ONEONTA, N.Y.—Despite a career-high seven saves from freshman goalie
JJ Devine (Halifax, Mass.), UMass Boston men's soccer fell 2-1 to #24 SUNY Oneonta on Monday afternoon at Red Dragon Stadium.
THE BASICS
#24 SUNY Oneonta 2, UMass Boston 1
(UMass Boston 2-1)
(#24 SUNY Oneonta 1-0-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Devine kept the Beacons in the game all afternoon long, as he nearly quadrupled his career-high in stops. The freshman made his biggest save of the game in the 84
th minute, when he dove down to his right to stop a Malcolm Swett penalty kick.
Unfortunately for the Beacons, SUNY Oneonta would score just over two minutes later to take the lead for good.
Junior Alex Sipos redirected a crossing pass into the back of the goal to give the hosts the lead. The ball was crossed first by junior Lucas Fecci, where senior Matt Howe crossed it in front of the goal for Sipos to finish.
Beacons senior midfielder
Nilton de Andrade (Fogo, Cape Verde) scored his fourth goal in three games for UMass Boston. The play started in the midfield when
Estevao Gomes (Fogo, Cape Verde) slotted a pass that de Andrade was able to retrieve behind the defense. De Andrade carried the ball into the box and slid a shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
Junior
Vangjel Gjergo (Korçë, Albania) was awarded an assist on the play.
Red Dragons goalie Nate Hanna made one save on two shots to earn the victory.
The Red Dragons opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when Fecci crossed a ball that senior Matt Howe got his head on to redirect it by the Beacon keeper.
Seven minutes later, a loose-ball bounced over the Beacon keeper and was headed toward the goal before
Yuran Teixeira (Praia, Cape Verde) cleared it off the line to save the goal.
About one minute later, Oneonta was awarded a penalty kick, which was taken by Fecci, who was the player taken down in the box to draw the call. Fecci though sailed the shot over the bar to keep the game 1-0.
After giving up the go-ahead goal, UMass Boston had two final chances to force overtime.
De Andrade weaved his way through several defenders and got off a low shot that Hanna was able to corral in the 87
th minute. UMass Boston drew a free kick in the offensive half with 15 seconds to play, but the ball was headed away and the Beacons were unable to get off a cross into the box.
BY THE NUMBERS
- SUNY Oneonta held a 24-4 edge in shots and 10-2 in shots on goal. The Red Dragons also led 10-1 in corner kicks.
- De Andrade now has 1101 points for his career. The senior recorded 69 points in 34 appearances at Newbury College and is up to 42 points in 26 games as a Beacon.
- With the loss, UMass Boston fell to 0-2 all-time against the Red Dragons. SUNY Oneonta beat UMass Boston 4-1 on September 8, 2018.
- Devine is the first Beacons goalie to stop a penalty kick since Omar Castro-Dreher ('19) made a save against Worcester State University on September 17, 2019. Castro-Dreher stopped two penalty kicks during games in his career and four total.
- Freshman Dylan Kelley (Weymouth, Mass.) made his collegiate debut in the contest.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will be off until Wednesday, September 15, when they host Worcester State University at 7:15 p.m.
Parts of this release courtesy of SUNY Oneonta Sports Information Department