Sophomore Rob Charest saw it coming and sent Hartford packing.
In the second overtime in its game against the Hawks, Charest played a ball that was deflected by the post and scored the game-winning goal for the Massachusetts men’s soccer team. The Minutemen took the game 3-2.
The opportunity arose after Richard Higa sent a corner kick towards the net, which bobbled around until it slammed off the right post of the goal. Charest braced himself, fired, and sent the slow game-winner past the outstretched arms of Hartford keeper Ryan Carr.
“I was scared at first, that kid made a big save on Tim (Kitchell),” Charest said, “I mean I saw it hit off the post and I said, ‘oh no not again,’ then I went in and kicked it over the line, it was pretty exciting.”
The win was the first of the year for UMass (1-3), who has had its troubles on the offensive side of the ball this season. The three goals scored was more than the Minutemen had tallied in their first three games combined (2).
UMass coach Sam Koch is pleased that his team pulled out its first victory and can now work on progressing as a team.
“It’s real big, we needed it and they deserved it, they earned it and I’m very happy for them,” Koch said, “The thing we wanted to do was play well and I think that we did. I think we made a couple mistakes and we can’t make those mistakes, but overall we played much better than we have.”
The Minutemen struck early against the Hawks, as junior captain Oral Bullen netted a cross from Charest on the right side of the box, ten yards out. The goal was Bullen’s first on the year, and the first goal scored by someone other than a freshman.
As the second half got underway, the Maroon and White scored again, this time it was Bullen sharing with Charest. Bullen crossed a pass in front of the goal and Charest darted and headed in the game’s second goal.
A large part of the UMass offense stemmed from the aggressive play of Tyler Pagano. Pagano only had two shots on the game, but was opening up opportunities on the right wing for most of the second half. He and freshman Matty Lemire had several well-placed crosses that nearly resulted in goals.
“I think he (Pagano) was one of many players that played well in the attack, but he’s one player out of many and it has to be a full effort from everyone,” Koch said.
The Minutemen began to sit back a bit as the period went on, seemingly looking to preserve their lead. Hartford, however, would not go quietly into the night.
Alon Lubesky, the Hawks leading goal scorer (6), received a pass at the inside top left of the box from Kenniel Martin. Lubesky rocketed the ball past Billman at 60:18 and the pressure was on for the rest of the game.
UMass attacked a few more times, but Carr was nearly unstoppable. Carr ended the game with 10 total saves, including one off of a one-on-one with Bullen in the waning minutes of regulation.
The Hawks scored their second goal with another well-placed pass from Martin. Harry Vasiliadis, who had been subbed into the game earlier in the half, received Martin’s pass five meters away from the net and chipped in the equalizer.
Overtime was hard fought by both teams, as neither was able to get off more than one shot in the first 10-minute stanza. However, the one shot on goal for the Hawks was literally inches away from ending the game.
With sophomore keeper Nick Billman out of position Hartford volleyed the ball back into the box and took a shot right on target. Tim Kitchell sprinted in, slid and made the defensive save, all with less than a minute left in the period.
The Minutemen had two shots in the next period as they controlled the ball in the Hawks zone. UMass had three corner kicks in the period, including Higa’s which set up the game winner.
“A lot of the guys just got there first win here, we need to be winning at home, and this is our field and we need to take it to our advantage,” junior captain Craig Canavan said, “It’s just one step in the direction that we need to be going it’s something that we need to build on.”
