DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth men's soccer team came up short against Bridgewater State University, 4-3, on Tuesday afternoon in a nailbiter non-conference tilt from Cressy Field. The Corsairs dropped to a 2-10-3 overall record while the Bears improved to 8-4-2 on the season.
Melvin Alves posted the first shot on frame in the contest forcing a save by sophomore goalkeeper
Kellen Porter in the opening 10 minutes of play. The Corsairs soon found attacking momentum registering four shots, two of which came from senior captain
Justin Petrillo and one by sophomore
Matt Kobrenski that tested Bears goalkeeper Matheus Rodriguez.
Shortly after sophomore
Mario Rodriguez fired his first strike of the day, UMass Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead at the 21:38 mark thanks to Kobrenski, tallying his first goal of the season. The sophomore midfielder whipped in the ball from off a corner kick for the Corsairs that snuck into the back of net to give the home team the one-goal advantage. Bridgewater State kept battling in the last minutes of the half producing 3-of-4 shots on target, all of which Porter saved to keep the Bears off the scoreboard heading into halftime.
The visitors quickly tied the game up at 1-1 to start the second half as Gavin Norton slotted the ball past Porter off a centering pass by Dominek Borden in the 52
nd minute of the match. UMass Dartmouth responded a few minutes later, as Petrillo drilled a shot into the bottom left corner from a Rodriguez helper to once again give the Corsairs a 2-1 edge.
In the blink of an eye, Bridgewater State scored two consecutive goals in a minute span, respectively, to snag a 3-2 advantage. Approaching the final 15 minutes of the game, fifth-years
Joey Paiva and
Kyle Rhines each ripped a strike as Rodriguez registered second stop of the afternoon. The Corsairs continued to fight resulting in a 79
th minute goal by Paiva who rifled a shot into the top of the net after Petrillo slipped a penetrating pass through the Bears backline to make it a 3-3 game.
Bridgewater State capitalized on a late corner kick in the 84
th minute to take back a 4-3 lead. Dominek flicked the ball off his head and into the back of the net to secure the non-conference win over UMass Dartmouth by a final score of 4-3.
The Bears outshot the Corsairs by a 25-14 margin and held a 14-5 edge in total shots on-goal in the game. The visitors also earned eight corner kicks in the match while UMass Dartmouth saw five corner kicks on the day.
The Corsairs saw three different goal-scorers in the afternoon including Kobrenski, Petrillo, and Paiva. Petrillo ended the game with a goal and an assist for three points along with team-high four shot attempts. Kobrenski's score marked his first collegiate goal as a Corsairs while Paiva tallied his seventh goal of the season.
Porter recorded a career-high 10 saves for UMass Dartmouth in net after playing the full 90 minutes. Rodriguez posted a pair of stops for the Bears while also allowing three goals.
The Corsairs return to Little East Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 26 hosting Eastern Connecticut State University for their Senior Day game. The league tilt is set for an 11:00 am kickoff from Cressy Field.
