Box Score
BOSTON, Mass.—Senior Nicole McMinamin (Acworth, Ga.) scored her first goal as a Beacon in the opening 10 minutes and UMass Boston women's soccer's backline took over from there, as the Beacons stayed perfect in Little East Conference play.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 1, UMass Dartmouth 0
(UMass Boston 4-6-1, Little East 3-0-0)
(UMass Dartmouth 3-4-1, Little East 1-1-1
HOW IT HAPPENED
Hosting their second-annual "We Do It For Wall" Game, the Beacons honored former player and assistant coach Katherine Wall ('08) with their second consecutive victory in the game that takes her name.
Sporting pink headbands and socks, with a large group of alumni in attendance, the Beacons needed just six minutes and 30 seconds to score their long goal of the game.
After earning a free kick on the near side of the field, freshman Kate Leavitt (Plymouth, Mass.) sent a low corner towards the near post; McMinamin ran onto the ball and used a back-heel flick to direct the ball just inside the near post for a 1-0 advantage. McMinamin joined the Beacons last season as a junior college transfer and scored her first goal in her 32nd appearance.
That would be all the offense the Beacons would need against a UMass Dartmouth team that fell to 0-3 in road contests.
Freshman forward Julia Masionis (Milford, Mass.) nearly doubled the Beacons advantage just before halftime, but her shot that beat the keeper, went just wide of the far post.
The Corsairs earned their best chance of the game in the 55th minute off a free-kick from 25-yards out. Talia D'Ambuoso, the team's leading scorer, sent a high-arching shot that went off the crossbar and the ball was loose off the ensuing ricochet, only for Alyssa Fugiel (Easthampton, Mass.) to gobble up the loose ball.
Fugiel improved to 3-0 in conference matches this season and earned her third-straight LEC shutout by stopping seven shots. All four of her wins this season have come by way of the shutout.
UMass Dartmouth's Madison Boucher fell to 3-4-1 after stopping four shots on five shots on goal.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The Beacons honored Wall with a ceremonial coin flip involving her former player and neighbor Kaitlyn Morse, a junior on the UMass Boston Softball team. UMass Boston also sold pink t-shirts in her honor and wore pink shirts commemorating her during warmups.
- Wall was a four-year athlete on the women's soccer, hockey and softball teams. She was inducted into the UMass Boston Hall of Fame in 2013.
- UMass Boston improves to 2-0-0 all-time in "We Do It For Wall" Games, after earning a come-from-behind 3-2 win last year against Keene State.
- The Corsairs outshot the Beacons 19-9 and 7-5 on shots on goals.
- UMass Boston earned a 3-2 advantage on corner kicks.
- With the victory, UMass Boston extended their unbeaten streak to 13 against the Corsairs (11-0-2). The Corsairs now hold a narrow 12-11-2 advantage all-time, after opening the all-time series with 12-straight wins.
- UMass Dartmouth fell to 0-3 in true road games and they have been outscored 5-0 in those games.
- The Beacons three-straight shutouts to open conference play marks the first time they've accomplished that feat since 2012.
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will make a short trip down the road to Wentworth Institute of Technology Tuesday night at 7 p.m. UMass Boston has won four-straight games against the Leopards, including a 6-1 win last season.
