DURHAM, N.H. – The UMass Lowell men's soccer team finished out their season with a 9-8-1 overall record as the New Hampshire Wildcats (13-1-3) came out victorious in the semifinal round of the America East Tournament in a score of 3-0 at Wildcat Stadium on Wednesday night.

"The last couple of minutes in the first half led us to an unfortunate situation," stated head coach Christian Figueroa. "It certainly changed the momentum of the game heading into the half being down one. I thought our guys played as hard as they could for the 90 minutes, and I feel like they deserved more than the result they got."
 
The River Hawk defense was tested straight out of the gate when Jacob Gould registered the first shot of the game for the Wildcats, only to be answered with a diving save by sophomore goalkeeper Patrik Gujic (Bjelovar, Croatia).
 
Renato Kauzlaric (Zagreb, Croatia) was the first River Hawk to put a shot on target in the eighth minute, but the left-sided shot was denied by the UNH keeper.
 
After back-and-forth action, Rory O'Driscoll connected with the back of the net off a Wildcat throw in, bringing the score to 1-0 just before entering the locker room.
 
For a strong defensive first half, Gujic faced 13 shots with five of them on goal compared to Alejandro Robles two saves.
 
Coming out at the half, the Wildcats were able to notch their second goal of the game when Bilal Kamal received a through ball, sending it into the back-left corner of the net.
 
The final strike came for the Wildcats in the 77th minute when Gould sent a cross pass to Antonio Collaci who pushed the ball into the lower left corner of the net, ending the game in a final score to 3-0.

"I think we played some of our best soccer in the last stretch of the season," commented Figueroa. "Overall, I'm very happy with our group and proud of the seniors for the time they've given us. Now it's time to look back on the season and see what we need to do in order to be better for next year."