Sarah Harlinksi

Beacons player Elia Velez during a game. Photo by Sarah Harlinski / Contributor

Men’s Soccer: 
Bobby Beacon is one happy camper right now, given the winning streak the men’s soccer team has been on as of late. Men’s soccer has been on a tear lately, winning five straight games and outscoring their opponents 14–2 in the process. Five of those goals came in a 5–0 rout of Plymouth State on Sept. 24, where they outshot the Panthers 23–11, with all 10 points—five goals, five assists—coming from nine different players (1).
Their streak began with a win against Worcester State on Sept. 14, their sixth consecutive win against the school. Junior Josh DeAlmeida was the lone scorer with two goals in the game (2). The Beacons propelled their momentum into their following game, against defending LEC champions Eastern Connecticut State, on Sept. 17, where they defeated the program for the first time since 2016, scoring three goals on three shots—talk about efficiency! (3)
The team then went on to win a game to remember in their final away game of a seven-game road trip against Bridgewater State. Freshman midfielder Luan Cruz scored a game winning goal off a corner kick from Diego Gisholt with 30 seconds remaining in the game, just three minutes after the Bears tied the game at one (4). The Beacons outshot the Bears 18–17, with the last shot being the difference in the score sheet as well (5).
After their action-packed victory, the Beacons beat Plymouth State and kept rolling, winning their fifth straight game against the University of Southern Maine, 2–0. Freshman sensation Luan Cruz registered a goal and a point in his fifth straight game, and Gisholt was the other goal scorer, both of whom teamed up for the winner against the Bears. Catch the Beacons play against Eastern Nazarene College on Oct. 1, and away against Wentworth Institute on Oct. 4, as they try to continue their hot streak and push their winning streak to the limit.
Women’ Soccer
With men’s soccer getting off to a hot start, there are hopes that women’s soccer will get on the right track as the season progresses, too. UMass Boston’s women’s soccer team has gotten off to a rocky start, sporting a 1–7–2 record through 10 games, with one of the ties coming against California Institute of Technology, where the game ended with no goals scored for either team. Despite the record the Beacons hold, there is still optimism for a season turnaround, especially when looking at the positive perspectives of how the season has gone so far.
Even with seven losses on the season for the Beacons, there are still some positives to take away from the games that have been played. One of the positives taken away is that five of the Beacons’ seven losses on the season have been decided by only one goal, with four of those five losses having a final score of 1–0 (6). Their two other losses, decided by more than one goal, came against a ranked Babson College team on Sept. 14, who came into the matchup with a 5–0 record (7), and against the University of Southern Maine, where the Beacons were the away team and facing a 7–1 Huskies squad (8).
One of the biggest takeaways from the women’s season so far is the problem with generating offense on a consistent basis. The team went on a five-game scoring drought in the beginning of the season after their loss to the United States Coast Guard Academy on Sept. 2. They ended the drought in their 2–0 win over Wheaton College on Sept. 21.
Goals in their win against Wheaton were scored by junior midfielder Elia Velez’, which was also the first goal of her collegiate career, and senior forward Kaylee Haynes, who also added an assist in the game for the first points of her senior season. Goalkeeper Maria Spylios also brought her GAA down to an impressive 1.00, further proving how great both the defense and goalkeeping are for the Beacons (9).
There are still many games left to be played for the women’s soccer team in order to turn their season around for the better, and it’s only a matter of time before all three main phases start clicking simultaneously. The main focus for the Beacons moving forward is to improve their offensive game plan and attack in order to help produce more shots on goal, which would hopefully translate to more goals scored.
If they keep up the great defensive play and generate a better scoring output, then women’s soccer would definitely have the capability to go on a run similar to that of the men’s team. In essence, a potential winning streak would help even out a record that doesn’t translate well, given how underrated they actually are, and would instead show their true potential as a team that only needed to develop offensive chemistry to prove how good they can truly be.

1. Men’s Soccer vs Plymouth State University on 9/24/2022 – Box Score – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
2. DeAlmeida and Defense Drive Men’s Soccer to Second Win of Season – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
3. Men’s Soccer Downs Three-Time Defending LEC Champion Eastern Connecticut on the Road – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
4. Thriller for Three! Men’s Soccer Defeats Bridgewater State on Cruz’s Last Second Goal – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
5. Men’s Soccer vs Bridgewater State University on 9/19/2022 – Box Score – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
6. 2022 Women’s Soccer Schedule – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
7. Three Second Half Goals Lifts No. 11 Babson Over Women’s Soccer – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
8. Women’s Soccer Drops Conference Match to Southern Maine – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)
9. One For The Win Column! Women’s Soccer Surges Past Wheaton – UMass Boston (beaconsathletics.com)