BOSTON – Defending champion Bryant took care of business with a dominant second half while No. 3 UMBC scored in the final seven minutes to secure a 1-0 victory in the #AEMSOC Quarterfinals on Saturday night.
No. 5 NJIT kept the fourth seed Bulldogs at bay in the opening 45 minutes, but they scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of the second half on the way to a 4-0 victory. No. 3 UMBC and No. 6 Binghamton were locked in a battle all evening, but captain Hans Nesheim provided the game-winner header in the 83rd minute for the goal.
This marks the first time since 2017 that both the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds made it out of the quarterfinals. It is also UMBC’s first trip to the semifinals since 2021.
The Retrievers play at Vermont on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. UMBC handed the Catamounts their only conference loss during the regular season.
Bryant will travel to top seed New Hampshire for a 6 pm matchup with the Wildcats on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs beat UNH 1-0 for the #AEMSOC Championship last season in Durham.
Quarterfinal Recap
No. 4 Bryant 4, No. 5 NJIT 0
- Bryant outshot NJIT 7-0 in the opening half forcing Devin Armstrong to make three saves, including one diving stop.
- Just 2:23 into the second period, Marc Pitarch Bayot finished off a great pass from Sam White for a 1-0 advantage.
- Pitarch Bayot made 2-0 just five minutes last on a great header off a beautiful cross to the middle of the six.
- Santiago Blasco Gomez pushed the lead to 3-0 in the 65th minute on rocket from around the 18 into the bottom of the net.
- In the 75th minute, White tallied his first goal of the evening for a 4-0 advantage.
- Antreas Hadjigavriel was forced to make one save in the win while Armstrong had seven stops in the loss.
No. 3 UMBC 1, No. 6 Binghamton 0
- Each team was only able to get one shot on target in the first 45 minutes, with Binghamton holding a 6-3 advantage in shots.
- UMBC turned up the pressure in the second half and kept Binghamton without a shot for more than 20 minutes
- UMBC nearly grabbed a 1-0 lead with eight minutes left, but Ryan Gillon cleared the ball off the goal line following the corner kick.
- The Retrievers broke through just a minute later. Ty Stroud sent a corner kick into the box and Lasse Kelp headed it toward goal where Hans Nesheim redirected it with his head into the back of the net.
- Emigdio Lopez earned the shutout and had a pair of saves while Dylan McDermott took the loss with three stops.
Stay up-to-date on the tournament by visiting Championship Central for streaming and live stats links as well as box scores, highlights and recaps following each round in addition to team information, tournament history and more.
Follow @AmericaEast on X (Formerly Twitter) to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEMSOC hashtags to join the conversation.
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