NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A second-half comeback came up short as the University of New Haven men’s soccer team was outlasted by No. 12 Massachusetts Lowell, 3-2, on Friday afternoon at Kayo Field. Joseph D’Antonio (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside ) and Andres Torres (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk / Adelphi University) scored the Chargers’ pair of goals.
With the loss – their second straight to an unbeaten opponent – the Chargers fall to 3-4-0 overall and 1-3-0 in the Northeast-10. The River Hawks, who are the highest-ranked NE-10 team this week’s NSCAA national poll, improve to 6-0-1 on the season with a perfect 5-0-0 conference tally.
Massachusetts Lowell struck three times in the first half to open up a 3-0 lead at the intermission. Homero Morais netted the first goal in the 7th minute, assisted by Felipe Fagundes. Bruno Bonicontro then struck on a free kick from 21 yards out in the 24th minute to extend the lead and, less than two minutes later, Daniel Galvin made it 3-0 with a 26th-minute marker assisted by Kevin Zapata.
The Chargers would climb back in the second half with a pair of goals just 2:40 apart. D’Antonio was the first to find the back of the net, taking a through-ball from Cam Soltis (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Central) and depositing it past River Hawks’ keeper Chris Maierle to put New Haven on the board in the 59th minute.
The goal was D’Antonio’s third of the fall, tying him with Gui Dos Santos (Curitiba, Brazil/Bethel (Conn.)) for the team lead. The senior forward has now scored 12 goals in his four-year Charger career. Soltis’ assist was his first career point.
A corner kick resulted in New Haven’s second marker. Clancy Purcell (Shelton, Conn./Taft / University of Connecticut) took the strike from the corner, which was knocked around by Chargers and River Hawks alike. Torres emerged from the scrum with the ball and buried it to bring New Haven within one at 3-2 in the 62nd minute.
The unassisted goal was the second of the season for Torres.
However, the Chargers would not score again as time expired with Massachusetts Lowell escaping Kayo Field with a 3-2 win.
Maierle made three saves for River Hawks, and James Pyatsky (Stewart Manor, N.Y./Garden City) stopped three shots for New Haven in his first career start.
A three-match road swing begins on Wednesday, Sept. 26 at American International followed by contests at Bentley and Dowling. Action returns to campus on Saturday, Oct. 6 under the lights with a 7 p.m. outing against Northeast-10 Conference rival Franklin Pierce.
