UMass Drops 2-1 Decision to Providence in Home Opener

AMHERST, Mass. -- Massachusetts (0-1-2) fell short in its home opener at Rudd Field, dropping a 2-1 decision to Providence (2-0-1) on Labor Day.

Alec Hughes continued to make history in the maroon and white, scoring the 36th goal of his career off of a perfect ball from Matt Cence to net his first of the season. Hughes now sits tied for fourth in program history in All-Time goals scored.

Aidan Kelly led the team in shots on goal, tallying two scoring attempts on the day.

Breaking Down The Action

UMass recorded the first shot on goal in the 12th minute, as a header attempt by Aidan Kelly was saved on its way to the top shelf.
Layton Purchase followed up with a second scoring effort in the 18th minute, forcing Lukas Burns to make his second save of the game.
The Minutemen scored their first goal of 2024 in the 32nd minute when Matt Cence found Alec Hughes downfield, chipping in a shot from well outside the box.
Hughes found another high-quality scoring opportunity for himself in the 44th minute, but missed to the left of the goal as UMass entered halftime with a 1-0 lead.
The Friars started the second half with three shots and two corners in the opening 13 minutes, two missing wide while Diego Batista's shot was saved by Alex Geczy.
Bruno Rosa found the equalizer for Providence in the 60th minute off of a tip from Bernardo Prego.
Providence pulled ahead in the 77th minute when Pepe Lora netted a setup from Harry Scarborough to make it a 2-1 game.
UMass put together one last attack, earning a corner and two shot attempts, but were unable to find an equalizer as time expired.

Notable Numbers

4: UMass out-shot Providence in shots on goal 4-3.
4: Hughes is now tied for fourth amongst All-Time Minutemen goal scorers.
4: Four Minutemen recorded at least two shots on the day.

Up Next
The Minutemen travel to New Haven, Conn. to battle Yale on Saturday, Sep. 7 at 7:00 p.m. Action will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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Team Stats

Alec Hughes

Matt Cence

Aidan Kelly

Layton Purchase

Players Mentioned

Matt Cence

Alex Geczy

Alec Hughes

Aidan Kelly

Layton Purchase

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics