On Saturday night, the men’s soccer team (4-2, 0-0 Ivy) earned a decisive 4-1 victory over the University of Massachusetts at Lowell (4-3-1, 0-0 America East Conference). The Bears came out of the game swinging with three of the goals scored in a fiery second half.
This follows a 1-0 win against the University of Rhode Island (1-5-2, 0-1-1 Atlantic 10) on Tuesday, when Mateo Pereyra ’29 scored his first career goal with the Bears to secure the victory, assisted by Mads Stistrup Petersen ’26.5. The lone goal came in the 81st minute of the game, besting the Rams’ defense, which recorded six saves over the course of the matchup.
Tuesday’s victory over the University of Rhode Island broke a two-game losing streak for the team, who suffered consecutive 1-3 losses to Boston University (4-2, 1-1 Patriot League) and the University of Connecticut (6-0-3, 1-0 Big East).
Saturday’s win over UMass Lowell demonstrated the offensive power of the Bears, who had an electric second half.
In just the sixth minute of the game, Lorenzo Amaral ’27 wound past the River Hawks’ defense, and while Lowell’s goalkeeper lunged to the right, Amaral launched a missile high into the net. The strike secured an early lead for the Bears and recorded Amaral’s first goal of the season.
Amaral has “been pushing hard” to get his first goal of the season, he wrote in an email to The Herald. “It felt great to put one in yesterday and give some momentum for the team early on,” he continued.
Just about five minutes later, the River Hawks responded to the challenge. Following a long pass by Ethan Agyare-Danso into the box, midfielder Alex Champagne bested Bruno’s defense to draw even.
The Bears were unable to edge ahead before the end of the half, despite leading the River Hawks in shots 8-3.
In an email to The Herald, Head Coach Chase Wileman wrote that he encouraged the team at halftime to “play unselfish and make good decisions in attack” — a focus that paid off in the second half of the game.
After a tense 27 minutes of back-and-forth play to start the second half, the Bears unleashed a three-goal scoring spree in the last 18 minutes of the game.
In the 73rd minute, Stistrup Petersen sent a free kick into the box, where two headers deflected the ball to the feet of Amaral. With a Lowell defender breathing down his neck, Amaral passed the ball off his heel, leading Stistrup Petersen into the box.
The techy footwork continued down the pitch, and weaving through the crowd, Stistrup Petersen nutmegged a defender before crossing the ball in front of the goal where a waiting Carlo Brown ’27 did the rest. Slotting the ball beneath the arms of the Lowell keeper, Carlo Brown fired into the bottom left, securing an incredible go-ahead goal for the Bears.
Before the River Hawks could catch their breath, Bruno secured another goal just 39 seconds later. Amaral intercepted the ball just past midfield and raced down the right flank. At the corner of the box, he off-loaded to captain Jamin Gogo Peters ’26, who launched the ball across the face of the opposing keeper into the bottom left to advance the Bears’ lead to 3-1.
“After the first one we came out hungry, and bagged another one,” Amaral wrote.
He attributes this offensive intensity to recent practices. “During training and preparation this week we really put emphasis on creating chemistry in the attack and being ruthless in front of (the) goal,” Amaral wrote.
Despite the comfortable lead, the Bears kept up the attack. In the 87th minute, Diego Elizalde ’27 found himself pitted one-on-one against a Lowell defender. Faking left, he set the ball to the right before launching a beautiful shot from outside the box. Soaring over the goalkeeper’s head, he found the top left corner of the goal to cement Bruno’s dominant 4-1 victory.
Reflecting on the team’s performance in the second half, Wileman praised the group’s persistence. “We just needed to stick with what we were doing because we were really close to breaking through their back line multiple times in the first half,” he wrote. “I am happy the team got rewarded for the hard work they put in.”
The Bears will next face off against neighboring rivals Providence College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at home on Stevenson-Pincince Field before facing off against Dartmouth on Saturday in their first Ivy matchup of the season.
“We look to carry this momentum forward to a big rivalry game against Providence College,” Amaral wrote.
