LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Martin Harguindey (Buenos Aires, Argentina) scored his first goal as a River Hawk as the UMass Lowell men’s soccer team (0-0-1) earned a 1-1 tie with the Lafayette Leopards (0-0-1) on Thursday night at Cushing Field.
“I think everyone was a bit nervous and excited in the first game, and you could tell that at the beginning,” said the head coach Kyle Zenoni. “But I’ll tell you something: the guys played great. We had a lot of chances. They had a few chances and JR stepped up and played well in goal. Overall I was happy. I think we controlled the game for the most part, we just need to finish it off.”
Assisted on the goal was Senior Yanis Lakhlifi (La Crau, France), which was the first point of his career. Senior Shunnosuke Nakajima (Yokohama, Japan) was aggressive in attack, firing five shots on goal, while Harguindey scored three and Lakhlifi and Junior Calvin Scholten (Hengelo, Netherlands) each contributed one. In goal JR Gawel (Leonardtown, Maryland) made six saves in his first appearance at UMass Lowell.
The River Hawks got the ball into the attacking zone quickly at the start of the match when Lakhlifi fired a shot just wide after less than two minutes. The hosts were given another chance when Harguindey had a shot from close range but the Leopards goalkeeper saved and the game remained goalless.
With 20:53 left on the clock, Lafayette took advantage of a corner to feed Jackson Vajda, who fired the ball into the net, but an incredible diving save by Gawel kept the opposition from scoring. Just seconds later, UMass Lowell had its best chance of the half, taking advantage of a long ball off the foot of junior Iñaki Esnaola (Junin, Argentina) to find Harguindey at the other end of the court. The Argentine native then played a quick pass to Nakajima in the box, but a sliding attempt by the visiting goalkeeper prevented the senior’s shot from finding the net.
Strong defensive efforts from both sides continued for the rest of the half. Only one shot on goal was recorded in the 20 minutes of play, leaving the scoreless scoreless game at halftime.
Much like the first half, the River Hawks controlled possession in the second half, firing five consecutive shots in the first 15 minutes of play, including two on goal. The Leopards fought back and had two shots on goal themselves, but thanks to an excellent defensive effort from the hosts, the game remained scoreless with 20 minutes to go. Lafayette finally broke through in the 78th minute when Andrey McIntyre put the ball in the net to give his team a 1-0 lead.
UMass Lowell, however, did not let that get them down and was more aggressive on offense to score the equalizer. At 82:09, Nakajima fired two shots that the goalie saved, and although Lakhlifi followed with another shot, another save by Huff kept the game at one goal. But less than two minutes later Mauro Fernandez (Fitchburg, Mass.) sent a pass deep into the box to Lakhlifi, who headed the ball and lifted it just over the goalkeeper’s hands, allowing Harguindey to rush in and score the equalizer.
In the last six minutes, the battle between the two teams continued back and forth, but neither of them could break the tie and the score remained 1-1.
Next highThe River Hawks will celebrate Senior Night on Sunday, August 25, when they welcome the CCSU Blue Devils to Cushing Field. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.
