LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Linus Musielak (Dortmund, Germany) scored his second goal of the season, as the UMass Lowell men's soccer team (3-2-1) fell to the Massachusetts Minutemen (4-1-1), 3-1, on Wednesday night at Cushing Field.

"Obviously I'm disappointed with the loss," said Head Coach Kyle Zenoni, "but I'll tell you what I'm proud of the way we played. We had plenty of chances, and I think the goals that we gave up we should've been a little preventable. The ball didn't bounce our way a little bit on a couple of them, but I'm actually very pleased with the way we played."

Musielak, who finished the night with two shots, was one of three River Hawks to register a shot on goal, with senior Oliver Holmstrom (Gävle, Sweden) tallying two on two shots and sophomore Matteo Costa (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) finishing with one on his lone shot. Redshirt sophomore Justin Pham (Liverpool, N.Y.) led the team with four shots, and in net graduate student Jorge Ortega (Tijuana B.C., Mexico) made three saves in the start.

Despite the River Hawks coming out aggressive and firing the first shot of the game off only six minutes in, the Minutemen were first to strike, scoring with 15:39 on the clock to take an early 1-0 lead. UMass Lowell wasted no time responding, though, as only minutes later, they found their best scoring opportunity early in the match. Moving the ball down the middle of the field, junior Alex Champagne (Pembroke Pines, Fl.) chipped the ball to sophomore Crisitano Da Silva (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) on the right end of the field. Da Silva quickly fired the ball into the box, and although a Minuteman defender got a foot on it, it rebounded out to Musielak, who drilled a shot past the keeper, evening the score at 1-1 in the 23^rd minute.

In the remainder of the first half, the River Hawks continued to put pressure on the visitors' defense, tallying a pair of shots in just over a minute. Massachusetts, however, was up for the challenge, with its goalie making a diving kick save to keep UMass Lowell off the board. Despite one more shot by the Minutemen, neither side was able to find the go-ahead goal, sending the game into the break still knotted up at 1-1.

Although both sides continued to battle in the opening minutes of the second half, Massachusetts found a scoring opportunity early, finding the back of the net at 57:46 to retake the lead, 1-0.  The hosts refused to back down, though, outshooting the opposition 3-1 over the next 20 minutes, including nearly tying the game in the 80^th minute off the foot of junior Ethan Agyare-Danso (Etobicoke, Canada), but his shot ricocheted off the left post, preventing the junior from evening the score.

In the final 10 minutes, the River Hawks continued to fight, but a goal by the visitors in the 81^st minute sealed the 3-1 decision.

Next up, the River Hawks are back in action next Tuesday, September 16, when they host the Merrimack Warriors. Opening kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Cushing Field. Admission is free all season thanks to Eastern Salt and Mahoney Oil.