DURHAM – Steven DeLeo scored the game-winning goal for the Raiders as the University of New Hampshire men’s soccer team fell to Colgate, 1-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
The Wildcats, the America East champions, conclude the season with a 12-4-2 record, while the Raiders improve to 13-4-5 and advance to the second round to take on No. 1 seed Wake Forest on Sunday.
In the 20th minute, sophomore Jacob Gould sent a pass to teammate Linus Fallberg, who then hit a one timer from 25 yards out which was swatted away by Colgate keeper Jacob Harris.
UNH took four shots in the opening half, while Colgate tallied two.
In the 35th minute, senior Alex Valencia took a free kick from 28 yards out that sailed into the box and was saved by Harris.
It wasn’t until the 62nd minute that the contest saw its first goal.
Colgate’s Chris DePetro tapped the ball to DeLeo in the box as he pushed it through 10 yards out to the lower right corner past Huxsohl to give Colgate the 1-0 lead.
As the Wildcats looked to score the equalizer, sophomore Conrad Cheng passed the ball to junior Donnett Sackie, who from 8 yards out sent a shot that went wide left of the net.
With just 10 minutes remaining in the second half, Cheng was taken down in the box resulting in a penalty kick. Sophomore Josh Bauer’s upper right shot was stopped by Harris, who made a diving save to keep Colgate’s 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats were unable to get another shot on goal as the Raiders secured the 1-0 victory.
This was the Wildcats’ third appearance in the NCAA Tournament (1994, 2017, 2018) and just the second home NCAA Tournament game in program history. Last year, UNH defeated Fairfield, 3-0, on Nov. 16 at Wildcat Stadium in the first round.