DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Fifth year
Joey Paiva lifts the UMass Dartmouth men's soccer team over Wentworth Institute of Technology, 2-1, with his brace on Tuesday evening during non-conference action from Cressy Field. The Corsairs secure their second victory on the season to improve to a 2-6-3 overall record while the Leopards fall to 6-5-2 with the road loss.
The Corsairs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the game with Paiva finding the back of the net in the opening five minutes of play, respectively. Sophomore
Mario Rodriguez slipped a pass through the Leopards backline to a darting Paiva who then slotted the ball into the bottom corner to give the home team a one-goal advantage.
Shortly after, junior goalkeeper
Ethan Donahue registered his first save of the evening to deny a shot by Dylan Michaud. Both sides exchanged shots as the first half progressed with Wentworth edging UMass Dartmouth 5-to-4 in shot attempts, but the Corsairs held on to their 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
The Leopards quickly answered in the second half as Michaud netted his first score of the season to even the score up at 1-1. UMass Dartmouth soon regained momentum as Rodriguez almost scored off a corner kick header in the 67
th minute that Leopards goalkeeper Noah Lawless stopped.
At the 68:57 mark, first year
Daniel Jordan had a breakaway off a feed from Paiva before being fouled inside the Wentworth penalty box to earn the Corsairs a penalty kick chance. Paiva stepped for UMass Dartmouth and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to put the Corsairs back in the lead at 2-1.
Rodriguez and senior
Braeden LeClair each had a couple of scoring opportunities in the final minutes of the contest for UMass Dartmouth. The Corsairs came out on top defeating Wentworth by a final score of 2-1 to secure their first home victory of the season.
UMass Dartmouth held a 15-12 advantage in total shots in the game along with a 7-4 margin in shots on-goal. The Corsairs won the corner kick battle earning seven total on the night while the Leopards recorded two corner kicks.
Paiva netted his first brace of the 2024 campaign to bring him to six total scores so far on the season. Rodriguez tallied his second assist in the win along with a team-high five total shot attempts.
Donahue picked up his second win in net for the Corsairs after posting three saves on the night and allowing just one goal after 90 minutes of action. Lawless produced four saves for Wentworth and allowed two goals.
UMass Dartmouth return to Little East Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 12 hosting the Wolves of Western Connecticut State. The conference tilt is slated for a 1:00 pm start time from Cressy Field.
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