DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On what was a rain-filled evening and wet playing surface throughout the contest, the Thomas University men's soccer team continued its unbeaten streak in their 2015 campaign tonight picking up the 1-0 victory over former Sun Conference rival Embry-Riddle.
 
The Eagles, who made the move to NCAA Division II as a provision member of the Sunshine State Conference this season, opened the game with an offensive pressure, but could not connect with its first shot on goal until the 12th minute of the game.
 
The Night Hawks had two opportunities in the early minutes of the contest with shots by freshman Connor Stanley.  In the 25th, Lyle Gifford's shot was blocked by an ERAU defender and landed at senior Eric Persson's feet.  Persson made a quick maneuver to his right shredding two defenders and lifted his shot into the lower right corner of the goal.  ERAU's keeper Jeff Bone made a valiant attempt on a diving save; however, Persson's shot slipped just past his outstretched hands.
 
Embry-Riddle battled for an equalizer in the second half but came up short handing the Night Hawks their fifth win of the season.  Thomas led the battle for corners, 7-to-1, and shots, 8-to-4, while freshman keeper Ben McFarlane-Barnes picked up his second career shutout as a Night Hawk in the 1-0 win.
 
"We earned a hard fought win today," stated head coach Ricky Zambrano.  "Any time you shut out a quality opponent like Embry-Riddle is a good day.  We did not do a good enough job in the second half to ice the game; that has to be better."
 
With the victory, the 11th-ranked Night Hawks improve to 5-0 on the year while Embry-Riddle drops to 1-1.
 
The Night Hawks are back in action on Fri., September 18, as they host the University of Mobile (5-2) at the Remington Park Soccer Complex in Thomasville.  First touch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
 
For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of your TU men's soccer team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMSocc.