NCAA NEW ENGLAND REGION FIRST ROUND #18 UMass Lowell Ousts #16 Franklin Pierce, 3-0
Second-seeded River Hawks to face top-seeded Southern Connecticut for Regional title Sunday
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (November 14, 2003) - Second-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell, ranked No. 18 in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division II poll, controlled play throughout the match and posted a 3-0 victory over third-seeded and No. 16-ranked Franklin Pierce in first round action of the NCAA Division II Tournament New England Regional at a cold and blustery Jess Dow Field on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University tonight.
UMass Lowell (14-4-2), making its NCAA Tournament debut, advances to Sunday's New England Region final where it will face top-seeded and No. 6-ranked Southern Connecticut State at 1 p.m.
Franklin Pierce, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998 and ninth overall, sees its season come to a close with an 11-6-2 overall record. The Ravens are now winless in their last six NCAA Tournament matches dating back to a 5-4 triple-overtime victory at LIU-C.W. Post in a first round battle in 1994 and have dropped nine of their last ten dating back to the lone Final Four appearance in program history in 1991.
"Today was definitely not our day," said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Marco Koolman after the match. "You don't want to have to change strategy because of the weather, but the conditions certainly played a role."
With 15-20 mile per hour winds forcing wind-chilled temperatures into the low teens, UMass Lowell struck for the only goal it would need just 11:11 into the contest. Junior forward Jason Paige (Woburn, Mass./Woburn) broke through the Franklin Pierce defense and fired a low shot past Ravens senior goalkeeper Domenico Roma (Windsor, Ontario/Ste. Annes).
The Ravens were forced to play without the services of first team All-Northeast-10 back Sean McCabe (Derry City, Northern Ireland) who was back in his home country due to the death of his father, Jim. The teams observed a moment of silence in his honor prior to kickoff.
The River Hawks got an insurance tally in the 61st minute, when freshman Michael Cafeteiro (Dracut, Mass./Dracut) found junior Jonathan Curran (Tyngsboro, Mass./Tyngsboro) for a header.
UMass Lowell put the match out of reach with 11:32 left in regulation when senior Michael Cabral (Milford, Conn./Milford) scored on a free kick from 22-yards out.
UML sophomore goalkeeper Bobby Ritter (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) was called on to make just one save to preserve his seventh shutout of the season.
Roma made five saves in his final match in a Franklin Pierce uniform. By yielding three markers, Roma sees his goals against average rise to 15 points to 1.12 to fall 0.11 short of the program's single-season record of 1.01 set by Steve Quinones in 1988.
UMass Lowell out-shot Franklin Pierce by a 13-6 margin for the match with no Raven posting more than one shot for the night.