Men's Soccer Drops Match at Lowell, 2-0

10/26/2010 12:00:00 AM

LOWELL, Mass.- Despite owning a 22-7 advantage in shots, the Merrimack men's soccer team fell 2-0 to UMass Lowell on the road Tuesday evening at Cushing Field. With the loss, the Warriors move to 9-6-1 overall and 5-6-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The River Hawks increased their record to 3-10-2 on the year and 2-8-2 in the league.

After the opening kickoff, Merrimack held possession down in their offensive end and created numerous scoring opportunities. Olof Lindhe (Stockholm, Sweden) ripped two shots from just outside the penalty box. Lindhe's first shot caught the UMass Lowell goalkeeper by surprise as it nearly sailed in over his head but the netminder got a glove on it. Lindhe came close to netting the game's first goal minutes later but had his shot ring off the crossbar.

Robbie Sabadoz (Ottawa, Ont.) and Franklin Pena (Revere, Mass.) both broke in behind the River Hawks' backline but neither player could find the back of the net.

In the 34th minute, Asley Barrios sent in a free kick and Evan Spann flicked the ball into the side of the goal to give the home team a 1-0 advantage. UMass Lowell would hold onto the one-goal lead for the remainder of the first period.

The Warriors pushed for an equalizer in the second half. Merrimack earned four corner kicks in the second period. Sabadoz, Pena and Matt McFadden (New Hampton, N.H.) and Rafael Cabral (Woburn, Mass.) all had chances to tally a goal in the half.

With nine minutes remaining in regulation, the River Hawks were awarded a penalty kick. Stephen Potcner stepped up and placed a shot into the left side of the frame to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team.

Mattias Drummond (Partille, Sweden) turned aside two shots in the match for Merrimack. Connor Askins stopped all eight shots that he faced in the game for UMass Lowell.

Lindhe lead the Warriors with seven shots and three on frame in the contest while Sabadoz fired six with two on target.

"I felt that we came out strong and had great chances to get an early goal," commented junior tri-captain Nicholas LoCoco (Gloucester, Mass.). "We outplayed them throughout the game but we fell behind and couldn't climb out of a 1-0 hole."