BOSTON, Mass. – A Lenir Lima (Praia, Cape Verde) goal with less than three minutes play in regulation proved to be the deciding marker as men's soccer edged Rhode Island College 1-0 to earn the program's first Little East Conference Tournament semi-final win, Wednesday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center Field.

Assisting on perhaps the biggest goal in the history of the men's soccer program was freshman Joshua Khang (Brockton, Mass.).  The Brockton native put an impressive display of ball control before laying a pass to into the box, where it deflected off of an Anchormen defender.  The ball would land perfectly on Lima's foot, and after two quick touches, the senior from Cape Verde drove the ball home to give UMass the 1-0 lead.

The Beacons defense which was solid all afternoon, cleaned up the rest as the Beacons rushed the field in celebration.  With the victory, UMass Boston will host it's first-ever conference championship on Saturday.  The Beacons will take on the third-seeded Owls of Keene State College, who bumped off the second-seeded Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State University, with a 1-0 victory of-their-own. 

UMass Boston had their chances throughout the contest, but were stopped every time by RIC goalkeeper Adam Ghazal, who played his best game ever for the Anchormen.  Ghazal registered eight saves in the loss, five of which came in the second half.

After a back-and-forth foul filled first half, the Beacons spread the field in the second, which resulted in a combined nine shots.  RIC was held to just two over the final 45 minutes, with only of those shots nearly hitting its mark.  In the 66^th minute UMass goalkeeper Alfonso Rosales (Revere, Mass.), had to make the save of his career to keep the score deadlocked at 0-0.  Akiel Legall fired off a shot, but luckily for UMass Rosales was able to deflect it away.

Following that chance, the Beacons offense began to pepper the Anchormen defense consistently for the final 20+ minutes.  Pedro Dasilva (Fogo, Cape Verde) was stopped twice by Ghazal, while Luis Mattos (Sete Lagoas, Brazil) rattled a shot off the crossbar with less than nine to play. 

In the first half senior Marcus Pizzetti (Malden, Mass.), almost put UMass ahead 1-0 on a well struck free kick, but Ghazal denied the opportunity on his first of three big saves in the contest.

As time continued to wind down in the opening half, the rough play continued, which eventually resulted in a total of four cards, two of which were reds.  With less than seven to play, Mattos hit a low hard shot that nearly broke the goal line, but was once again pushed aside by a diving Ghazal.

After the halftime break, the Beacons used the 10 vs. 10 playing field to their advantage.  Khang and senior Douglas Silveira (Revere, Mass.) controlled the middle-third of the field, which allowed the forwards to make harder runs into the box.

The Anchormen led the contest 3-2 in corner kicks, but it was UMass who ended the day with a 13-5 advantage in total shots.

Overall the Beacons improved to a 13-5-2 on the year, which ties the program record for most wins in a single season.  The last 13-win campaign came in 1996.  It also marked the first win for UMass over the Anchormen since 2010.  The last six matches between the two squads have all been decided by no more than one goal.  Rhode Island College closed out its 2014 season with an overall record of 12-6-1.