WILLIMANTIC,Conn. – First-year sophomore forward Tyler Jones (Vernon) scored his second game-winning goal in four days with 18 minutes left as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer team knocked Gordon College from the unbeaten ranks with a 1-0 victory Tuesday afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field.

At right: Tyler Jones gets a stride on Gordon defender Torrey Stricklin before beating goalie Bruce Gerberich with the only goal of the match in Tuesday's victory over the previously-unbeaten Scots at Thomas Nevers Field (Photo by Liam Murphy)

Shut out in its first two home matches of the year, Eastern (3-2-2) broke a scoreless tie when Jones intercepted a pass in the Warriors' offensive area moments after an Eastern throw-in in front of its own bench, beat the only defender between him and the goal and, in stride, slid a shot from just inside the box that Gordon (7-1-0) junior keeper Bruce Gerberich got a hand on but could not prevent from going inside the far left post.

The loss was the first against a non-conference opponent in the regular season for Gordon since a 5-1 setback at Keene State College (like Eastern, a member of the Little East Conference) Oct. 9, 2012. Of the Scots' three losses last year, one came in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) regular-season game, one in the CCC playoffs and a season-ending one to Amherst College in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Gordon had beaten Eastern, 1-0, in last year's NCAA first round on a goal midway through the second half.

In Saturday's Little East Conference opener, Jones had scored midway through the second half to snap a 1-1 tie in a 2-1 Eastern victory over Western Connecticut.

Ranked eighth in New England, Gordon had the better of play through most of the first half, collecting six of the first seven shots of the match, forcing Eastern sophomore keeper Greg Walton (Brunswick, ME) to come up with three – relatively easy – saves.

Eastern owned the second half, however, limiting Gordon to four shots, only one of which landed on goal. The Scots' only dangerous opportunity of the half came in a scoreless game with 19 minutes left, but sophomore back Aaron Terjanian's quick turnaround shot rolled inches wide of the left post.

A deflected ball nearly put Eastern ahead 12 minutes into the second half when an Eastern serve into the box deflected off a Gordon defender and banged off the crossbar, giving the Warriors a corner which produced nothing.

Walton made five saves for his first shutout since the season-opener, while Gerberich stopped three shots in his third appearance of the year. Eastern held a 6-2 edge in corner kicks.

Eastern visits Keene State College Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Little East Conference match.