Aside from the swarm of citizens of Red Sox Nation lined up in the Hub to chant for their heroes, October 30, 2004 was just another drizzling Saturday afternoon at Clark Athletic Center. Only a dozen of people attended an unheralded men’s soccer match between UMass Boston Beacons and Western Connecticut State University Colonials.

It was obviously forgotten as the capper of collegiate careers of seniors Alejandro Lopez and David Lococo, while the truly faithful fans who occupied five percent of empty seats adjacent to the pitch might have been close to what the dual captains have repeatedly seen at home in their 21-47-3 four-year tenure as Beacons. Despite a bitter 5-2 loss to the Little East Conference rival, both of the seniors decorated the farewell by assisting two goals by freshmen forwards Guilherme Goncalves and Emile Pierre-Louis. Lopez said after the match, “I am sad to leave [UMB]. I have experienced a lot of things here. But there is a start and there is an end, unfortunately.” Lococo added, “I have a mixed emotion. This was a good season with a good team. And I had good four years here. I miss these guys a lot.” The Beacons finished the 2004 season with a 6-11-1 overall record, or 1-6-0 in LEC, to be the last place among eight contenders. In the 16th minute, Lopez, last year’s LEC first team member, showed what he had left untapped during the season while recovering from a left hamstring injury. Lopez crossed a pinpoint right-side free kick to Goncalves who leaped over a Colonial defender and drilled a header past a goalie for his fifth score of the season. The Colonials, defending champion of the LEC tournament, came back in the 31st minute. Right after intercepting the ball from the Beacons, a Colonial long-passed it behind the unprepared Beacons defenders. A Colonial forward Matt Cusack received the feed by outrunning the Beacons, making it into a one-to-one situation against junior goalkeeper Roger Lau. Cusack, No.1 scorer of the Colonials, who shrewdly dodged Lau and sank a grounder into the empty goal to tie it 1-1. As the score showed, the home team played evenly against the visitors during the first half. Freshmen Carlos Cabral and Pierre-Louis, joined by Lococo, obviously won match-ups over the Colonials’ defenders on both wings and provided many threatening crosses to Goncalves, though the Beacons failed to break the ice. Sophomore Sean Vaudrin and other defenders effectively killed the Colonials’ chances in their early stages. The difference was, as Lopez observed, “[The Colonials] capitalized our mistakes.” The visitors went ahead with only nine minutes into the latter half with another counterattack and a close-range finish by Bradley Fidler. Ten minutes later, Cusack synchronized with a cross by Mario Carvajal to deliver his second goal on the day to make the score 3-1. Two-goals behind was not enough to freeze the Beacons’ adrenaline. In 80th minute, Lococo launched an attack by dribbling into the deep right wing. Then, he centered what turned out to be his seventh collegiate career assist to Pierre-Louis who dashed into the near post and literally lambasted it home, 3-2. However, Fidler crushed a Beacons’ hope to cap the season with a come-from-behind triumph. The sophomore forward executed back-to-back goals within the 86th minute, or thirty seconds apart, to make a fatal 5-2 lead. After his squad finished the season with a defeat, Berry, as usual, started with a negative remark, “I was disappointed with the [losing] season.” But even for him, it was not difficult to pick positive pieces up from the match. “[The Beacons] kept playing really hard. That was what I have asked them to do for the whole season. And they did it today. I have no complain about it. I think we matched up pretty well today, as we forced them to move quite a lot. We ad some great chances. It could have been 3-0 for us,” Berry commented. Berry was not very optimistic. Sophomore Mike Reda came close to the net twice in the second half. His left-side free kick in the 22nd minute hit the crossbar and a another blast missed the net by about 12 inches. Lopez stunned a Colonial goalie with his loop shot while the gatekeeper was temporarily off the frame. His attempt went just above the bar. Recollecting the 2004 season, Berry pointed out key injuries in Lopez, Vaudrin and some others as the biggest factor of the losing record. Both Lopez and Vaudrin missed seven games out of eighteen. After starting with sixteen players in August, the Beacons played the final week with only two substitutes on the bench. The positive side was that a bunch of freshmen and sophomores were granted ample playing time to become experienced. Berry named Cabral, Pierre-Louis and Goncalves, who led the team with five goals, had progressed the most over the season. “[In 2005], I expect a lot from them. I hope these kids will show up in a good shape in August. They should train by themselves and work out at the weight room in off-season,” the skipper said. Berry praised Lopez and Lococo, who the second-year coach has relied so much on both as players and leaders. “[Lococo] has stepped up in the last half of the season. As a midfielder he gave us a lot of push in offense. And as a defender, he was really consistent,” Berry commented. “[Lopez] is a great player. It was very unfortunate that he couldn’t play as well as before in his senior season. He has been hurt from fourth or fifth game of the season. He never had a chance to come fully back. But he played for 90 minutes today [with an injured hamstring].”