PEMBROKE – Senior Sam Miles converted on a penalty kick that was awarded after a stray shot found the hand of a Barton defender in the penalty area at the 75:04 mark to give the UNC Pembroke men's soccer team its first victory of the season, 1-0, over the regionally-ranked Barton Bulldogs at Varsity Grounds on Wednesday evening.

The victory snapped the Bulldogs' (5-2-0) three-game winning streak after the squad had moved up to fourth in the region rankings on Tuesday, while affording UNCP (1-3-2) the shutout win to extend its winning streak in the series to a program-best 16 games.

Miles delivered a shot into the lower left corner past a diving Derek Collins to put the Braves on the board, but the defensive effort by the Black and Gold kept the Bulldogs unable to tie up the game. Freshman Kenneth Perkinson tallied two saves following UNCP's goal as the Bulldogs fired off seven of their 13 shots in the final 15 minutes of the game in desperation.

"The guys battled hard," said UNCP head coach Phil Hindson. "In the first half we defended quite well and progressed on, and overall I think it was a good win."

Perkinson collected six total saves in his 90 minutes between the posts and notched a diving save in the 79th minute to hold off the Bulldogs. Clayton Gannaway and Kevin Vigebo led the Braves with four shots each, while Miles registered three.

Despite being outshot by the Bulldogs 19-15 and Erik Pajunk notching a game-high seven shots including two on goal, UNCP has now held its opponents scoreless for more than 200 minutes.

UNCP and Barton played a scoreless first half and ended the game with a combined five yellow cards and a red card at the 56:56 mark which forced Barton to play a man down for the remainder of the game.

UNCP will return to Peach Belt Conference action on Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. battle against Clayton State (3-1-1, 1-0-0 PBC) in Pembroke at Varsity Grounds. Admission to all 2014 home soccer matches is free.