The Beacons defeat Western Connecticut State University—again. In this installment of “It’s Always Sunny in Beaconville,” UMass Boston Men’s Soccer took on Western Connecticut State Saturday, Oct. 14. The Beacons rained on the Wolves’ parade and defeated the pack once again in their long-awaited sequel of their 2022 Little East Conference championship match. The gang crawled back from a 1–0 attack by the Wolves, scoring two unanswered goals to escape with a massive home win.
WestConn got on the board early, rebounding from an early attack by the Beacons in the first few minutes. Multiple corner kicks by UMass Boston soon turned into a scoring opportunity for the Wolves, who found the back of the net for a quick 1–0 lead just a few minutes in. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair that saw neither team get going offensively. It wasn’t until midway through the first half that Ryan Lima netted the equalizer.
A beautiful centering pass to Lima from Marron Acheampong saw the midfielder break free on the right side of the penalty box, and he sniped a missile that curved to the top right corner, evening the game at one apiece. The rest of the first half saw tensions brewing and tempers flaring on both sides, with yellow cards being handed out left and right. Another opportunity presented itself for Lima to net his second goal of the game, but that was stopped mere minutes before the second half concluded. The final couple minutes for both sides didn’t end swiftly though, as another yellow card was presented to WestConn in the countdown toward halftime.
Half number two began with another ongoing battle for men’s soccer. The team came out firing on all cylinders again once play resumed, trying to put the Wolves to bed early with four shots on goal in the first couple minutes. Most of the Beacons’ shots went wide of the net, but their relentlessness showed promise with their second-half game-plan’s proficiency. However, a yellow card presented to the Beacons killed their momentum, and it was back to an offensive standstill for both teams.
WestConn began to rally as well; the Wolves had multiple chances from long distance to take a 2–1 lead on the Beacons; goalkeeper Qasim El-Ashkar made impressive leaping saves, catching any ball that came his way, whether it was from a corner kick or clear. From a vantage point of looking across the field, El-Ashkar consistently came down with the ball right before it crossed the plane of the goal line on a few different occasions.
El-Ashkar’s crucial saves sparked some motivation for the Beacons to build momentum offensively, knowing they can trust the brick wall in net to stop shots for them and keep them neck-and-neck with a team as resilient as WestConn. However, the Wolves’ determination was set to overdrive once Gabriel Meireles found himself scoring a nifty goal from near the penalty dot, giving the Beacons their first lead of the game with well under a half hour of play to go.
The score brought an eruption of cheers from UMass Boston’s faithful, who were cheering on from behind the net; Meireles embraced and fed into the warm ovation for his heroics, pounding his chest and walking up to on goers leaning against the fence on the sideline with his hands up in the air as his teammates came to celebrate with him.
As the game progressed from Meireles’ eventual game-winner, men’s soccer’s vocal presence grew exponentially in an attempt to rile up the team while they had the Wolves’ backs against the wall. Every defensive zone clear, every ball cleared out of bounds, every forced turnover that led to a goal kick for UMass Boston was met with unwavering support from the sideline. Meireles was close to getting his second from the game after a sensational spin move allowed room for him to shoot away, but his shot went over the crossbar in what was an otherwise spectacular showcase of skills. The crowd grew silent, however, when he came down with an injury while battling for the ball in the corner, but UMass Boston’s leading goal scorer got up and played through his pain.
The final minutes gave way to some apprehensive moments for the Beacons, one of which was a shot that hit the top of the crossbar and came close to tying the game at two. Although, the group played keep away from the Wolves for the final ten minutes of the match, clearing the ball out of bounds or deep into their offensive zone with any chance they could get. The sideline was buzzing as the game clock ticked down to the final seconds, and with the Wolves failing to get a corner kick off with ten seconds remaining, players stormed the field jumping with joy and celebrating with deafening screams. The crowd cheered alongside the players, offering applause, whistling and some screams of their own.
The Beacons’ win over WestConn is their most important victory to date, as it provided a tremendously high confidence boost to the team in regard to how they perform under pressure with massive stakes on the line. They fought back after an early 1–0 hole and stuck with their game plan throughout, rallying the troops and igniting energy with their teammates providing a great deal of encouragement and reassurance from the sideline.
The team’s valor efforts against a dogged opponent in WestConn speaks volumes in how much they can click in adverse situations, and this sturdiness is exactly what they need to repeat as LEC champions. Things are looking up for men’s soccer, and with how tightly knit they’ve become as they near the closing stages of the fall season, it looks like it will always be sunny in Beaconville until next season rolls around.