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LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell Women's Soccer team hung tough and battled, but a goal early in the second half gave the University of Maine a 1-0 victory in an America East Conference match, Sunday afternoon, at the Cushing Field Complex.
"People tell us that we are better than we were last year, but that's not really our goal," said UMass Lowell Head Coach
Joel Bancroft. "We had opportunities to win this game and that's what we want to do."
UMass Lowell's record moves to 5-10-1 overall and 2-4-1 in conference play. Maine improves to 4-7-5 / 2-1-4.
The game's only goal came in the 49th minute of play. Eve L'Abbe converted on a rebound after her first shot was blocked by River Hawk senior goalkeeper
Jill Carlson (Lexington, Mass.) the goal was scored as unassisted.
Down by a goal the home team was unable to mount a consistent attack.
"Because of our youth we are fairly naive and so to find the ability to draw back on a consistent basis is very hard," said Bancroft. We were playing from behind and it looked that way."
Part of the problem was Maine, a team that sticks to a tough defensive system.
"Maine is very organized, fairly athletic, and very well coached," said Bancroft. "They do a very good job of protecting a lead and that's what happened in the second half."
The first half saw little offense. The visitors had the shooting edge, 10-3, but each team put only one shot on goal. River Hawk senior
Brittany Russo (Danvers, Mass.) back the closest to denting the net when she drilled a shot off the left post. Maine had an opportunity but
Laura Gagnon (Millville, Mass.) booted the ball off the goal line and out of danger.
Maine outshot UMass Lowell in the game 18-6 and had the edge on target, 7-2. Carlson, protecting the River hawk net made five saves. In front of the Maine net, Claudia Dube-Trempe made two saves.
Corner kicks were even at six a side.
UMass Lowell will return to the field of battle Thursday, October 19, at 7:00 P.M., to host the University of New Hampshire.
