The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers defeated the UMass-Lowell River Hawks, 3-0, in the first game of the Astroturf Brooklyn Bridge Cup on Friday evening at Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Terriers led 1-0 at halftime and added two insurance tallies in the final 45 minutes to improve to 1-0-1 on the season. Senior Vincent Bezecourt, sophomore Adrian Cosovic ,and freshman Tomas DeAndrade all netted goals in the victory.

"It's always great to win at home and we had a great crowd tonight for our home-opener," head coach Tom Giovatto commented. "It (the offense) all came from out defense. We had really good shape. We countered quickly, and it led to two great goals, and a free kick."

St. Francis Brooklyn opened up the scoring in the 23rd minute. Bezecourt picked up the loose ball in the box, made a move, and fired a shot past River Hawk goalie Austin Kroll.

UMass-Lowell created their lone first-half chance when Jacob Fitzgerald sent on shot on net, which was denied by Terriers' red-shirt senior goalkeeper Jack Binks.

The hosts threatened early in the second-half when Bezecourt used his offensive skill set to create a chance in the 56th minute. He sent a touch pass to senior John Makaya but the midfielder shot the ball over the net.

The River Hawks were able to counter with an opportunity of their own. Eric Martin was able to get his head on a corner kick, but the ball just went wide of the net.

The Terriers would strike again in the 70th minute. Sophomore Adrian Cosovic received a pass from junior forward Yussuf Olajide and then beat Kroll with a shot just inside the far post.

The Terriers almost added another tally in the 79th minute. Senior Harry Odell sent a free kick, which was headed by sophomoreDominick Falanga to sophomore Lukas Hauer, whose header hit the post before it was cleared to safety by the River Hawks.

UMass-Lowell almost cut the Terrier lead to 2-1 in the 84th minute, but Binks denied Chase Reichenberg from point blank range.

St. Francis Brooklyn added their third goal of the contest in the 89th minute. Sophomore Sal Barone sent a free kick from 22-yards out, which deflected off Deandrade and trickled into the net for his first goal as a Terrier.

Binks made three saves to record his second shutout of the season. The shutout was the 19th of his career, tying him with Michel Peters for third place on the Terriers all-time list.

"I can't thank myself, it's my back four (defenders). I didn't make a bunch of save today, but the ones I made were important. Without the back four it wouldn't happen," Binks said.

The Terriers will continue play in the Brooklyn Bridge Cup when they host St. Bonaventure University at Brooklyn Bridge Park 5 on Sunday. Kickoff is slatted for 1 p.m.

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