Rachel Morrier attempts to maneuver around a Wagner defender. (Matt Dwyer/Connector) 

Hannah Manning
Connector Editor

It was a night of overtime heroics for both UMass Lowell soccer teams. Mere hours after Ivan Abramovic scored an iconic goal to end the game against St. Francis Brooklyn, Rachel Morrier rocketed the ball into the top-left corner of the net in the 102nd minute on a beauty of an unassisted play.

The River Hawks advanced to a 2-1-2 record with the 1-0 victory against the Wagner College Seahawks. It was goalkeeper Julia Schneider’s first win of the season.

Wagner, a team on a two-game losing streak heading into Sunday night, put early offensive pressure on the River Hawks. A strong scoring chance came when River Hawks goalkeeper Julia Schneider stumbled, leaving an open net. What could have resulted in an early lead for the Seahawks was squashed by junior back Alex Guzman, who absorbed the shot into her chest. At the end of the night, both the River Hawks and Seahawks had one team save. At the end of the night, those risks made all of the difference.

Chances like these were commonplace throughout the night. Both UMass Lowell and Wagner made a night of giving their fans near-coronaries with breathtaking near-misses. 20 minutes in, the River Hawks had a remarkable chance when a shot bounced off of the outstretched hand of Wagner College’s Jessica Wilm and flew just up and over the net.

“I thought the performance was our most complete… we were patient, our tempo was good, and we were just really getting opportunity after opportunity, and that final ball was just eluding us,” said Head Coach Joel Bancroft.

At the end of the scoreless regulation, UMass Lowell led Wagner in shots 15-14. In the brief second overtime period, the River Hawks added three more shots to their tally, while Wagner managed only one.

Bancroft had a feeling that a win was “in the cards” for the River Hawks.

“I thought our possession and how we changed our point of attack [was our strongest aspect.] It’s something we’ve worked on. In recent games, we had a lot of the ball, but we were just so anxious to go forward all of the time, and [tonight] we just let the game breathe a little bit,” Bancroft said.

The defensive showing by UMass Lowell was spectacular throughout the game, stopping most Wagner offensive plays before they could pose a threat to Schneider. Bancroft praises the depth of his team, and the trust that they have in each other to get the job done. He is unable to credit just one play as the best of the night, and instead points to the play of several players on his team as factors in the victory.

Morrier’s overtime goal is the second of the season for her, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Sunday night game completed a solid weekend for the River Hawks with two straight wins. Bancroft pointed out the strength in his goalkeeping tandem with freshman Lauren Huff and sophomore Julia Schneider.

“Lauren Huff can shut out a team at the beginning of the weekend, and then Julia [Schneider] can shut out a team at the end,” he said.

On Thursday night, the River Hawks will return to Cushing Field to face Central Connecticut State University at 7 pm. It will be their last home game until September 25.