AMHERST — It may not have been the start to the season head coach Fran O’Leary wanted for his No. 8 UMass men’s soccer team, as Siena netted a goal less than two minutes into the Minutemen’s season opener, but they responded like the top-10 nationally ranked squad they are with three unanswered goals en route to a 3-2 victory over the Saints at Rudd Field on a perfect Thursday afternoon in Amherst.
UMass didn’t have its best stuff, but no team ever does this early into a season. The Minutemen dug deep and got the job done on the backs of their two star defensemen Aidan Kelly and Alex Brown, each coming up to a score a goal before John Paul Mbuthia buried the dagger with under 20 minutes remaining in the second half.
After losing one of the best goal scorers in the entire country in Alec Hughes to graduation, the UMass offense picked up right where it left off in 2024.
“It was a very tough game,” O’Leary said. “We have a lot of work to do in terms of structure and in terms of getting our fitness level up… It was a very gutsy performance by us against a really good team. [Siena was] picked top three in their conference. And we scored three goals. We lost maybe the best goal scorer in the country, and to come out today after losing the majority of your attacking prowess last season and somehow score three goals is a big credit to our team.”
Siena rarely had any chances in its attacking third, but it did get a quality look early — and the Saints capitalized. An aggressive run up the left sideline by Martin Piedeleu set him up in a good position to cross the ball toward the middle. He found a surging Campbell Stalker in the box, who slid and got a foot on the ball to redirect it around the oncoming UMass keeper, Alex Geczy, to put Siena ahead 1-0 just one minute, 40 seconds into the contest.
The slow start didn’t faze O’Leary or his team. UMass went on to take six corners in the first half and fired eight shots to Siena’s two. As soon as the Saints grabbed that early lead, the Minutemen dominated the rest of the frame.
Kelly evened things up in the 20th minute. A free kick by Thomas Wadas deflected off of Mbuthia’s head and over to Kelly on the weak side. He took a touch and rifled a shot to the far post, and it kissed off the pipe and into the net to give UMass its first goal of the season.
Kelly’s defensive mate Alex Brown scored early in the second half as he came charging in on a loose ball in the box and tapped it in, giving the Minutemen the lead in the 55th minute.
“Alex Brown’s goal, he’s a terrific defender, that was a bit of a collector’s item,” O’Leary joked. “Aidan will always get his few each season. Any time you can get two goals from your back four, you’re very, very happy.”
Mbuthia added the third goal in the 72nd minute, another tally from the doorstep. Shane Velez took a hard shot on goal that Siena keeper Bennet Glinder lunged to knock away with his hand. The ball rolled over to Mbuthia all alone near the penalty stripe, and he blasted one that hit off a Siena defender on its way into the back of the net.
The Minutemen had everything working for them following the Saints’ early score.
“I won’t say [Siena’s goal] woke us up, but it took us a couple minutes,” O’Leary said. “It gave us a little shock. The response was great to score three unanswered goals. We’re fortunate to have guys who have played in big games now. Some of them have played in really meaningful NCAA [tournament] games, and that maturity helped us from that early shock.”
Siena added one more late in the game but the Minutemen didn’t waver and held on strong the rest of the way.
O’Leary saw plenty of positives, the most important being UMass walked away victorious, but he also knows there is still lots to work on this early into the season.
“Our identity is really how we work without the ball, how our press goes,” he said. “We’ve got to know how we’re stepping, how we’re all coordinated. Early in the season you won’t get it perfect, so over the next few weeks hopefully we’ll tighten that up. With the ball, just the decision making, when to go long and when the opportunities are there to play. I think in the second half we gave up sort of cheap possessions when we could’ve put two or three more passes together and put a better final ball into the box.”
UMass (1-0) returns to action on Sunday as it travels to Storrs, Conn. for a bout with the UConn Huskies at 7 p.m.