing and sent a cross into the box, where Kozic collected it and calmly drilled a shot from 12 yards out just inside the right post with 8:31 remaining. It was Kozic's fifth goal of the season and 19th of his career.

Despite the lead, the Royals' work wasn't done. Drew had possession deep in the offensive end for a solid part of the remaining eight-plus minutes, forcing sophomore goalkeeper Eric Hintz (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) to make a leaping save to deflect the ball over the cross bar with less than two minutes left. A minute later, the Rangers had a good chance off a corner kick, but a header sailed wide of the left post, ending their chances.

Drew finished with a 14-9 edge in shots, including 7-3 in the second half, and each team had three corner kicks. Hintz finished with five saves for his sixth shutout of the season and 11th of his career. His goals-against average is now just 0.59 as he improved to 8-2-1 on the season.

Scranton puts its undefeated conference mark on the line when it returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 11, against Goucher at 1 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Field.

--ROYALS--