BOSTON, Mass. - Thursday afternoon's matchup came to an abrupt halt when an Eastern Nazarene College player suffered a traumatic blow to the head. After nearly a half hour of on-field care, the player was transported to the hospital and the Beacons moved past the scary moment to win the game 3-2. 

THE BASICS
UMass Boston 3, Eastern Nazarene College 2

UMass Boston (7-2-0, 1-0-0 LEC)
Eastern Nazarene College (2-2-2, 1-0-0 NEC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
UMass Boston's Gabriel Meireles has been having a debut season to remember for the Beacons, and Thursday afternoon's game was another for the books. Seeing the pitch for the first time since being named the Little East Conference's Offensive Player of the Week, Merieles wasted no time, netting his ninth goal in as many games this season just 30 seconds into the match.

The Eastern Nazarene response was not quite as quick but did swing the lead their way. Carlos Moya netted his first goal of the season to tie the game at one in the 27th minute, setting up Dan Hill to score the go-ahead goal in the 39th.

With time ticking off the clock in the first half, it appeared that the Beacons would be trailing at halftime for just the second time this season. Ryan Lima, however, always with a flare for the dramatic, capitalized on a penalty kick opportunity with under a minute left to play. Lima's seventh goal of the season knotted the score at two all.

The second half belonged to both defenses. The two squads engaged in physical play and each struggled to wager shots on goal. The defensive stalemate was finally broken in the 78th minute when Logan Erickson Potter knocked in a feed from the Beacons' "Iron Man" Diego Gisholt. Erickson Potter's second goal of the 2023 campaign put the Beacons ahead 3-2 with just over ten minutes to play.



BY THE NUMBERS

• Meireles' nine goals on the season put him in a tie with several others for the second-most in NCAA Division III
• The Beacons shot 50% on the day, scoring on three of their six shots on goal
• Thursday marked the sixth game this season in which Lima and Meireles have each scored at least one goal
• The team's 7-2 record is their best nine-game start since the 2021 season
• The Beacons extended a three game unbeaten streak against Eastern Nazarene, improving their record in the all-time series to 22-6-3

WHO'S NEXT
The red card assessed to Meireles for his collision means that the Beacons will be without their top goal-scorer for at least their next match. They will look to other sources for offensive firepower when they play host to conference foe UMass Dartmouth at noon on Wednesday, September 27.