The UMass men’s soccer team (1-0-1, as of September 13) failed to penetrate the net in a scoreless draw, while they dominated their first home game against Newbury College on Saturday, September 11.
As a proof of the Beacons’ dominance, they outnumbered the Nighthawks in shots (19-7) and corner kicks (18-2) respectively. Head Coach Myles Berry commented, “We should have scored a bunch of goals. [The Nighthawks] didn’t have any threats at all. But we just missed so many chances.”
From the beginning, the Beacons didn’t waste time to probe the opponent. In front of the nearly 30 spectators, they showed many right-after-the-whistle-goal opportunities supplied by freshman forward Ergys Hute, junior forward Sean Vauldrin and sophomore midfielder Maynor Sanchez on the right side, senior midfielder Alejandro Lopez at the center, and junior forward James Ocampo on the left wing.
At the 21st minute, Hute dribbled and broke through the defense line on the right, before feeding the wide-open Sanchez a pass to center. Then, Sanchez secured his possession and made a shot that was blocked by the goalie. The Beacons got close to the net in the first half when sophomore Michael Reda, passed to freshman forward Guilherme Goncalves who caught up with the ball behind the Nighthawks defense line to confront the goalie. He tried for the goal, but missed the net, almost striking one of the goal posts.
In the second half, the Beacons’ offence continued their assault and Newbury’s defenders lost their energy. The Nighthawks weren’t offensively aggressive during the course of the game. They stuck to the same defense strategy for about 90% of the game. When they stole the ball from the Beacons’ offense, the Nighthawks took some chances with long passes to their forwards on the opposite end of the pitch. But the well-rested Beacons defenders, led by senior David Lococo and freshman goalkeeper Richard DaSilva, were able to do their parts admirably.
After overtime, the game-ending whistle meant an unacceptable draw to the drooping Beacons, while the Nighthawks’ bench swelled with a gleeful cackle. “I think we lacked intensity at the beginning, though some players played high in the second half. Let’s give credits on [the Nighthawks]. This was the team we won against easily last year. They must have gotten big confidence today.”
Previously, the Beacons opened the season with a victory against the Fitchburg State College by 3-2 on Tuesday, September 9. Hute scored his first collegiate goal assisted by Stoker at the almost immediate start of the game. Sanchez and Reda also scored after receiving well-placed passes from Lopez and Hute towards the end of the first half. Fitchburg scored two penetrating goals, one before half-time, and the other towards the very terminus of the game’s 90-minute battle, though they were not enough to offset UMB’s goal raping of the net during the first half.
The Beacons will play another away-game on Saturday, September 18, at Keene State College, last year’s runner-up of the Little East Conference. The next home game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 21, against Suffolk University.