NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - The Niagara men's soccer team (10-4-2, 4-2-0 MAAC) scored three first-half tallies and shut the door on the Fairfield Stags (6-7-0, 3-3-0 MAAC) in a 4-0 victory at Niagara Field on Friday night. The victory puts the Purple Eagles in a tie for third place with Iona (10-4-1, 4-2-0 MAAC) with three games remaining on the schedule.

"This was a very good team performance (Friday)," Niagara head coach Dermot McGrane said. "I thought that our guys came out from the start with intensity, played well and never let up for 90 minutes against a good Fairfield team. This was a very important win as it becomes crunch time in the conference."

The Purple Eagles took control of the game early, dominating play from the first touch. NU had five scoring chances in the first 20 minutes, but could not cash in. That all changed when freshman reserve Carl Haworth (Battie, Ont.) entered the game. The speedy forward tallied a goal on his first shot, just five minutes after entering the contest to give Niagara a 1-0 lead.

Haworth received the ball of the right side of the net off a cross from senior Joe Skinner (Baldwinsville, N.Y.). The rookie beat the defender with a fast juke and flipped the ball over the keepers left shoulder to the top right corner of the goal.

"Its a great feeling to contribute to the win off the bench," Haworth said. "It is what I'm here for and what I have focused on all year."

With just three minutes remaining in the half, Haworth put the Purple Eagles up 2-0 with a highlight-real tally. Jordan DeRoy (Battie, Ont.) played a long ball down the right side to Haworth to set up the action. In the far right corner of the scoring box, Haworth somehow put enough spin on the ball to bend into the top left corner.

"Jordan played a nice ball down the line, and the center back came over to play me," Haworth added. "I noticed that the keeper was out of position so I chipped it to the far corner."

Just 52 seconds later, Brennan Reynolds-Baker (Barrie, Ont.) put the game out of reach with his first career goal. The forward received the ball from defender Nick Lippa (Rochester, N.Y.) and slid past the last line of defense. After he made the keeper commit, he slipped to the left and buried a shot from 10 yards out. Sophomore Levi Tesch (Wolcott, N.Y.) rifled a shot through a pair of Stag defenders and past a diving goalie for the games final tally just four minutes into the second half.

Junior John Fiutowski (Ottawa, Ont.) made four saves in 80 minutes of action, while senior Jason Whitehead (Middleton, N.Y.) made one stop in the games final 10 minutes.

The Purple Eagles host Iona on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. for Senior Day at Niagara Field. The matchup will give the winner a leg up into the MAAC Tournament with one week remaining, as both teams boast identical 4-2-0 conference records.