FARMINGTON, Maine - On Saturday afternoon the Husson University Eagles defeated the UMaine-Farmington Beavers 2-0 in each teams North Atlantic Conference (NAC) play opener. The Eagles avenged a 1-0 defeat in the NAC East Division Final at the hands of the Beavers a season ago. Saturday afternoon's contest was an evenly played, physical match that mirrored the atmosphere of a playoff game. The teams went into half tied at 0 as neither team was able to mount any sustained pressure throughout the opening half.

In the second half the Eagles opened the scoring in the 58th minute when Sophomore Mario Alavarez (Las Rozas, Spain) found the upper left corner of the net off a nice feed from Senior Gerard Arias (Barcelona, Spain). 

The Beavers mounted some pressure following Alvarez's opening tally. The Beavers scored what looked to be the equalizer as Zach Chaisson (Scarborough, Maine) put the ball in the net after it had ricocheted and bounced off numerous heads. After the play was over, the assistant referee and the center referee conferred and came to a decision that Chaisson was offside and the goal was disallowed.

The Beavers had a second great scoring opportunity as Cade McHugh (Little Compton, RI) raced onto the ball that squeaked through the Eagles back line. McHugh was alone with Husson keeper Alex Rechsteiner (Lucerne, Switzerland) who came a ways off from his line to make a sprawling save and deny the Beavers the game tying goal.

Patricio Reygadas (Mexico City, Mexico) added the insurance marker in the 87th minute as he tucked a goal into the lower right corner of the net past the diving arms of Beaver goalkeeper Jonah Sautter (Lisbon, Maine).

Husson outshot UMF 9-7 in their victory, while the teams each had four shots on goal. Following the game the Beavers dropped to 0-2 and 0-1 in NAC play while the Eagles jumped to 2-1 and 1-0 in NAC play.

UP NEXT

The Beavers will be looking for their first win of the season next Saturday, September 14th as they head to Biddeford to take on the University of New England.