On Saturday afternoon, the Keene State men’s soccer team faced UMass Boston in the final regular season game, which ended in a tie.
The first half of the game saw both teams with a lot of chances to score, but neither succeeded as they headed into halftime with a 0-0 tie.
Then with about 22 minutes left in the second half, first-year Glenn Smith was taken down in the box and the referee called for a penalty kick. Junior Promise Kpee stepped up and buried the goal, giving the Owls the lead.
Tim Smith/ Photo Editor
The lead didn’t last long, as a minute later off of a corner kick, senior Pedro De Carvalho scored for the Beacons, getting the assist from first-year Rafael DeSouza.
From that point on, both teams continued to battle, but the game ended in a tie. Overtime saw most of the same: a lot of action and both teams with chances to score. After two 10 minute overtime periods, the game ultimately ended in a tie.
For the Owls, Junior Jason Smith was in the net and had seven saves. Keene ended the game with three shots.
The Beacons were led by first-year Aidan Carter in net, who had two saves on the day. UMass Boston tallied eight shots on net for the game.
UMass Boston came into the game not only being on top of the LEC standings, but also ranked as the 12th team in the nation.
After the game, Owl’s coach Rick Scott talked about his teams performing against a stellar UMass Boston team and said, “Well, it’s a top 10 team in the country, but we battled with them, they gave me all that they had and they never let up.”
The Owls ended their season at 8-8, but unfortunately couldn’t make the Little East Championship tournament.
The Beacons will head into the LEC tournament as the number one team and will face Eastern Connecticut State University on Nov. 2.
Mike Cerrotti can be contacted at Mcerrotti@kscequinox.com
