WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – An eight-game winless streak against the Vermont Catamounts was snapped on Saturday afternoon as the University of Hartford men’s soccer team prevailed, 2-1, in overtime in America East action at Alumni Field. Javoni Simms netted the golden goal early in extra time to help the Hawks improve to 8-2-2 overall and score their first win in league play (1-1-0).

Disrupting a four-game unbeaten streak with the loss, the Catamounts drop to 7-2-3 with a 1-1-0 record in the America East.

Hartford, which had gone 0-2-6 in recent meetings with Vermont, also received offense from junior defender Damion Lowe and senior striker Anthony Santaga. Junior forward Omar Tall had a share in his team’s first two goals to record the first multi-point outing of his career.

Vermont opened up the scoring early with a breakaway goal from Daniel Kucynski but Hartford came back before the end of the half, scoring in the 38th minute to knot things up.

Out of a free kick, the Hawks proved to be the beneficiaries of a scramble in front of the box as Lowe made contact from the left side and knocked-in his team’s first goal of the match. Joining Tall in earning a helper on the play was junior defender Rohan Roye who served the ball into the 18-yard area on a reset.

Just six minutes later, Santaga put Hartford ahead at 2-1 right before the intermission with Tall and Jeff Tryon helping break the tie. A crafty give-and-go between Tall and Tryon in front of the box set up Santaga, who, from six yards out, beat Vermont keeper Conor Leland for his second marker of the season with 91 seconds to go until the end of the period.

Hartford held on to its advantage for more than 20 minutes into the second half until the squad was whistled for a costly foul inside of the 18-yard box. With 23:52 left on the clock, Charlie Defeo calmly tied up the match at two-all, beating Hawk keeper David MacKinnon on the one-on-one with a low shot to the left.

Coming off a hard left strike off the boot of Santaga, the go-ahead goal was nearly produced with 14 minutes left in regulation. The forward gathered a pass from 15 yards away and sent a blast, just missing the left corner of the target by a few feet.

Despite Vermont earning three more shots and a trio of corner kicks down the final stretch, neither team broke the tie to force overtime.

After Santaga came up just wide of putting the match away 42 seconds into overtime, the Hawks were successful in their next strike. Freshman Romario Jones blasted a shot at Leland, one that he was able to stop but not control, for his fourth and final save of the game. The rebound, which landed at the feet of Simms, was easily tapped over the line of the unmanned goal by the sophomore to lead the home team to the victory.

The game-winning tally was Simms’ second of the season while Jones chalked up his first career point on the assist.

MacKinnon finished with a pair of saves, including a spectacular deflection in the opening minutes of the match to prevent an early score from Defeo. The Hawks led in shots, 14-11, but conceded a season-high 10 corner kicks to the Catamounts, including nine in the second half.

America East action continues for the Hawks on Wednesday as they travel to New Hampshire for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Wildcats. 

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