Freshman midfielder Moa Mattson scored a late goal to lift the Massachusetts women’s soccer team past Maine, 1-0, at Rudd Field on Friday afternoon.
The goal, which came with just over two minutes remaining in regulation, was Mattson’s first this fall, causing her to become the sixth UMass (4-2-1) player to score this season. The goal came after Mattson dribbled the ball out of the corner and fired a shot from 15-20 yards out — the ball just grazing the goalkeeper’s fingertips before hitting the back of the net.
Mattson said that the team has been working on parts of its offensive strategy.
“We’ve been talking about getting our two attacking midfielders further forward, and I’ve been trying to come up and run more on the offensive end … it’s working,” said Mattson.
UMass coach Ed Matz has been pleased with the way the Sweden native has handled her first year so far.
“It’s like any other international player,” said Matz. “It takes a little bit of time, a couple of weeks for them to come in and get comfortable. The more they play and the more they practice, the more comfortable they get.”
The Minutewomen had scoring opportunities early and often, finishing the game with an 18-5 shot advantage. Senior Erin McGaffigan had a couple of chances in the first half, one that sailed just wide of the net and another that was secured by the Maine (3-2-1) goalie.
Freshman Tori Sousa also had a scoring chance just before the end of the half but the shot rolled just wide of the right post.
Matz was impressed with the win, despite scoring the one goal.
“I thought that we played pretty well,” said Matz. “I thought we created a lot of chances, some very good chances in the first half. I thought we hurt ourselves a bit by not putting the ball in the goal more.”
Maine also squandered scoring opportunities. Senior forward Carolyne Nellis’ header hit the cross bar right in front of the net early in the first half. Another header in the 52nd minute by senior defender Sady Tobin went off the crossbar.
UMass goalkeeper Emily Cota earned her second shutout in her third-straight start, making one save. Cota said that although she thought she came out slow in the first half, she picked it up in the second half and denied the Black Bears on any scoring chances they had.
Matz said that since the Harvard game, everything that has happened on defense and in net has gone the way he wanted and that there’s no reason to make the switch to junior Stephanie Gordon at this point. In the meantime, that competition will have its perks.
“As long as those two continue to compete in practice, good things will happen for both of them,” said Matz.
Along with their shot advantage, the Minutewomen held a 5-1 edge in corner kicks and committed four fouls to the Black Bear’s nine.
Despite the joy of the result, Matz also recognized just how important it is to make good on all of the opportunities they get.
“All it takes is one second in college soccer to turn the score,” said Matz.
The Minutewomen’s next game will be against Brown (4-0-1) Thursday at Rudd Field.
Eric Mansfield can be reached at [email protected].
