The University of Rhode Island men’s soccer team returned to the win column on Friday to close out its regular season against the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Entering this game, the Rams were shaken by losses to the University of Dayton and George Mason University, but the team moved past those results ahead of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.
The Rams are set to be the fourth seed in the Atlantic 10 with a 5-3 record, appearing in the postseason for the first time since the 2021 season.
At the start of the first half, both the Rams and the Bengals’ defense were strong, but in the third minute, second-year defender Maskim Kalina and an assist from third-year defender Tim Huhnholz gave URI its first goal.
Throughout the rest of the first half, both the Rams and the Bengals were restless and eager to either gain another goal or achieve their first goal, but both teams’ defense held their ground.
During the 48th minute, Kalina earned a penalty kick, and second-year midfielder Sinan Bruning stepped up to give the Rams another goal.
URI’s growing runway was slowed as second-year goalkeeper Boliver Owusu sent the ball out to third-year forward Deanroy Phillip for UMFK’s lone goal of the game.
The Rams decided to deliver another goal just seconds later with a penalty kick drawn by Bruning, which turned into a goal by fourth-year defender Nate Yurkovic to give the Rams a two-goal lead again.
In the past two games, Bruning only had two shots against George Mason; he was able to get two goals and four shots in this game.
“I would say just in quality, in general,” Bruning said. “UMFK was not at the same level as Dayton or Mason, but I’m really happy that I still tried to give the same effort that I usually played with.”
Just after the penalty goal, Yurkovic sent the ball towards Kalina and gave another goal for URI.
Around the 67th minute, a throw-in by Yurkovic was sent to Bruning and into UMFK’s net for a four-goal lead.
Just nine minutes after the goal from Bruning, second-year forward Luca Krause and third-year forward Theo Harris collectively sent the sixth goal to URI and handed UMFK its second loss of the season with a 6-1 victory.
Their opponent for the quarterfinals is set to be No. 5 Davidson College on Friday at 7 p.m. at the URI Soccer Complex.
“We get a little recovery, get a little mental, and be ready for whoever we play next weekend,” head Coach Gareth Elliot said.
