GORHAM, Maine—UMass Boston men's soccer senior
Nilton de Andrade (Fogo, Cape Verde) scored his league-leading tenth goal of the season in the 85
th minute, to lead men's soccer past host University of Southern Maine 2-1.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 2, Southern Maine 1
(UMass Boston 6-2-2, Little East 2-1)
(Southern Maine 4-4-1, Little East 0-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the game tied in the 85
th minute, UMass Boston earned a corner kick.
Estevao Gomes' (Fogo, Cape Verde) corner landed at the top of the six and was deflected out by sophomore
Luis Spinola (Brockton, Mass.). The ball bounced all the way out of the box to senior
Cristian Suvak (Winchester, Mass.) who calmly found de Andrade at the edge of the box. The senior dribbled past two defenders and cut towards the goal, before lifting a shot towards the near post that was deflected off a Husky and past the stunned Southern Maine goalie.
The goal by de Andrade capped off a dominating performance by the Beacons in everything but the scoreboard.
UMass Boston initially took the lead in the 20
th minute. After a Huskies foul, the Beacons took a free kick quickly with
John Santos (Brockton, Mass.) sliding a pass through the Huskies defense for de Andrade. The Beacons senior first touch ended up behind him, so he flicked the ball backwards for
Emelson Barbosa (Fogo, Cape Verde) who rocketed a shot off the underside of the bar and in.
Southern Maine equalized in the 70th when sophomore Yahya Altaie knocked in his first intercollegiate goal from eight yards out. Altaie benefitted from a well-placed centering pass from senior Zekariya Shaib.
UMass Boston junior goalie
Qasim El-Ashkar made one save on two shots to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Southern Maine's Jacob Statires made seven saves for the Huskies.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston held a 22-3 edge in shots and a 9-2 lead in shots on goal. The Beacons also led 10-2 in corner kicks.
- De Andrade leads the Little East with his 10 goals, 23 points and five game-winning goals.
- The Beacons have won three games in a row for the first time this season. UMass Boston hadn't won three in a row since a four-game winning streak from October 9-22, 2019.
- With the win, UMass Boston has now won nine in a row over the Huskies and leads the all-time series 23-14-2.
- Barbosa's goal was the first collegiate goal for the Beacons center back.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will host out-of-region opponent Marymount University (Va.) on Saturday night at 7:15 p.m.