WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The University of Massachusetts Boston men's soccer team took a giant step in its bid for a first Little East Conference championship when the Beacons scored the only goal of the match nine minutes into the second half to upend three-time defending conference champion Eastern Connecticut State University at Thomas Nevers Field Saturday afternoon.

In winning the battle of the conference unbeatens, UMass (7-4-0 3-0-0 LEC) ended a  14-match winless streak (13-0-1) against Eastern (5-3-2, 2-1-0 LEC) in taking over sole possession of first place in the conference.

Having lost three of its four matches this year to regionally-ranked teams, the Beacons defeated Eastern on the Warriors' home field for the first time after losing all 14 previous times. In the last meeting between the clubs at Eastern in 2012, the hosts eased to a 7-0 victory.

The match featured the conference's top-ranked offensive team in UMass and No. 1 defensive team in Eastern, and UMass emerged with the win when the team's leading scorer -- junior forward Pedro Dasilva – recorded his tenth goal of the season nine minutes into the second half. The goal was an unassisted one and came from the top of the box. It was the only one of Dasilva's three shots which landed on net.

The goal also ended Eastern sophomore keeper Greg Walton's (Brunswick, ME) run of three straight shutouts. The shutout loss was Eastern's third in four home contests this season, with all four of the team's home matches determined by a 1-0 score. Walton needed to come up with a number of key stops during the match to keep the Beacons off the board until they finally broke through. The visitors had the better of possession throughout most of the match, outshooting Eastern 7-2 in the first half and concluding with a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.

Junior keeper Alfonso Rosales made five saves for UMass Boston to record his third full shutout in nine starts

Eastern hosts Connecticut College in a non-conference match Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Nevers Field.