River Hawks win 2-1 against Merrimack

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Doctoral student Guillermo Francés Poquet (Enguera, Valencia) equaled his personal record with two goals and helped the UMass Lowell men's soccer team (5-1-2) to a 2-1 victory over the Merrimack Warriors (1-5-0) on Saturday evening.

With the win, the River Hawks achieved their best start since the 2018 season.


“I am extremely proud of the boys' performance tonight,” said head coach Kyle Zenoni. “We were banged up and needed guys to step up. We had a tough loss against UMass and to bounce back like that shows how special this team can be. Merrimack is well coached and works hard. It's also a rivalry game between two towns so it's never an easy game. We did what we had to do to win, a great group effort and my team managed the game great. Now we're resting up and getting ready for Northeastern.”


Francés Poquet, who scored a goal in each half, was the team's best player with two shots on goal. Junior Calvin Scholten (Hengelo, Netherlands) secured a point with an assist for the second goal and two shots on goal. Senior Liam Ireland (Yarmouth, Maine) finished with three shots, including one on goal, while Junior JR Gawel (Leonardtown, Maryland) blocked six shots in goal.


Early in the game, the Warriors controlled possession and played aggressively, getting the first shot in the third minute. They continued to press and fired four more shots before the 13th minute, but the River Hawks' excellent defense, including three saves from Gawel, kept the hosts from scoring. UMass Lowell didn't take long to find its chances, getting the next three shots, but the game remained scoreless for 25 minutes.


In the 33rd minute, the River Hawks took the lead with a left-footed strike from Francés Poquet. With the ball just outside the right side of the box Yanis Lakhlifi (La Crau, France) played a pass to the graduate student. Although a Merrimack defender got a foot on the ball, it slid past him to Francés Poquet, who smashed his shot into the bottom left corner of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead. Hoping to tie the score, the Warriors scored three goals in the final ten minutes, but Gawel made two saves to keep the score at 1-0 at halftime.


It didn't take long for the visitors to extend their lead, as less than two minutes into the second half, Francés Poquet struck again. He moved quickly through the middle of the field and played a pass to Scholten, who was free on the right. The junior immediately sent the ball back to the Valencia native, this time right in front of the goal. Francés Poquet picked the ball up and sneakily fired it into the top right corner, making it 2-0. Merrimack responded immediately, however, scoring less than two minutes later, cutting the Warriors' deficit to one goal.


After the goal, the guests dominated To at both ends of the court, firing a handful of shots and limiting Merrimack to just one in nearly 30 minutes. Although the River Hawks had a 7-1 shots advantage with 15 minutes left in the second half, the Warriors continued to fight. In the 77th minute, Merrimack's Samuel Biven tried to equalize, shooting to the top of the net, but Gawel had excellent ball recognition, leaped high and thwarted the opportunity. The hosts continued to fight in the final minutes, but UMass Lowell did not let them equalize and secured the 2-1 victory.


Next highThe River Hawks will have over a week off before returning to action on Tuesday, September 24th when they host Northeastern. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Cushing Field.