NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. - Visiting Salve Regina held the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's football team to 137 yards and scored on two short drives and a fumble recovery in the end zone to defeat the Corsairs, 28-6, in a New England Football Conference Boyd Division game at Cressy Field Saturday evening.

The Seahawks broke on top with a five-play, 61 yard drive midway through the second quarter. Junior quarterback Jimmy Connelly (Berlin, Conn.) got SRU going when he completed consecutive passes of seven yards to senior wide receiver Nick Piscitelli (North Haven, Conn.) and 17 yards to junior wide receiver Brian Smith (Tarrytown, N.Y.), then pitched to junior wide receiver Michael Dargan (Meriden, Conn.), who took it the final 23 yards on a reverse to put SRU ahead, 7-0, with 5:25 left in the first half.

Salve Regina scored again in the waning moments of the first half. Junior linebacker A.J. Albert (Franklin Park, N.J.) intercepted a pass by UMD sophomore quarterback Patrick Orlando (Manchester, Mass.) at the Corsair 30 yard line with 1:19 left in the first half. Connelly connected with junior wide receiver Patrick Keenan (Harrisville, R.I.) six seconds before halftime to make it 14-0 at the intermission.

After a scoreless third quarter, SRU struck again. With the ball at the Umass Dartmouth four yard line, Orlando was sacked by junior safety Jeff Bartek (North Haven, Conn.) in the end zone, and fumbled the ball. Senior safety Nick Jentz (Little Ferry, N.J.) recovered for a touchdown to make it 21-0 with 12:05 to play.

The Corsairs got on the board on the ensuing possession, driving 58 yards in nine plays to score on a 10-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Brandon McNeish (Springfield, Mass.) to senior wide receiver Chris Pinheiro (Norton, Mass.)with 8:34 left.

UMD sophomore kicker Edgar Osols (Summit, N.J.) then executed a perfect onside kick, with freshman defensive back Wayne Bolz (Billerica, Mass.) recovering at the Corsair 44. But the Corsairs failed to move. SRU scored their final touchdown after UMass Dartmouth failed on fourth down from their own 38 yard line with 3:31 remaining. Sophomore running back Trey Scales (Boston, Mass.) burst 21 yards for a score with 3:34 remaining to account for the final score.

"I feel pretty strongly about the steps we took to finish not only this game, but last week's game as well," said Salve Regina head coach Bob Chesney. "We've grown a lot defensively over the past two weeks, and it's just in time for next week's game when the purple giants (Curry) come to town. Goose (Greg Gosselin) did an awesome job on special teams and kept them pinned deep in their own end all night. He and I work on punting every week and he continues to get better every week. I couldn't be happier for him. The defensive touchdown was all set up by him. If they're going to drop back and pass deep in their own end, we should be able to capitalize on something like that."

Senior running back Eric Pacy (Rowley, Mass.) led UMD on the ground, with 10 carries for 43 yards; Orlando was 11 of 27 for 49 yards, while McNeish was three of seven for 25 yards and a score. Senior running back Rob Lariviere-Tougas (Easthampton, Mass.) rushed 13 times for 85 yards for SRU, while Connelly was 15 of 28 for 213 yards, and Piscitelli caught five passes for 96 yards.

Junior defensive back Ross O'Toole (Weymouth, Mass.) led UMD defensively with 11 stops, including five solos. He also shared a tackle for lost yardage, and intercepted a pass and returned it for seven yards. Junior defensive end Shane Lange (Branford, Conn.) had 13 tackles for SRU, including five solos. He also had two and a half tackles for lost yardage, and a sack.

"On offense, coach (Todd) Parsons did a great job of mixing up the play calls and taking some shots down the field, which is something we spoke about this week," said Chesney. "I thought we were able to run the ball as well. Our backs tried to run through them instead of dance around them, and the 0-line opened some holes for them. We did nice job protecting the quarterback, and because of that, Jimmy (Connelly) did a great job distrubiting the ball."

The Corsairs dropped to 2-4 and 1-2 in the Boyd Division with the defeat while the Seahawks improved to 2-4 and 1-2 in the Boyd Division with the victory. Umass Dartmouth will return to action when they visit Nichols next Saturday. SRU will host Curry Saturday.