Box Score Box Score (PDF)Â | Highlights
LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell men's soccer suffered its first defeat of 2015, dropping a 2-0 decision to Utah Valley on Sunday afternoon at Cushing Field.
"It's always tough playing two games in three days, trying to get the guys to keep the energy up and I thought we did a good job," said Head Coach Christian Figueora. "Utah Valley is a very strong team, they've got some quality players from top to bottom. For the most part the guys executed the plan, we came up a little short but our guys see that and they'll be ready to go next weekend."
The Wolverines took a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute off a 20-yard shot from Karson Payton that beat
Austin Kroll to the right corner.
Jay Marchard (North Andover, Mass.)Â almost immediately scored the equalizer in the 18th minute, but after his shot beat Collin Partee, the Utah Valley defense was able to clear the ball off the line.
The score line remained the same for the remainder of the first half and for most of the second, until Paul Hoffmeister made it 2-0 in the 73rd minute.
In the waning moments,
Chase Reichenberg (Hamburg, Germany) came within inches of getting the River Hawks on the board, but his header trickled just wide.
The River Hawks outshot the Wolverines 9-3, and had three on target compared to the visitors two.
Edward Venta-Yepes (Lowell, Mass.) and
Carlos Ruiz (East Boston, Mass.) both had a game-high two shots apiece.
UMass Lowell is off until Friday, September 4 for a non-conference road clash with St. Francis Brooklyn at 7 p.m.