Sept. 1, 2011

Box Score

Junior F Mouhamed Mboup scored the equalizer and set up the game winner to lead No. 4 Dowling College over UMass Lowell, 2-1, Thursday afternoon in a non-conference season-opening men's soccer clash at Golden Lions Field.

With the loss, UMass Lowell slipped to 0-1 and opens up Northerast-10 Conference play Wednesday at Merrimack (7:00). Dowling improved to 1-0 and meets Le Moyne Sunday at

The Golden Lions held a slim edge on overall shots, 10-9, but UMass Lowell had a 5-2 edge on target. Dowling also had a 5-2 edge on corner kicks.

"Dowling is a strong team in our region," said head coach Christian Figueroa. "We're still not at the level we can be, but it's early on in the year and we still have some things to sort out. For us, we're not happy with the loss, but we showed we're capable playing against a team of Dowling's caliber."

Junior M Bruno Bonicontro (Marlborough, Mass.) opened the scoring for the River Hawks in the eighth minute when he beat the offside off a pass from freshman F Homero Morais (Somerville, Mass.) and beat Dowling goalkeeper Chris Kucera on a break by slotting inside the left post.

Bonicontro's goal was shortly after sophomore Daniel Galvin (Attleboro, Mass.) nearly capitalized on the right side minutes earlier. Galvin took a hard touch off a pass and beat a pair of defenders, but his low, hard shot went agonizingly wide left.

Mboup leveled for Dowling in the 18th minute after a failed clearance when junior Jorge Ruiz crossed from the right side of the box, which Mboup touched and beat sophomore G Chris Maierle (Wantagh, N.Y.).

Dowling notched the game-winner in the 66th minute when sophomore F Keith Vigorito took possession out of a scramble in the 18-yard box and blasted home. Mboup was credited with the assist.

The River Hawks kept up the pressure and nearly drew in the final seconds. A free kick from sophomore Alex Sindoni (Haverhill, Mass.) was flicked on by Galvin to freshman M Eric DeSantis (Woburn, Mass.) deep in the box, but DeSantis wasn't able to get his foot on it.

Kucera stopped four shots for Dowling, whose only two shots on target eluded Maierle.