Oct. 15, 2011

Box Score

Freshman F Homero Morais (Somerville, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal in the 99th minute as UMass Lowell battled back from a 0-1 deficit to defeat Saint Anselm, 2-1, Saturday in a Northeast-10 Conference men’s soccer match at Melucci Field.

The victory was the seventh straight for the River Hawks, who improved to 8-4-0 overall and 8-2-0 in the NE-10 entering Wednesday’s crucial home clash against Southern New Hampshire (7:00).

The win streak is UMass Lowell’s longest since the 2004 season, when it put together eight straight victories en route to one of its best seasons in program history (15-3-2).

Saint Anselm slipped to 5-7-2 overall and 2-6-1 in the Conference.

The Hawks posted a 14-9 shots advantage, including a 6-2 edge on target. “I thought we made the most of our opportunities on goal count,” said head coach Christian Figueroa. “We were coming off a week in which there was no mid-week game. And this is a tough place to play.”

Saint Anselm went 1-0 ahead in the eighth minute when senior F Keesen Howe took a failed clearance at the top of the box and chipped home over the reach of sophomore GK Connor Askins (Boston, Mass.).

UMass Lowell kept its poise and got the leveler in the 66th minute. Off a restart, senior B Asley Barrios (Revere, Mass.) sent a ball into the Saint Anselm box, which senior M Matheus Candido (Lowell, Mass.) flicked to sophomore M Daniel Galvin (Attleboro, Mass.) who quickly turned and blasted a low, hard shot to the right of junior GK Eric Moriarty.

UMass Lowell took advantage of its first chance in overtime, resulting in Morais’ fourth goal of the season. Following a failed clearance, sophomore B Neil Lavanchy (Scituate, Mass.) found Candido, who flicked to Morais, who calmly settled and slotted inside the right post.

“We had a span where we were doing a good job possessing the ball in the second half and overtime, better than we did most of the game,” Figueroa noted.

Askins stopped five shots for UMass Lowell.