LOWELL, Mass. – Roko Prsa (Sisak, Croatia) headed home the game winner with 29 seconds left in double overtime as the UMass Lowell men's soccer team escaped with the 2-1 victory against Boston University on Saturday night.
Dario Jovanovski (Zagreb, Croatia) recorded a three-point night as he opened the scoring with first goal of the season and had the assist on Prsa's fifth career game-winning tally.
"It was a good response from the group," said Head Coach
Christian Figueroa. "We did well in the first half and went through a little spell in the second half, with BU making it very difficult at times. We were unfortunate with the penalty call, but the guys did a good job to get a response after that and create opportunities, but just couldn't get one to go at the end of regulation. It was good to see how we responded in the overtime periods, and especially in the final minute of the second."
After the River Hawks (2-2-1) won a free kick, Jovanovski sent the set piece into the box and found Prsa standing all alone in the six-yard box and the senior calmly placed the header into the back of the net to knock off the Terriers (0-5-0).
UMass Lowell outshot the visitors, 19-14, and put 10 on target compared to BU's three. Patrick Gujic (Bjelovar, Croatia) stopped two attempts in the win.
As both teams seemed headed to a scoreless first half, the hosts capitalized on a Terrier turnover, and with less than five minutes remaining Jovanovski let his shot go from 25-yards out that beat the BU keeper to the upper right corner. The senior gathered a pass from
Stanley Alves (Minas Gerais, Brazil) following the visitors giving up the ball in their own box.
In the 78th minute, the Terriers recorded their first goal of the season on a penalty kick after a foul in the box following a visitor opportunity that Gujic turned aside. Matt McDonnell converted from the spot to send the game into the extra periods.
The River Hawks and Merrimack take the field for the first time as Division I opponents on September 17 in North Andover at 4 p.m.
