(Photo courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics) “Shunnosuke Nakajima handles the ball”
Shaan Baid
Connector Editor
The River Hawks ended their contest with Northeastern in a 0-0 draw on Tuesday night at Cushing Field, thanks to junior goalkeeper JR Gawel’s five clutch saves. With the draw, the River Hawks now sit at 5-1-3 in the season.
The River Hawks’ offense struggled to put up points on the board. Graduate student Guillermo
Francés Poquet and senior Yanis Lakhlifi led the team in shot attempts, each recording two shots, including one on goal. Junior Junyoung Hwang also recorded two shots in his River Hawk debut.
Early in the game, the River Hawks were aggressive on offense, with two shot attempts on the net. Senior Liam Ireland and freshman Omar Atia fired the shots on the net in the first half but to no avail.
The visitors responded by firing two shots of their own on the net, but Gawel rejected both.
The River Hawks had their best scoring opportunity midway through the first half when junior Patrick Pires pushed the ball down the field by making a pass to junior Calvin Scholten. With a defender attempting to dive in front of the ball, Scholten broke free, which allowed him to make a pass to Frances Poquet. Poquet had a good angle at the net and subsequently fired a shot on the net. The first one was blocked, but Poquet rebounded and fired a second shot, only for the Northeastern goalkeeper to make a diving save to prevent the score. Nevertheless, the first half ended scoreless.
In the second half, the River Hawks offense remained aggressive but couldn’t execute. Their best opportunity came when freshman Santiago Somorrostro passed the ball to Hwang, who fired a shot that flew over the crossbar.
On the defensive end, Gawel made clutch saves to prevent his team from losing the ball game. This is Gawel’s eighth start of the season, where he is now up to three shutouts, the most in his career.
In the game’s closing minutes, the River Hawks tried to break the stalemate, firing off five shots, including three in five minutes. However, the Northeastern defense prevented them from scoring, sealing the tie.
Head Coach Kyle Zenoni was proud of the effort and resiliency displayed by his club. “It was a good battle,” said Zenoni. “I expected us to be a bit rusty in some areas because we’ve been off for ten days. I obviously played pretty much my whole team, so I expected us to be good and poor in some areas, but Northeastern played well, and it was a good game.”
Looking at the statistics, the River Hawks outshot Northeastern 12-11. They had four shots on goal, to their five. Both clubs had three corners. Northeastern was called for offsides once, and committed 17 fouls, to 14 for the River Hawks.
Next up, the River Hawks play their America East rivals as they host the UAlbany Great Danes on Saturday, Sept. 28. The game kicks off at 6 p.m. at Cushing Field.
