MANSFIELD, CONN. – For the fifth time in the last seven meetings Saturday with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's soccer team shut out the Corsairs, this time in a match played in a steady downpour at Rick McCarthy Field.
But with an opportunity to move into sole possession of fourth place in the Little East Conference team by beating a one-win opponent, the Warriors came away with just one point instead of three following a scoreless deadlock with the Corsairs.
By earning one point, Eastern (6-5-3, 3-3-1 LEC) moved one point closer to Rhode Island (3-1-2 LEC), which has a game in hand, however, in the race for a first-round home game awarded to the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.
Eastern outshot UMass Dartmouth (1-11-4, 0-5-2 LEC), 17-7, but thanks in large part to senior keeper Jack Waterhouse -- who made 11 saves to preserve the team's second scoreless shutout this year, and second in three games – could not break through. Waterhouse entered the match with a 2.88 goals-against average and 0.617 save percentage, but lowered that to 2.49 and .630, respectively.
Eastern junior forward
Sean Cafferty (Clinton) put all four of his shots on net, but Waterhouse was equal to each of them.
Eastern senior keeper
Dylan Pallanck (Willington) was called upon for only four saves in recording his second full shutout of the year (in his last five starts).
It marked the fifth time this year that Eastern has been shut out, but the first time at home since the opening week of the season when it dropped a 3-0 decision to Brandeis University.
Eastern hosts Massachusetts College Tuesday at 3 p.m. in a non-conference match before closing out the regular season at the University of Massachusetts Boston in a conference match. Unofficially, UMass Boston (5-1-1 LEC) has guaranteed itself no worse than a first-round LEC playoff home match. The Beacons moved two points ahead of Western Connecticut into second place – one point behind idle leader Keene State College – with a 6-0 LEC road win over VTSU Castleton.
