In the words of Saturday Night Live characters Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar: “Game On!”
The Massachusetts men’s soccer team has been patiently waiting to hear those words for nearly a week and a half now.
Due to the tragic events of last Tuesday, the Maroon and White last played a match on September 9 – a 2-1 victory over Boston University at Totman Field. Out of respect, the UMass Classic – which was supposed to be played in Amherst over this past weekend – was cancelled on Thursday.
The squad returned to the pitch yesterday and finally heard the coined phrase as they faced-off with non-conference foe, New Hampshire in the Granite State.
With black armbands wrapped around the sleeves of their jerseys commemorating the victims in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, the Minutemen pulled out an important 2-0 shutout victory over the Wildcats and improved their record to 3-2.
“Everybody was focused,” Head Coach Sam Koch said. “The tragedy was of course on the back of our minds but we had to put it aside and think about our opponent for the time being.”
Like any team that had been off for almost two weeks, UMass started the game lackadaisical and was missing their fiery offensive attack.
“In the first half we came out a little sluggish,” Koch said.
At the end of the first half the score was knotted at zero. Massachusetts’ defense was able to shut down the UNH offense, which kept the Minutemen in the game. Senior goalkeeper Brian O’Quinn once again led the defense. The co-captain had 12 saves on the day.
“There was a lot of pressure on him from all angles,” Koch said. “However, he made key saves and kept them off the board.”
During halftime, the Minutemen must have had shaken off the rust. When they returned to field for the next 45 minutes, they returned with vengeance.
In the 75th minute, senior Shawn Green fired a deflected shot by sophomore Dan Colwell, giving UMass their first goal of the match. The goal by Green turned out to be the game winner.
In last week’s match against Boston University, UMass was forced to play through two extra periods in order to finally defeat the Terriers. This time around the guys made sure they would not have to exceed the 90-minute regulation time.
Just eight minutes after the first goal, junior Yuri Morales sent one past UNH goalkeeper Shaun O’Neil – giving UMass some breathing room and making the score 2-0.
“In the second half our play was a lot better,” Koch remarked. “We knocked the ball around better, our passes were crisper and we found the open man every time.”
Once again, the Minutemen were out shot by their opponent in the match. New Hampshire was able to get off 24 shots while UMass had 21 shots. Fortunately for coach Koch’ squad, the Massachusetts defense was able to stifle the Wildcat’s offense for the final remaining minutes of the contest en route to the 2-0 victory.
The Minutemen return to action Saturday when they come home to friendly confines of Totman field to duel with the Black Bears of Maine. Kick-off is slated for 1pm.