WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --   Sophomore forward Matt Vidal – the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's main offensive threat all afternoon long – scored on a rebound with 2:06 left to lift the Corsairs to a 1-0 Little East Conference victory over three-time defending regular-season champion Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field.

At right: UMass Dartmouth's Alex Machado runs for cover as Eastern freshman Xavier Doran looks to tie the match in the second half with this head ball which was off the mark. (Photo by Liam Murphy)

The loss gives Eastern (9-4-3, 4-2-0 LEC) as many as two regular-season conference losses for the first time in nine years and moves conference leader Massachusetts Boston (4-0-1 LEC) to within a win Sunday at Plymouth State University of its first conference regular-season title.

The triumph, which breaks a four-game losing streak for UMass Dartmouth (6-9-1, 2-3-1 LEC),  pulls the Corsairs into a three-way tie for the fourth and final playoff berth with Rhode Island College and Keene State College. However, Keene has a game in hand and will visit Western Connecticut Sunday at 1 p.m.

Vidal's team-leading eighth goal of the season was only the ninth allowed by first-team All-LEC keeper Greg Walton (Brunswick, ME) this year and came on a rebound with just over two minutes left.  A long shot by senior back Alex Machado pierced the middle of the Eastern defense and carried all the way to Walton, who couldn't control it. The ball fell to the ground at the left post, and Vadal was camped right there, sending his fourth shot of the game low to the far corner for the eventual game-winner.

UMass had a number of mid-to-long-range shots in the first half, with Walton diving to the right post to keep the game scoreless ten minutes into action on a cross from junior back Karim Fernandes. Midway through the first half, Vidal unloaded a well-struck bicycle kick which sailed over the cross bar.

Sixteen minutes into the second half, UMD sophomore keeper Luis Carranza – who authored his second shutout – made his only save of the half on  sophomore forward Konnor Scarponi's (Brunswick, ME) well-placed header off a serve from freshman forward Sean Conway (Southinton) to keep the game scoreless.  Eastern's best opportunity came three minutes later on a free kick by Scarponi, freshman back Xavier Doran (Hebron) re-directing it with his head at the left post, with the ball skimming across the cross bar and out of play.  With nine minutes left, freshman midfielder Adam Traxler's  (Newburyport, MA) one-touch off a pass from sophomore forward Alejandro Tobon (West Hartford) carried on the ground inches wide of the post.  

The 1-0 victory is the third in four years in the regular season for UMass Dartmouth against Eastern, which has gone on to defeat the Corsairs each of the last three years in the LEC playoffs (the last two seasons in the final).

Eastern visits Babson College Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and closes out the regular season next Saturday hosting Plymouth State University in a conference match at 1 p.m.