Oct. 29, 2008

LOWELL – Senior F Matt Dubois (Dracut, MA) and junior D Rudy Kocandrle (Northboro, MA) each scored in the second half as UMass Lowell defeated No. 5 Southern New Hampshire, 2-0, Wednesday night in the Northeast-10 Conference men’s soccer regular season finale at Cushing Field. With the win – coupled with American International College’s 3-2 upset over Franklin Pierce – UMass Lowell improved to 9-1-3 overall in the NE-10 (10-2-4 overall) and earned the No. 1 seed for the NE-10 Tournament. Both the River Hawks and Southern New Hampshire (9-1-3, 13-2-3 overall) capped the regular season tied for first place, but UMass Lowell won the top seed by virtue of Wednesday night’s win. UMass Lowell will host No. 8 Bentley (8-8-2, 5-6-2 NE-10) Sunday afternoon at 3:00. Southern New Hampshire will host No. 7 Assumption. “This has to be one of the best wins (in program history),” said UMass Lowell Head Coach Ted Priestly. “This is our first regular season championship and what makes that special are the many tests of adversity that our team passed along the way; most notably the results that didn’t go our way to which our team immediately responded and learned from. “And what a performance by our seniors,” Priestly added. “Every one of them played well. That was the best thing.” The victory was UMass Lowell’s seventh clean sheet of the season, and sixth for junior G Ryan Richards (Holden, MA), who stopped two shots. Senior G Sean Lambert (Rehoboth, MA) also had two saves for the Penmen. The River Hawks opened the scoring in the 51st minute on a sublime counter attack. A volley from senior M Jamie Wangia (Lowell, MA) was flicked on by sophomore F Stephen Potcner (Wilmington, MA) to a streaking Dubois, whose header went over the reach of Lambert. UMass Lowell doubled its lead in the 66th minute when a shot by freshman D Matheus Candido (Lowell, MA) was deflected to Kocandrle, who turned and toe-poked from inside the six-yard box. The Penmen increased the pressure and it nearly paid off in the 85th minute when a header by graduate student Matt Delaney (Wallasey, England) off a corner by freshman M Ethan Lapierre (Manchester, NH) was cleared off the line by senior D Joey Esteves (Fall River, MA). Junior F Adrian Schippers (Ashby, MA) also had an opportunity to break the drought in the 86th when his attempt elicited a diving stop by Richards. Southern New Hampshire outshot UMass Lowell13-8 overall, but the River Hawks had a 4-3 edge on target.

UMass Lowell 2, No. 5 Southern New Hampshire 0
At Lowell, MA

Goalkeepers
Ryan Richards (UML): 2 saves, 90:00
Sean Lambert (SNHU): 2 saves, 90:00