LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell men's soccer team (1-0-0, 0-0-0 AE) started off the new season with a 2-0 victory over the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers (0-1-0, 0-0-0 NEC) Thursday night at Cushing Field. The win marked head coach
Kyle Zenoni's first victory at the helm since joining the River Hawks this summer.
Sophomore VIljar Byrkjeland (Norheimsund, Norway) opened scoring for the River Hawks with a goal off an assist from sophomore
Kai McLoughlin (Dural, New South Wales) in the 19th minute. Junior Guillermo Francés Poquet (Enguera, Valencia) cemented the decision with a goal off a penalty kick opportunity to close out the second half to extend the River Hawk lead.
In net, senior goalie
Jacob Heihsel (Holliston, Mass.) logged a complete game in his sixth career start, recording one save en route to the shutout.
"I couldn't be more proud with the way they stayed together and defended," said Zenoni following the match. "That's a good team, that's a really good team that we just played."
The River Hawks found their rhythm early, logging three shots in the first 13 minutes of play. Continuing its aggressive offensive strategy, the team finally found an opening when McLoughlin fired a pass across the field to Byrkjeland, who launched a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to give UMass Lowell a 1-0 lead. The strike marked Byrkjeland's first point as a River Hawk.
Led by the efforts of Heihsel, the UMass Lowell defense stayed active as the first half ticked on and limited the eager Terriers to just four shots in the opening half.
In the 39
th minute, UMass Lowell earned a penalty kick thanks to a defensive error by the Terriers. Poquet capitalized on the chance and sent one pass the St. Francis Brooklyn netminder to push the River Hawks to a 2-0 lead heading into the half.
Coming out of the break, the River Hawks earned another prime opportunity to score when senior
Borna Miklic (Kutina, Croatia) headed a long crossing pass just wide of the post. Although the visiting Terriers tested the unrelenting UMass Lowell backline into the final minutes of the match, an impressive defensive showing solidified the shutout for the River Hawks.
Next up, the River Hawks go on their first road trip to take on Siena at Hickey Field on Monday, August 29, at 4 p.m.
