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Women’s lacrosse struggles against No. 8 Stony Brook

Freshman midfielder Kristina Keith battles for position against Stony Brook’s Samantha DiSalvo. (George DeLuca/Connector)

Alexa Hyde
Connector Staff

The UMass Lowell women’s lacrosse team (1-12, 0-4 AE) dropped a 23-2 decision to the Stony Brook Seawolves (9-3, 3-0 AE) in an America East conference game Saturday afternoon.

The River Hawks, who previously fell 2-13 against Vermont in another America East matchup on Wednesday, hoped to snap their eight-game losing streak heading into today’s contest.

Stony Brook, led by the nation’s leading goal scorer, junior attack Courtney Murphy, is ranked eighth nationally, with just three losses on the season.

The first half of the contest saw a strong offensive showing from the visiting Seawolves, who notched the first two goals of the game within the first two minutes. From there, Stony Brook continued to break down UMass Lowell’s defense to earn 18 goals in the first half.

UMass Lowell was unable to gain any momentum on offense in the first half. The River Hawks got seven shots off on net but were unable to convert any of them into goals. UMass Lowell also saw several turnovers in the half, with nine compared to Stony Brook’s seven.

Sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Barrett made five saves for the River Hawks in the first half to help UMass Lowell’s struggling defense. Senior defender Laura Kender was yellow-carded in the first half, and UMass Lowell committed 13 fouls. The River Hawks trailed 18-0 heading into the break.

The second half opened with another Stony Brook goal and went on to feature the largest lead of the game, with UMass Lowell trailing by 21.

Offensively, the River Hawks saw improvement coming out of the break and UMass Lowell earned two back-to-back goals from sophomore attack Taylor Sokol and freshman midfielder Kristina Keith. Keith leads the River Hawks in goals for the season.

UMass Lowell saw better draw control in the second half, winning five out of the eight draws. Barrett made a couple of saves to get possession back for UMass Lowell. Defensively, the River Hawks were able to keep Stony Brook to just five goals in the half.

The Seawolves stopped all scoring in the last fifteen minutes of the match as they opted to hold the ball. The River Hawks struggled to gain possession as the clocked dwindled down and the River Hawks remained down by 21 goals to end the game.

UMass Lowell returns to Wicked Blue Field on Tuesday at 6 p.m. to face off against Brown University.

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