Box Score KINGSTON, RI—Dante Lamb had a goal and an assist in the opening 44 minutes, leading the University of Rhode Island to a 2-0 men's soccer victory over visiting NJIT Thursday evening.
Mike Casey, a redshirt junior, opened the scoring in the 20th minute, knocking home a crossing pass from Lamb and Lamb added an insurance tally at 42:37, assisted by Matt Sykes.
The win raised URI to 1-1-1 on the season, while the Highlanders are 1-2.
The final shots totals were even at 13 apiece and NJIT had a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Nils Leifhelm, a freshman, made three saves in posting the shutout for the Rams, while NJIT's
Christian Foust also made three saves to go with the two goals that got past him.
Rhode Island got off three shots, all off target, and an apparent goal by Casey in the 13th minute was waved off on an offside whistle. But Casey broke the ice at 19:27 for his second goal of the season.
Each team put one more shot on target, with Foust stopping a Casey try and Leifhelm turning away
Cristian Marcel of the Highlanders before Lamb, a redshirt freshman from South Africa, made it 2-0. Lamb took a feed from Sykes at the top of the box and sent the goal home to upper left 90.
NJIT got nine of its 13 overall shots in the second half, but only two required saves from Leifhelm.
The Highlanders got three shots apiece from their leading 2014 scorer, the senior Marcel, and from freshman
Phillip Costa. Rhode Island's Sykes, a senior took five shots and Casey, who is back after missing the 2013 season due to injury, had two shots, both on frame, including the goal.
"We had some good looks early, but we didn't put them away," said NJIT coach
Didier Orellana. "Most of the time, if you do that against a good team they make you pay and that's what happened to us tonight.
"Now, we have to look forward to Saturday and get ready for Marist, which is another good team (two 1-0 wins to start the season, beating Villanova and Binghamton)."
The Highlanders take on Marist of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the NJIT home opener on Saturday at 5 pm on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
