LOWELL, Mass. – Three River Hawks finished with three shots, as the UMass Lowell men's soccer team (7-5-2, 2-2-1 AE) fell to the UMBC Retrievers (5-6-3, 1-3-1 AE), 2-0, on Saturday night.

"Credit to UMBC, they did a good job and took care of their chances when needed," said Head Coach Kyle Zenoni. "They did enough to win the game for sure. We've got to get over this hump. It's obviously disappointing, but we put ourselves in a good position to get in on Friday against New Hampshire, so we've just got to rest up and prepare for that."

Leading the way offensively for UMass Lowell was senior Iñaki Esnaola (Junin, Argentina), who finished with two shots, including one on goal. Junior Ethan Agyare-Danso (Etobicoke, Canada) and sophomore Matteo Costa (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) both added two shots, while junior Ethan Young (Kansas City, Mo.) added one shot on target.

Although the River Hawks' offense was first to register a shot less than ten minutes in, the Retrievers capitalized on their first opportunity of the night, scoring with 10:09 on the clock to take an early 1-0 lead. Trying to extend their lead, UMBC kept pressure on UMass Lowell, but the defense was up for the challenge, preventing a pair of shots from reaching the net to keep it a one-score game.

Midway through the first period, the hosts started to find their footing on offense, starting with a shot by Esnaola that just cleared the top crossbar in the 27^th minute. Despite neither side finding a scoring opportunity for nearly ten minutes, the River Hawks nearly got their equalizer, as Esnaola ripped a shot towards the bottom left of the net, but the visitors' keeper reacted quickly to get in front of the shot. Young added a shot on target of his own with just under two minutes remaining in the half, but another save kept UMBC in front 1-0 heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, UMass Lowell's defense locked down, only allowing one shot by the opposition for over 20 minutes of action. Meanwhile, the offense found its best opportunity yet, as senior Oliver Holmstrom (Gävle, Sweden) collected the ball in the box before tapping the ball towards Costa. With time to set up his shot, Costa sent a rocket at the net, but it just went over the net, keeping it a one-goal difference.

In the 67^th minute, UMBC finally broke through, finding the back of the net to extend the lead to 2-0.  Refusing to back down, the River Hawks outshot the opposition 3-0 the rest of the way, but were unable to get on the board, sealing the 2-0 decision.

Next up, the River Hawks close out the regular season home stand when they welcome New Hampshire on Friday, October 31. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Cushing Field.