UMass Dartmouth men's soccer continued to succeed under
leadership of new head coach Ray Cabral

(Dartmouth, MA) -- UMass Dartmouth's men's soccer team had a new coach for the 2001 season but the change didn't deter from the Corsairs' continued success on the field. Under the direction of new head coach Ray Cabral, UMass Dartmouth posted a 13-7 won loss record and a 5-2 mark in the Little East Conference, plus berths in both the Little East Conference Tournament and ECAC New England Division III Tournaments.

Coming off a 16-6-1 turnaround season in 2000, UMass Dartmouth never missed a beat under Coach Cabral. The Corsairs put together an early season, nine-game winning streak and in mid-October, cracked the Division III New England soccer poll tied for tenth place. In the end, the Corsairs finished 13-6 overall and 5-2 in the LEC, seeded third in the LEC Tournament. The Corsairs scored a 1-0 tournament victory over Eastern Connecticut in the quarterfinal round before being eliminated by Plymouth State College, 2-0 in the semi-final round. UMass Dartmouth's season came to a conclusion following a 1-0 loss to Babson College in the opening round of the ECAC New England Division III Tournament.

Among the Corsairs' top players for the 2001 season were leading scorer Vesselin Tzolov (Taunton, MA) and UMass Dartmouth's only First Team All-LEC selection junior forward/ midfielder and co-captain Adrian Gonsalves (Somerset, MA). Three Corsairs earned Second Team honors from the LEC, including freshman midfielder James Smith (Dartmouth, MA), along with junior back Carlos Semedo (Boston, MA) and junior goalkeeper and co-captain Jorge Fonseca (Ludlow, MA).

A junior forward for the Corsairs, Tzolov finished the season with a team-high six goals plus an assist for 13 points, placing him 12th overall in the LEC scoring race. Freshman midfielder Diego Escudero (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) was second in scoring for UMass Dartmouth, netting five goals for 10 points followed by junior midfielder Admir DaSilva (New Bedford, MA) with two goals and five assists for nine points along with Smith's three goals and three assists for nine points. Junior midfielder Keita Monteiro (Taunton, MA) finished with three goals and an assist for seven points, while freshman forward Aliulino Andrade (Boston, MA) had two goals and three assists for five points and junior midfielder Jason Ponte (Dartmouth, MA) had two goals for four points.

Fonseca had another outstanding season in goal for UMass Dartmouth. In 18 games, Fonseca played 1597 minutes and faced 131 shots, coming up with 105 saves. His goals against average was 1.01, second best in the LEC, and his seven shutouts were tied for second in the conference.

UMass Dartmouth got off to a fast start for Coach Cabral who took over the Corsair men's team prior to the season. After opening with a 2-1 win over Springfield College and a 4-0 loss to Brandeis University, the Corsairs posted a nine-game winning streak. LEC wins over Eastern Connecticut and Western Connecticut were followed by wins over Rhode Island College, Southern Maine and UMass Boston. The Corsairs settled into third place in the LEC following late season conference losses to Plymouth State and Keene State.