LOWELL, Mass. – Stanley Alves (Minas Gerais, Brazil) recorded the lone goal as the UMass Lowell men's soccer team opened America East play with a 1-0 win against UMBC to pick up the team's fourth straight victory.
 
As the first half dwindled down, the River Hawks (5-2-1, 1-0-0) picked up the pressure and after the third consecutive corner kick for the hosts, Alves corralled a blocked shot and passed it out to Alec Becker (Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany) who played it back to the graduate student. Finding himself with a world of space, Alves dribbled up to about 25-yards out and his third goal of the season put the hosts on top in the 43rd minute.

UMass Lowell has now won four consecutive America East openers and improved to 13-1-1 against conference opponents at Cushing Field since 2016. 
 
"Anytime you can start conference play with a win it's important, especially at home, and it was a good, tough performance against a good UMBC group," remarked Head Coach Christian Figueroa. "To start off 1-0 in America East is great, but now we just have to build on it."
 
The Retrievers (3-5-0, 0-1-0) could only generate one attempt on target, a soft shot from beyond the box in the 82nd minute, that Patrik Gujic (Bjelovar, Croatia) easily controlled. The hosts outshot the Retrievers, 12-6, in the effort, including nine in the first half.
 
Early on, Alejandro Osorio (Hollywood, Fla.) had the game's first golden opportunity but his floating shot was cleared off the line by a UMBC defender, after going over the head of the keeper. About nine minutes later, Dario Jovanovski (Zagreb, Croatia) bent his free kick around the wall from just outside the box, but the ball struck the post and stayed out.
 
UMBC looked to have equalized in the 77th minute off a corner, but the score was waved off due to a hand ball.
 
UMass Lowell will continue conference play with a road clash at Binghamton (7 p.m.) on October 5.