Box Score

Senior M Ruben Resendes set up two second half goals as No. 2 Southern New Hampshire defeated No. 3 UMass Lowell, 2-0, Friday night in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Semifinal at George J. Larkin Field.

With the loss, UMass Lowell slipped to 13-5-1 overall and awaits NCAA Tournament pairings to be announced Monday at 5:30 on the 2012 Division II Men's Soccer Selection Show on www.ncaa.com.

The Penmen improved to 16-3 and visit No. 1 Merrimack (a 1-0 victor over No. 5 Franklin Pierce Friday) Sunday afternoon.

“Our guys worked extremely hard tonight,” said head coach Christian Figueroa. “I can't say enough about the effort they put in tonight. I'm very proud of our team.”

UMass Lowell was without four regulars due to injury and suspension. Senior M Bruno Bonicontro (Marlboro, Mass.) was limited to 10 minutes in the second half while junior midfielders Kyle Garvan (Braintree, Mass) and Kevin Zapata (East Bridgewater, Mass.) also missed out due to injury.

Sophomore M Felipe Fagundes (Lowell, Mass.) was serving a one-match suspension after seeing red in UMass Lowell's 3-1 victory over Le Moyne Wednesday.

Sophomore M Mohamed Toufik broke the drought in the 69^th minute when Resendes' cross from the left side deflected off a UMass Lowell defender to Toufik, who finished from the center of the box.

The Penmen took advantage of a free kick in the 84^th. Resendes steered the inswinging kick from the left side to senior F Chris Tsonis, who headed out of the reach of junior GK Chris Maierle (Wantagh, N.Y.).

Southern New Hampshire enjoyed the run of play throughout the second half and built a 16-7 edge on shots and a 7-1 advantage on corner kicks.

UMass Lowell tested SNHU goalkeeper Dom DiMaggio off the bat as junior F Majid Saeed (Woburn, Mass.) and junior M Daniel Galvin (Attleboro, Mass.) went close in the fourth and seventh minutes.

“We had some chances early on, but we just couldn't get one through,” Figueroa noted.”

DiMaggio stopped four shots while Maierle had one save.