FLORENCE, SC--Junior midfielder Haroon Saleem's goal in the 83rd minute of play lifted the USC Aiken Pacers (7-5-0, 3-3-0) to hard-fought 1-0 victory over Francis Marion (6-4-2, 1-2-0) on Wednesday night in Florence, SC.  The win snaps the Pacers' seven-match drought (0-5-2) against the Patriots and secured USCA's first non-losing Peach Belt Conference mark in nine years.

Saleem broke the scoreless deadlock with 6:53 remaining in the match after taking a header from freshman forward Mamadou Ndoye and beating FMU goalkeeper Mike Frazee from 15 yards out for the eventual match winner.  Frazee, a two-time PBC Player-of-the-Week with 14 career complete match shutouts, made 10 saves but could not stop Saleem's blast that proved to be the difference.

Sophomore goalkeeper Peter Calabrese made two saves in earning his first complete match shutout of the season. USCA outshot Francis Marion 25-6.

Prior to this season, the Pacers all-time conference record since 1992 was 8-36-4 and just 13-41-4 in the 10-year history of the Peach Belt Conference.  With tonight's win and the completion of their 2001 conference schedule, USCA stands at 3-3-0 and ties the school record for most PBC wins in a season set in 1992 (3-2-0).  The win also improves the Pacers composite record versus Francis Marion to .500 at 6-6-2 and equals the second-highest overall win total in school history set three times (1999, 1995, 1992) with six matches remaining.

USC Aiken will next play at Wingate University on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 4:00 PM. 
 
MATCH SUMMARY 
 

Score by Periods	1	2	Final
Francis Marion	0	0	0
USC Aiken	0	1	1

Scoring   USCA: Haroon Saleem (Mamadou Ndoye, 83:07)
Shots  USCA 25, FMU 6 
Cornerkicks USCA 6, FMU 3 
Fouls  USCA 16, FMU 16 
Offsides USCA 1, FMU 1 
Saves   USCA 2 (Peter Calabrese), FMU 10 (Mike Frazee) 
Cards  Yellow: USCA (Nicholas Arrington, 29:10; Haroon Saleem, 30:22) 
              FMU  (Henry Theiling, 37:59)