The No. 20 Massachusetts men’s soccer team lost in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals, falling in penalties to the Saint Louis Billikens. UMass (10-3-5, 5-2-1 A10) entered the game as the third seed in the conference tournament and No. 19 in the RPI rankings, right on the fringe of the NCAA tournament field.
After Saint Louis’ (7-3-8, 4-1-3 A10) Max Floriani converted his penalty kick to put the Billikens up 1-0 in the shootout, the Minutemen’s leading scorer, Alec Hughes, stood at the marker. With a tangible tension hanging over Rudd Field, Hughes made his approach. His attempt sailed over the goal, creating a deficit UMass did not overcome in the penalty shootout. Minutemen Johan Feilscher and Oliver Akintade were also unable to score, while Saint Louis’ Grady Easton and Luis Lara tacked on two more tallies to win the shootout 3-0.
Neither team was able to generate much offense throughout the game. The Billikens outshot UMass 9-6 and drew eight corners to the Minutemen’s six. Both teams’ backlines snuffed out any high danger scoring chances that came their way, and when called upon, UMass goalkeeper Alex Geczy and Saint Louis’ Jeremi Abonnel were able to make the save.
“It was a tight game, very few chances either side, the defenses sort of ruled the roost today,” coach Fran O’Leary said. “It comes down to a penalty shootout, which is a lottery. We had the joy last year … it wasn’t to be our day today.”
With four minutes to go in the second overtime period, the Billiken’s Xavier Holloway dribbled on the outskirts of the box. No Minutemen defender closed his space, allowing him to rip a screaming shot towards the top left corner. Geczy dove, extending his top hand to tip the ball over the crossbar and maintain the 0-0 deadlock.
Geczy was tested again by Carlos Leatherman in the final minute of the second overtime. Leatherman darted into the open field just outside of the box, connecting on a low shot angling towards the low far corner. Geczy dove to the side, just missing the ball as it rang off the post.
“To get a clean sheet in 90 minutes and plus another 20 minutes is a credit to [Geczy and defenders],” O’Leary said. “Geczy pulled off a couple of special saves, he’s been superb all season.”
UMass’ best scoring opportunity came five minutes into the game. After a nice passing sequence from the Minutemen attack, Matt Cence stood unmarked in the middle of the box. A header landed right in front of Cence, who connected on a volley. Abonnel made a reactionary, sprawling save to prevent UMass from taking an early lead.
The Minutemen earned its first 10-win season since 2017 and was ranked as high as No. 9 earlier this season. UMass ended the season seventh in the country in scoring per game, seventh in total goals and tenth in goal differential.
“It’s been a terrific season,” O’Leary said. “We’re one of seven teams in the country that scored 40 goals this season…overall it’s been an outstanding season and hopefully there’s more to come.”
The Minutemen await the results of the 22 conference tournaments across the NCAA to determine their tournament fate. They will be in contention for one of the 26 at-large selections.
James Rust can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @James__Rust.
