Sept. 21, 2011

Box Score

Freshman B Juan Moreira (Leominster, Mass.) scored in the 88th minute to force overtime and senior M Matheus Candido (Lowell, Mass.) won it in the final minute of double overtime as UMass Lowell defeated American International College, 2-1, Wednesday night in a Northeast-10 Conference men’s soccer clash at Ronald Abdow Stadium.

The victory halts a three-match slide for the River Hawks, who improved to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the NE-10 entering Saturday’s home match against New Haven (1:00).

AIC suffered its third straight loss and slipped to 1-4-1 overall and 0-3-0 in the Conference.

The match was UMass Lowell’s third double overtime affair in its last four games.

“It was a good response by our guys,” said head coach Christian Figueroa. “We came in here not only on a losing streak, but had to battle back from being down 1-0 and force overtime, and we battled for the win.”

AIC opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when senior F Thomas Denomme played a ball to freshman M Darion Richeme who timed the offside well and finished to the right side of sophomore G Connor Askins (Boston, Mass.).

UMass Lowell kept its poise and enjoyed the run of play for long stretches in the second half, where it outshot the Yellow Jackets 12-3 and had a 7-1 advantage on corner kicks.

The River Hawks leveled when senior F Mohammed Saeed (Woburn, Mass.) beat a defender to the endline and crossed low and hard across the goalmouth to Moreira, who tapped home unchallenged.

Following Moreira’s goal, the River Hawks nearly stole the match in regulation as an attempt by junior M Bruno Bonicontro (Marlboro, Mass.) was saved by AIC goalkeeper Jason Ryan and Candido shot wide in the final seconds.

“I felt we did a much better job creating opportunities tonight,” Figueroa said. “Whatever combination we had among our front six players did a great job for us.”

Candido scored the winner with 41 seconds left in the match. After a three shot attempts in succession by Bonicontro, Candido possessed the rebound, spit a pair of defenders and slotted off-balance underneath a charging Ryan.

UMass Lowell outshot the Yellow Jackets 21-9 overall and 13-5 on target. Ryan stopped 10 shots for AIC while Askins had four saves.