BALTIMORE - A second-half spurt pushed the UMass Lowell River Hawks past UMBC, 3-2, on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Retriever Soccer Park.
The Retrievers looked the better side for much of the match, leading 1-0 into the 58th minute, before a River Hawk flurry resulting in three goals in just over three minutes gave UMass Lowell an America East victory.
UMBC scored just four minutes into the contest, as
Alberto Galicia played a beautiful ball on a corner kick, finding the head of freshman
Nico Banks to put the Retrievers ahead early on.
In the 58th minute, Alex Champagne scored the first of three goals in 3:11 for UMass Lowell, followed in quick succession by Santiago Somorrostro and Justin Goodbout-Garon.
UMBC made a late push, scoring in the 86th minute as Galicia added his second assist of the day on a feed to
Flynn Holdem to give a pair of Retriever freshmen their first goals in conference play.
UMass Lowell keeper Moritz Aé worked hard in the contest, making nine saves in the contest.
Abdi Bahur had an opportunity just 1:07 into the game, but was turned away by an acrobatic save by Aé. Bahur was denied again in the 12th minute, while Galicia was rejected in the 14th.
Joe Pollard made his lone save of the first half in the 16th minute before the defense held for a clean opening 45 minutes.
Just before the UMass Lowell spurt,
Adamo Pantaleo nearly put UMBC ahead 2-0, taking a strong rip from well outside the 18-yard-box, but Aé saw it at the last second to turn it away.
In the waning moments of the contest, Holdem missed wide of the goal and a last-ditch effort from
Jonas Nistad just before the horn was turned away by Aé for his ninth save of the match.
UMBC got the better of UMass Lowell statistically, putting out 22 shots to the River Hawks' seven. UMBC took six corners in the match to UMass Lowell's three as well.
The Retrievers return to action on Friday evening in Rhode Island as they take on Bryant at 7 p.m.
