Wildcats to host UMBC on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. for the title on ESPN3.
DURHAM, N.H. – Junior Antonio Colacci (Bradenton, Fla.) scored the game-winning goal for the Wildcats as the No. 2 seed University of New Hampshire men's soccer team defeated No. 3 seed UMass Lowell, 2-0, in the America East semifinals on Wednesday night at Wildcat Stadium. The Wildcats advance to the championship game and will host No. 5 seed UMBC on Sunday, Nov. 11 at Wildcat Stadium at 2 p.m. on ESPN3. UMBC defeated No. 1 seed Stony Brook tonight, 1-0.
UNH improves to 11-3-2 on the season and will be looking to win its first ever America East Tournament championship. This will be their fifth time in the final. The winner will earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats earned at-large bids to the 1994 and 2017 NCAA Tournaments.
In the 24th minute (23:40) the Wildcats got on the board first after senior Juan Velazquez (San Francisco, Calif.) passed the ball to Colacci who blasted it into the back of the net from the middle of the box. Sophomore Linus Fallberg (Jonkoping, Sweden) tallied an assist as well.
UNH increased its lead in the 42nd minute (41:16) after red-shirt freshman Jonny Wolf (Hopkinton, Mass.) threw a long ball to Colacci, who headed it towards goal and caused Chase Reichenberg to deflect it past Patrik Gujic.
After the end of the first half, the Wildcats recorded three shots while the River Hawks had one. UNH took five corners in the first 45 minutes and UML took none.
Huxsohl saw his first look of the night in the 68th minute after Ivan Blaskic made a redirecting header towards the Wildcat net.
The Wildcats held strong defensively to keep the final score 2-0.
Antonio Colacci scored his team-best fifth goal of the season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
UML outshot UNH, 8-3, while the Wildcats took two shots on goal and the River Hawks tallied one.
Huxsohl made one save while Gujic had none.
UNH had six corner kicks, while UML took one.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
The Wildcats will be looking to win their first America East Tournament championship. This will be their fifth appearance in the championship game. Previous appearances were 1993, 1994, 2010 and 2012.
This will be the first time UNH hosts the championship game.
UNH defeated UMBC 1-0 on September 22nd at Wildcat Stadium.
This is the first time the Wildcats have had 10 wins or more in four straight seasons.
This was Colacci's team-leading fifth goal of the season, and second career game-winning goal.
Huxsohl posted his eighth shutout of the season.
UNH has only allowed nine goals all year, outscoring the opposition 20-9.
The Wildcats remain undefeated at Wildcat Stadium this season with a record of 9-0-0, improving their all-time record to 19-0-3.
UNH has outscored its opponents 39-8 over the 22 games played at the stadium.
STAY CONNECTED:
There are numerous ways to stay connected with the UNH men's soccer team. Follow the Wildcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
OFFICIAL UNH GEAR:
Check out UNHShop.com for the latest in official UNH Wildcats' merchandise.
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