Ivanovic's Long Distance Strike Lifts UB Men's Soccer To A 1-0 Home Win Over Mercy In 2015 ECC Opener

Bridgeport, Conn.-Junior Luka Ivanovic (Belgrade, Serbia) scored the only goal of the match, his third of the season, on a long distance blast of about 30 yards with just 2:25 to play in the second half to lift the University of Bridgeport men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Mercy College Mavericks in the 2015 East Coast Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night.  The win ups UB's overall record to 5-1-0 (1-0-0 ECC), and Mercy slips to 2-4-0 overall (0-1-0 ECC).  The five victories also already equals Bridgeport's win total for all of the 2014 season.

Saturday's action was a physical contest that saw the two teams combine for 31 fouls and a total of 11 cards including two red cards, as UB's Rafael Torres (Jr., Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and Mercy's Romello Fraser received their second yellow cards of the contest within 20 seconds of each other early in the second half meaning each squad would be forced to play with only 10 men on the field for the rest of the night.

Bridgeport goalkeeper Fabio Junior (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) made two saves to record his second straight shutout and win of 2015.  Mercy's Julio Sanchez also made two stops on the evening.

Up next, the UB men's soccer team will play its first road match of the year, as the team travels to Flushing N.Y. to face Queens (N.Y.) College in an ECC tilt on Wednesday afternoon.  Match time is set for 1:00 p.m.