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University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Ties With McGill University
August 21, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Aug. 21, 2002
MONTREAL, Canada - The UMass men's soccer team jumped out to an early lead, but then watched as McGill University scored a late goal to force a 2-2 tie in preseason soccer action on Tuesday.
"It was a tough game for us," said UMass Head Coach Sam Koch. "We changed our line-up around a little bit and we played on tough field conditions for us. But we have to give them credit. They had big players in the back and it was difficult for us to play against them."
The Minutemen got on the board early when Yuri Morales (Santa Cruz, Calif.) found the back of the net on an assist from Jeff Deren (Chicopee, Mass.) at the 5:03 mark. However, McGill tied the game on a questionable penalty kick at the 58:10 mark. The penalty kick was the third in two games that the Minutemen have allowed.
UMass returned the favor with a Ptah Myers' (Columbus, Ohio) penalty kick at the 84:15 mark for a 2-1 lead. But the Minutemen couldn't hold the lead, and allowed a game-tying goal at the 89:22 mark to end the game in a 2-2 tie.
"We just made a bad mental error on that play," said Koch. "We were trying to hold the lead and clear the ball. We made some mistakes today against a good aggressive team that cost us. This game was a good learning experience for us."
The Minutemen will play two more games in Canada before returning home. They will play the Lakers Soccer Club on Wednesday night, before battling the University of Montreal on Thursday night. UMass will then take on No. 11-ranked Rutgers in an exhibition game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Chicopee's Szot Park.