OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's soccer team opened East Coast Conference play here today with a 3-0 loss to New York Tech. Daemen dropped to 0-5-0 overall. It also marked the league opener for the Bears, who improved to 2-4-0 overall following their second-straight win. New York Tech, which was picked third in the ECC preseason poll, scored twice in the span of a minute midway through the first half and took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

HIGHLIGHTS

• New York Tech opened the scoring in the 18th minute when redshirt freshman forward Che Richards scored his first career goal off a feed from redshirt senior Simon-Peter Omooba. 
• Richards struck again just a minute later, and the Bears closed out the first-half scoring following a tally by junior defender Javier Aznarez in the 27th minute. It marked the first career goal for Aznarez.
• Daemen nearly cut the lead to 3-1 13 minutes into the second half, but a header by Derek Bartlo (Williamsville, N.Y.) off a corner kick by Derek Mancuso (Friendship, N.Y.) was turned away by NYIT net minder Pol Zapata.
• New York Tech posted a 12-1 edge in shots in the first half and finished with an 18-2 advantage overall.
• Sophomore goaltender Eithan Hahn (Lancaster, N.Y.) stopped five shots for Daemen, while Zapata made two saves for NYIT en route to his second career shutout.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen returns 11 players from last years team that finished 5-12-0 overall and 3-6-0 in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats were picked eighth in the ECC preseason poll.
• New York Tech posted an 8-7-1 overall record and a 3-5-1 mark in the ECC last year. Three of NYIT's first six opponents (St. Rose, American International, Wilmington) are ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches East Region poll.
• Daemen remained winless in the all-time series with New York Tech. The Bears have prevailed in all eight meetings between the two schools.
• Daemen returns to non-conference play Wednesday (Sept. 25) when it travels to California (Pa.) University. It will mark just the second all-time meeting between the two schools. Cal. Pa. prevailed in the first-ever meeting (3-0) on Sept.10, 2016 in Amherst, N.Y.

Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.