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LOWELL, Mass. – Freshman Joe Kellett (Norfolk, Mass.) scored his first career goal in the 86th minute to push the No. 18 UMass Lowell (9-0-2, 2-0-1) men's soccer team past the Vermont Catamounts (9-4-1, 1-2-0), 2-1, on Cancer Awareness Night.
 
Kellet found himself perched in the perfect position in the middle of the six-yard box and sent a header into the upper right corner after a Federico Ferre (Waltham, Mass.) cross deflected off a Catamount defender's foot. The River Hawks' ninth victory of the year sets the mark for the most wins in a single season since the program moved to Division I in 2013, and is the second best start in program history behind the 10-0-1 stretch in 2012. 
 
"I thought it was a good overall performance by the guys," remarked Head Coach Christian Figueroa. "It was a tale of two halves with a good spell in the first half and a lot of possession to be tuned in and set up the goal off the restart. Vermont came out with a little more energy in the second half, which is what we expected, but we had a little mental lapse and conceded the equalizer. It was a great response by the guys to continue our game plan and bounce back and score with just a handful of minutes left.
 
The game-winning play began with Jakov Basic (Zagreb, Croatia) dribbling down the middle of the field until he got 20-yards out and sending over a pass to Ferre in the left corner, the junior picked up his second career point with a one-touch cross to Kellett's head off the deflection.
 
After trailing for over 50 minutes of play, Vermont battled back to knot the score with less than 14 minutes on the clock, when Jon Amar Barodal slotted a pass from Jackson Dayton that just found its way into the net.
 
Wuilito Fernandes (Praia, Cape Verde) opened the scoring in the 25th minute, tapping home a Dario Jovanovski (Zagreb, Croatia) free kick. The freshman curled the ball to the back post and Aron Runarsson punched it out but right off Fernandes and into the back of the net.
 
River Hawk keeper Austin Kroll (Baltimore, Md.) recorded four saves and made another move in the record books, sliding into a tie for third with 24 career wins. The junior's biggest stop of the night came on a diving save with the hosts up 1-0 with under 24 minutes on the clock.
 
The win marked the first victory for either side in the all-time series, as the first three meetings all went into the books as ties after 120 minutes of play.
 
UMass Lowell begins a three-game road swing on Sunday, traveling to Long Island to matchup against the Stony Brook Seawolves at 2 p.m.