Sept. 19, 2009

Box Score

Audio Recap - The River Hawk Report - Men's Soccer and Field Hockey Win

Senior F Jeffery Danso (Worcester, MA) and junior F Stephen Potcner (Wilmington, MA) scored goals in the second half 12 minutes apart as UMass Lowell defeated Assumption College, 2-1, Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference men's soccer match at Cushing Field.

With the victory, the River Hawks improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the NE-10 entering Wednesday's home clash against No. 8 Southern New Hampshire (7:00).

The loss snapped a five-match winning streak for the Greyhounds, who slipped to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Conference entering Tuesday's home game against Queens College (3:30).

Along with Danso and Potcner, UMass Lowell relied on some late heroics by senior G Ryan Richards (Holden, MA), who made a pair of brilliant stops to keep Assumption from drawing even.

Assumption deservedly opened the scoring in the 20th minute when junior F Steve Blaisdell (Peabody, MA) headed home a corner kick from junior M Jeffrey Swan (Fairfield, CT). The Greyhounds enjoyed the run of play throughout the first half, evidenced by a 9-3 shots advantage and 3-0 edge on corner kicks.

The River Hawks emerged poised in the second half and leveled just over three minutes in. Junior M Guillermo Cisneros (Methuen, MA) fed a volley over the Greyhound defense to Danso, who took settled and slotted home.

In the 56th minute, senior M Jhony Valencia (Lowell, MA) sent a volley to Potcner just inside the box, who turned and tucked his effort in while nicely warding off a defender.

Assumption nearly evened the score in the 74th when senior D Doug Starbird (Dunstable, MA) pounced on a defensive mistake at the top of the six-yard box. Richards thwarted his effort and junior F Steven Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA) cleared off the line.

Five minutes later, Blaisdell headed a throw-in from the right side by Swan toward the left post, but Richards parried the effort around the left post with a diving right hand. On the counter, Danso nearly put the River Hawks up 3-1, but his attempt from the left side of the box rattled of the post.

Shots were 13-13 overall and 6-4 on target, favoring UMass Lowell. The River Hawks outshot Assumption in the second half, 10-4.

Richards had three saves for the UMass Lowell while junior Brandon Sullivan (Halesite, NY) stopped four shots for Assumption.