Sept. 20, 2008

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Rhode Island men's soccer team fell to Brown University, 1-0, Saturday night in front of over 1,200 fans at Stevenson Field in Providence, R.I. To help raise funds and awareness for Grassroot Soccer, a global AIDS prevention organization which teams up with soccer stars to deliver prevention messages to children in the world's most HIV affected countries, players from both Brown and Rhode Island competed in special adidas game jerseys with the Rams wearing yellow and the Bears in red.

Prior to the start of the game URI senior co-captain Kedan Crosby (St. James, Trinidad) presented co-founder of Grassroot Soccer and winner of TV series Survivor: Africa Ethan Zohn a $1,000 donation on behalf of the URI soccer program. Zohn, who took part in a pregame ceremony and also addressed the crowd at halftime, made the stop in Providence as a part of his 500-mile Dribble Campaign which began in Foxboro, Mass. and will culminate in Washington D.C. on December 1.

Once the match began, Rhody (3-3-0) took control early on, outshooting the Bears, 11-3, in the first frame, including back-to-back shots in the 30th minute by sophomore Andres Ruiz (Providence, R.I.) - both of which came off a free kick but were blocked by a wall of Brown defenders.

Seven minutes later, it appeared as though Ruiz would net the game's first goal when he took a pass from freshman Erkko Puranen (Visitasaari, Finland) and fired off a shot that skimmed across the outer right side of the net.

The Bears (3-2-1) saw their best chance of the half less than two minutes later when Jon Okafor's diving header went just wide of the goal, concluding the half in a scoreless tie.

After the break, Brown wasted little time getting on the board as Rhett Bernstein headed a Darren Howerton flip throw past junior goalkeeper Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) for the 1-0 advantage at the 49:54 mark.

The goal proved to be all the Bears would need as sophomore Josh Sousa (Cumberland, R.I.) and senior Kevin Hamill (Easton Conn.) took shots that went just wide and the Brown defense blocked a shot by Dwayne Williams (Westmoreland, Jamaica) - in the 68th minute - and another by junior Gary Crooks (Falkirk, Scotland) in the game's final minute. Bruno goalkeeper Jarrett Leech made his lone save of the game when he stopped junior Domenic Petrarca's (Providence, R.I.) attempt in the 73rd minute.

For the game, Rhody outshot Brown, 16-12, but the Bears held a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal. Pennock, who made three saves on the night, took the loss while Leech picked up his fourth consecutive shutout victory this season.

The Rams are back in action next weekend when they travel to Amherst, Mass. for the UMass Invitational. Rhody will face Vermont on Friday at 4:30 p.m. before taking on Hartford, Sunday at Noon.