WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The UMass Lowell men's soccer team (0-6-1, 0-4-1 AE) battled to its first point of the short season with a hard-fought, 0-0 draw in double overtime at America East foe Hartford on Monday.
 
"I thought we put together our most complete game this spring," said Head Coach Christina Figueroa. "Conditions were tough with a strong wind, but I thought we dealt with it well and once we settled in, we had good moments. We still need to find goals to reward the work our back line continues to put in."
 
The River Hawks outshot Hartford, 11-7, in the outing and took a slight edge on corner kicks, 7-6. Senior Daniel Orrego (Revere, Mass.) paced the River Hawks with three shots in the contest, while sophomores Denis Petro (Michalovce, Slovakia), Sancho Maroto Tobias (Alcobendas, Madrid) and Alessandro Marongiu (Villa San Pietro, Italy) tallied two apiece.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Loucas Costeas (Nicosia, Cyprus) stood in net for all 110 minutes, earning his first career shutout with two saves. Hartford's Rotem Fadida added three saves in the scoreless stalemate.
 
The home team came close to getting on the board just over eight minutes into the contest when an attempt from Alec Boyd rang off the crossbar. Hartford also tallied two corner kicks in the first 20 minutes, but the River Hawks fended off the opportunities.
 
Petro put the first ball on target for UMass Lowell in the 23rd minute, firing lower left, but Fadida came up with the stop. The visitors then had three shots blocked to head into the break even at 0-0.
 
In the second half, Hartford took a 4-3 advantage on shots, although UMass Lowell had a chance to end it in the final seconds of regulation, as a ball from Orrego missed just high, sending the teams in overtime.
 
Freshman Guillermo Francés Poquet (Enguera, Valencia) forced the Hawks to make a big save in the 97th minute before Orrego got a clear look and put another one just too high.
 
Costeas put his body in front of a hard ball in the opening seconds of the second overtime. He was then tested again less than four minutes later on an attempt by Sergi Martinez.
 
Petro and Marongiu each had a chance to win it in the waning minutes, but the back line for both sides held strong for the draw.