MANCHESTER, N.H. - On a cold and rainy day at
Melucci Field, the Saint Anselm men's soccer team came back from an
early 1-0 deficit to defeat the University of Massachusetts-Lowell
River Hawks (3-6, 2-5 NE-10) by a score of 2-1.
Giuseppe La Rocca (Gloucester, Mass.) and
Keesen Howe (Norwich, Conn.) each scored a goal in
the game.
The River Hawks got on the board first, as Keesen Howe's pass
hit a referee on the Saint Anselm side of the field and bounced
right to Bruno Bonicontro (Marlboro, Mass.).
He passed it to an open Jeffery Danso (Worcester,
Mass.) in the box, who netted it to give UMass.-Lowell and
early 1-0 lead just under 15 minutes into the game.
At 32:03, after a yellow card was giving to Saint Anselm, the
River Hawks got a free kick just outside the box. It looked
as though the River Hawks were about to go up 2-0, as Jhony
Valencia (Lowell, Mass.) laced a hard shot towards the
net, but freshman goalkeeper Eric Moriarty (Center Harbor,
N.H.) made a tremendous diving save to hold the River
Hawks to one goal.
A few minutes later, at 38:25, senior captain Paul
Kilday (Marshfield, Mass.) took a hard shot which was
saved by goalkeeper Ryan Richards (Holden, Mass.),
but he could not hold onto the slippery ball as it bounced back
towards junior Giuseppe La Rocca, who headed it in and tied the
score at one just before halftime.
The River Hawks changed their goalkeeper after the half, sending
sophomore Matt Lavery (Nashua, N.H.) into the
net. 10 minutes into the half, a River Hawk foul inside the
box sent Keesen Howe to the line to take a penalty shot. Howe
laced a shot past the diving Lavery to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead,
which they would proceed to hold onto for the remainder of the
game.
Eric Moriarty, making his third career start in goal, turned
aside seven shots in the match, en route to his second career
win. Ryan Richards had six saves in the first half, and Matt
Lavery had four saves in relief. The Hawks (3-6-2, 3-3 NE-10)
look to extend their current unbeaten streak to five games on
Tuesday, October 6th, as they travel to Merrimack College to take
on the Warriors under the lights at 7:00 pm.
