Box Score ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose played fundamentally sound soccer for 90 minutes and threw a scare into sixth-ranked UMass Lowell, before the River Hawks countered with two unanswered strikes to upend the Golden Knights 4-2 in a
Northeast-10 Conference encounter today at
Sullivan Field at the Plumeri Sports Complex.
Sophomore forward
Jeff Kozlowski and senior midfielder
Dan Nilsson both scored for Saint Rose, while freshman keeper
Todd Lawson turned aside six shots-on-target in his third collegiate start to keep the Golden Knights within striking distance.
The River Hawks had three different players account for their four goals. Sophomore forward Homero Morais, who entered the day second in the NE-10 with 18 points on the year, added to that total with a pair of strikes, including the game-winner as the River Hawks (10-0-1/9-0-0 NE-10) won their 10th straight following a season-opening 1-1 draw versus Dowling.
Sophomore forward Eric DeSantis and junior midfielder Daniel Galvin accounted for the other two goals, while senior midfielder Bruno Bonicontro delivered a pair of assists.
UMass Lowell never trailed and appeared to be in good shape after Morais collected a quick feed from Bonicontro and one-touched home a shot into the right corner from the middle of the area with a mere 11:44 elapsed. However, freshman midfielder
Martin Schlegel sent in a nifty through ball that Kozlowski ran onto and slipped into the lower right corner with 17:03 gone by to draw Saint Rose even.
After an UMass Lowell goal was nullified on an offside, the River Hawks put themselves in front three minutes prior to intermission when DeSantis won a long ball from the back and fired his shot inside the right post.
Regardless, Saint Rose (0-10/0-7 NE-10) generated some pace at the onset of the second stanza as Nilsson settled a square feed off the foot of freshman midfielder
Nick Iuorno and fired a shot that ricocheted off the left post and into the net to again square the match even.
The Golden Knights remained composed, but a UMass Lowell offense that has outscored its opponents 28-14 on the season remained in high gear. Morais promptly countered Nilsson's strike with what proved to be the game-winner with 54:50 gone by and then Galvin added an insurance marker with less than four minutes left to play to remove all doubt of a potential upset.
The River Hawks generated a 20-9 shot advantage, including a 10-3 differential in shots-on goal, and engineered nine corner kicks, while yielding only one to a gutty Saint Rose side.
Looking ahead, both squads have 3:00 pm dates on their dockets for Wednesday. The Golden Knights will entertain conference rival New Haven, while the River Hawks will travel to Long Island to take on top-ranked LIU Post for a key non-league match.
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