Bulldogs claw in battle with River Hawks but drop Wednesday afternoon’s match, 1-0

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Junior keeper Nick Stewart (South Windsor, Conn.) made six saves and the Bryant University men's soccer team played with an extra man for the final 15 minutes, but UMass Lowell placed seven of its nine shots on target to score when it needed to and came away with a 1-0 victory late Wednesday afternoon in Smithfield.

The loss ties the all-time series between the Bulldogs (0-7) and the River Hawks (7-0-1) at 2-2, as all four games have been decided by one goal.

After a physical, back-and-forth first half, the second was more than 50 percent completed before the River Hawks were able to strike first. In an unusual sequence of events that began with a Bryant foul from the left wing about 20-25 yards out and ended with an immediate red card for Federico Ferre, the visitors were able to shake off the sendoff and draw first blood. Despite being a man down, Dario Jovanovski sent the cross on the free kick into the box, the ball was lifted off the head of Ivan Abramovic and steered to Ivan Blaskic who headed it to the far post.

The Bulldogs battled from there, earning a handful of free kicks from just beyond midfield and sending a couple of low crosses into the box, but the UMass Lowell defense and goalie Austin Kroll handled the threats.

Stewart was stupendous in the opening frame, as he went one-on-one with Abramovic twice in the opening 11 minutes. The River Hawks leading scorer got free in the box just three minutes in, sent a soft shot with his right foot to the far post from seven yards out, but Stewart dove to his left and knocked the ball away with both hands. In the 12th minute, Abramovic got himself into the box once again, was even closer than his first attempt and booted a quick low shot that was punched out of play by a diving effort from the junior netminder.

Bryant nearly committed an egregious mistake in the 20th minute when a ball played back to Stewart from a defender was slightly mishandled and heading straight for the net. Stewart raced to the ball and swatted it wide to preserve the stalemate. Joe Kellet was half a second too late in the 29th minute when he wound up for a shot from the close right wing, but Stewart sold out and deflected the ball behind the goal with his body.  

The Bulldogs started to control time of possession during the middle portion of the first half, working their first corner in the 22nd minute, as sophomore forward Vasil Mastur (Millburn, N.J.) handled the set piece. Junior defender Matt Brouillette (Shelton, Conn.) was able to get a header sent on target, but Kroll made the stop. It was the only shot on goal for Bryant and one of just four shots, as the River Hawks were able to get in the way of runs and play sound on-the-ball defense.

Seniors Jake Lamar (New Haven, Conn.), Chris McCormick (Westfield, Mass.) and sophomore Nathaniel Brown (Queens, N.Y.) had one shot apiece. Stewart matched his saves per game average with six, five of which came in the first half.

Abramovic paced the River Hawks with four shots, three on frame, as most of his touches came in the first half. Kellet had three shot attempts, and Blaskic's goal was his only shot attempt. Kroll had just one save, but corralled crosses and dealt with the Bryant free kicks and its five corners.

The Bulldogs wrap up their three-game homestand when they play the University of Rhode Island in the final non-conference home game on Tuesday, September 27 at 4:00 p.m.