UMass men lose to La Salle

November 1, 2010
AMHERST, Mass. - After falling behind in the first half, Bryant Craft scored late in the second to force a 1-1 double overtime draw for the UMass men's soccer team against La Salle on Senior Day at Rudd Field. The result combined with wins for Charlotte, St. Bonaventure and Duquesne drops the Minutemen into fourth place in the Atlantic 10 standings heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Minutemen (5-4-7, 4-1-2 A-10) will head to league-leader Charlotte next Friday before finishing the regular-season at Saint Louis on Sunday. With 14 points, UMass trails the 49ers by four points and is just one point behind the Bonnies and the Dukes who are tied with 15 points. La Salle is currently in fifth place with 13 points, while Fordham and Xavier are tied for sixth with 12 points. The top six teams will qualify for the 2010 Atlantic 10 Tournament which is hosted by Charlotte. The top two teams will receive first-round byes. On Sunday, the Explorers got on the scoreboard first when Jeff Pio scored his first goal of the season in the 37th minute. Pio collected the rebound off a Ryan Richter shot and sent a low, hard ball into the lower right corner of the goal from 20-yards out. In the second half, UMass pressured the La Salle defense outshooting the Explorers 16-to-5 for the period. Bryant Craft's shot in the 78th minute found the back of the goal to tie the game. Craft was on the receiving end of a punt from keeper Chris Piekos who drove the ball into the Minutemen's offensive third of the field. The Minutemen also earned seven corner kicks in the second half, but could not convert to find the game-winner. In the 94th minute, it appeared Glenroy Chapman had scored the game-winner after breaking through the UMass defensive back line finding himself in a one-on-one with Piekos. Just as his shot hit the back of the net, the referee called offsides negating the goal. The two teams could not find the Golden Goal in the remainder of the first overtime and a Ben Arikian shot in the 105th minute was wide left. UMass had a chance in the final 11 seconds with a corner kick, but were unable to convert. The game marked the final home game of UMass' 2010 senior class: Stuart Amick, Ben Arikian, Chris Piekos, and Chris Vaccaro. Amick, Arikian, and Vaccaro were integral pieces in UMass' 2007 and 2008 NCAA Tournament Berths and the 2007 College Cup run. Piekos joined the team in 2008 and set the school's single-season goals-against-average record last season. He ranks among the top-10 goalkeepers nationally and leads the Atlantic 10 this year.
Madrid Euro Soccer Academy
Top 200 Rankings