Boston, MA --- UMass Boston registered a pair of goals off of corner kicks just under five minutes apart in the first half and added three second half tallies to come back and defeat visiting WPI 5-1 in a non-conference men's soccer match played on Sunday afternoon.  The Beacons remain undefeated at 2-0 on the season while the Engineers slip to 0-1-1 on the year.
 
After an opening 20 minutes devoid of quality scoring opportunities, it was the visitors that struck first.  Graduate student Luke Savoie (Mansfield, MA) got the scoring chance started with a long quality throw-in that trickled through a pair of UMass Boston defenders and was collected by Codey Battista (Northbridge, MA) on the right side.  The senior shot left-footed to the far post for his first career goal at 20:30.
 
From there it was all Beacons.  The hosts evened the score when Luan Cruz (Everett, MA) headed in the second of two straight corner kicks by Ryan Lima (Lynn, MA) at 29:00.  UMass Boston seized the lead just 4:25 later following another corner that was originally repelled by WPI netminder Julian Quaresima (East Meadow, NY) but Diego Gisholt (Newton, MA) ended up with the ball and cashing in with a goal at 33:25.
 
UMass Boston added an insurance goal in the 63rd minute as Rafael Gross ( Minas Gerais, Brazil) knocked home a pass from Gabriel Meireles (Everett, MA) to the low right side at 62:35 to make it 3-1. Meireles had a foot on the final two goals in the last 10 minutes as the sophomore netted a goal at 81:45 and set up a Lima marker at 83:26.
 
The shot totals were nearly identical with UMass Boston holding a slight 18-17 edge however the Beacons held a substantial advantage in shots on goal (13-5) and corner kicks (7-3).  Savoie and fellow graduate students Francesco Valagussa (Arlington, MA) and Billy Chissoe (Gig Harbor, WA) all took three shots for the Engineers.
 
Qasim El-Ashkar (Salem, MA) tallied four saves in net for the hosts while Quaresima made eight stops of the Crimson and Gray. 
 
WPI turns its attention to its home opener on Wednesday when it entertains longtime rival Brandeis on at H. Carr Field at 7pm.  UMass Boston heads to the road for the first time in 2023, venturing to Fitchburg State for a 7pm kickoff.