LOWELL, Mass. -- The UMass Lowell women's soccer team defeated UAlbany (3-10-1, 1-3-1 AE) on the road on Sunday, 2-1, to improve to 4-5-4 overall and 1-2-1 in conference play. Junior captain
Rachel Morrier (Plaistow, N.H.) scored twice in the contest to lead the team to an upset victory over the Great Danes.
"We wanted to come out fast and get the first goal and we did," explained Women's Soccer Head Coach
Francesco D'Agostino. "We were dangerous, we played really well, kept the ball, and moved it side to side. We defended well against a new formation and we stuck to our original plan which helped us in the long run. Albany is a very good team with very good players, which made it very tough to get the result we wanted, so we're happy about it and I think that we can grow from this. Credit to our defenders and our goalkeeper for pulling us out of some hairy situations. It was a full team effort - top to bottom - executed very well."
The 2-1 victory over the Great Danes was also the first road win of the season for the River Hawks.
A River Hawk corner was taken in the 24th minute that found the head of junior
Maddie Walsh (Acton, Mass.) that made its way past the Great Dane keeper, but a knee-kick save from a defender kept the game knotted at zero.
The squad got on the board first in the 39th minute after Morrier went one-on-one with the keeper, who fumbled the ball, and buried the shot into the back of the net.
The shutout of the Great Danes in the first half marked the ninth time this season the River Hawks have held their opponents scoreless in the opening 45 minutes of play, which marked a new Division I record for the squad. The previous was eight in the each of the last four seasons.
A free kick was awarded to the River Hawks in the 59th minute about 25 yards out and directly in front of the goal. The junior captain would step up to take the shot and placed it just out of reach of the goalies leap in the middle and into the back of the net.
The Great Danes would get one back in the 63rd minute, however, when Miranda Badovinac stole the ball from a defender and passed it to an open Mariah Williams in the box, who placed it past the keeper and into the right side of the net.
The final 20 minutes saw the River Hawks' defense and keeper work in tandem to keep the equalizer from making its way into the back of the net.
Senior
Andrea Morrow (West Boylston, Mass.) made a tremoundous save in the 78th minute to keep the good guys ahead. A corner kick was awarded to UAlbany that found the opposite side of the net, where a Great Dane put a header destined for the top back of the net that made it past the keeper. Morrow turned and made a bicycle-kick save just before the ball crossed the goal line.
Six minutes later, Schneider would make a fantastic save to keep the River Hawks out front.
The Great Danes held an advantage in shots (17-10) and corners (6-5) over the River Hawks.
Schneider finished the contest with eight saves, while Andrea Leitner stopped four shots in the loss and the Great Danes defense stopped one.
The River Hawks return to action on Thursday, October 12 for a matchup against UMBC at 3:30 p.m. to kickoff Homecoming Weekend.
