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BALTIMORE – A late goal was the difference as the UMass Lowell men's soccer team dropped its America East opener 2-1 to the UMBC Retrievers.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the 74th minute, UMBC's Kay Banjo collected a pass from Michael Scott and bent a shot into the right corner for the game-winner.

Head Coach Christian Figueroa was impressed with his team after the strong showing.

"The guys showed character. They could have pulled back and accepted the 1-0 score, but the character and fight showed and good individual plays contributed to the tema effort that led to the penalty kick for us."

The River Hawks (3-8-0, 0-1-0) tied the game in the 64th minute on Carlos Ruiz's (East Boston, Mass.) second goal of the game. UMass Lowell was awarded a penalty kick and Ruiz had his attempt saved, but the rebound bounced to him and Ruiz put it home.

After a scoreless first half the Retrievers (5-4-2, 1-0-0) took the lead on a penalty kick of their own, with Mamadou Kansaye converting in the 61st minute.

The River Hawks had two opportunities late in the first half to take the lead but Wuilito Fernandes' (Praia, Cape Verde) header was saved in the 37th minute. In the last minute of the first half Guilherme Rodrigues (Lowell, Mass.) sent a corner in the box and a bicycle was shot wide. Rodrigues controlled the rebound but his shot was saved.

In the 48th minute off of another Ruiz corner, Nana Osei (Ewing, N.J.) fired a shot that was blocked off the line and inches away from giving the visitors the lead.

Figueroa noted that this result, although a loss, is a great jumping off point for his team going further into conference play.

"We're still a very young team but we are still getting better. This result shows that we can compete, and compete hard with the better teams in our conference." 

UMBC outshot the River Hawks 14-11, Fernandes had a team-high three shots and Malcolm Harris fired off a game-high seven.

Austin Kroll (Baltimore, Md.) made four saves in the loss and his counterpart Bill Heavner, made six saves.

UMass Lowell will have a week off before returning home for its second conference game of the season on October 11 against Albany at 1 p.m.