FARMINGTON – The University of Maine at Farmington ousted Thomas College from the North Atlantic Conference men’s soccer tournament today as the third-seeded Beavers tipped the sixth-seeded Terriers 1-0 in the first round at Prescott Field.
The Beavers (7-7) are scheduled to visit No. 2 Castleton State College (10-8) in semifinal action on Saturday. Game time is unavailable at this time. The Terriers ended their season at 7-12.
Ryan Beam (Portland, ME) scored the lone goal for the Beavers in the 69th minute. Andrew Merriken (Salem, NH) drove a free kick at Thomas netminder Keegan Curtin (Durham, ME) to open the play. Curtin was able to block Merriken’s bid, but the ball ricocheted out in front of the goal mouth. Beam knocked the ball into the back of the net at 68:31 for the winning score.
Beam’s tally was the difference in a tightly-contested affair as the Beavers and Terriers each fired 15 shots with Farmington holding a 2-1 edge in corner kicks. After the Terriers bolted into the contest with five shots over the opening 11 minutes, the Beavers rebounded, but could not score, with Dylan Moreau (Phippsburg, ME) ringing the post and Curtin swallowing a rebound attempt by Andrew Harner (Naperville, IL) for a scoreless deadlock at intermission.
Matthew Dennett (Augusta, ME) stopped seven shots for the Beavers, including point-blank stops on Jonathan Klippert (Cumberland, ME) and Tim Costa (Pelham, NH) in the opening half. The Beaver defense allowed only one shot on goal in the final 22 minutes to preserve the victory.
Curtin made six saves for Thomas.
