Despite winning a 2-1 overtime win at Richmond on Friday, wins by Rhode Island and Charlotte eliminated UMass from the playoff picture for the first time since 2006. Sunday, the Minutemen fell at George Washington by the score of 3-0.

After walking on to Sam Koch’s squad this summer, not knowing if he’d see the field, Morgan Brandso has worked his way onto the field and earned his first start on Sunday. Brandso has seen most of his time this year at midfield but got his first career start on defense.

After splitting a pair of games this past weekend, the UMass soccer team hits the road for the final stretch of its conference schedule this weekend against George Washington and Richmond in hopes of making the A-10 tournament.

After walking on to Sam Koch’s squad this summer, not knowing if he’d see the field, Morgan Brandso has worked his way onto the field and earned his first start on Sunday. Brandso has seen most of his time this year at midfield but got his first career start on defense.

Sam Denormandie’s late goal on Friday gave UMass a 2-1 win on Friday over Duquesne, but the offense could not muster a goal as UMass fell to St. Bonaventure, 1-0. The Minutemen now face two must0win games this weekend to make the A-10 Tournament.

Without senior captain Mark DeSantis, the Minutemen have not been able to capitalize offensively. Their leading scorer will return this weekend, when the UMass soccer team takes on Duquesne Friday and St. Bonaventure Sunday, hoping to rebound after a 1-0 loss at the hands of Rhode Island last Saturday.

Before this year, UMass soccer coach Sam Koch had no idea who Mark Dangleis was. Now the midfielder transfer for the Minutemen has become a key part to UMass’ success, and will look to help the team get back to the Atlantic 10 tournament this season.

With two weeks remaining in the Atlantic 10 schedule, four points separate the top eight teams with only six teams making the conference tournament. Fordham currently sits in first with 13 points followed by Dayton and Saint Louis.

With four of UMass’ last five contests resulting in 1-0 scores, just a little offense to go with the its league leading defense can push it back into the Atlantic 10 Tournament picture.

After letting up an early goal, UMass’ defense tightened up against the Rams, but with the offense generating little offense URI’s only goal was enough for the win.