The River Hawks will return to Lowell — and conference play after a one-game tilt against Sacred Heart — on Oct. 7 against the University of New Hampshire. (Courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics)
by Andrew Sciascia
Connector Staff
Despite a high pace, high intensity effort by UMass Lowell field hockey (3-5) the team was defeated 4-2 in regulation by the University of Maine Black Bears (7-3) in their first America East Conference game of the season.
With the bulk of the scoring done in the first 16 minutes, the vast majority of the game was a hard-fought back and forth battle of chances with the competitors registering 6 corners a piece.
“We competed hard for 70 minutes… Our level of energy was exactly where we wanted it to be. We kept ourselves in the game… We had to battle back,” said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk.
And battle back the River Hawks did early on.
The first five goals were scored in a short span of time. Two of which, scored by junior forward Christa Doiron (5) and sophomore mid Torrie Huk (7), came in favor of UMass Lowell. Both of these early goals came to answer tallies put up by the Black Bears. At the 16-minute mark, however, Maine would take the lead for the remainder of play by way of a strong individual effort from senior Danielle Aviani who put one in the cage up close.
The trouble for the River Hawks stemmed not from a lack of consistent effort, but due to an inability to get shots through on offense. The shot margin was dominated by Maine 26-9 leaving River Hawk goalkeepers Kelsey Federico and Eva Berkhout, who split time Friday night, to make 9 more combined stops than the opposition. This vast difference in shots on goal came in part due to several shots wide by UMass Lowell, but also due to struggles adapting to Maine’s defense.
“Maine, they are very agile, big backs that like to hit through,” Coach Hlebichuk said, “They are very good individually, one v. one defense they make it very hard for your attacking unit to get through.”
The nail in the coffin came in the second half when Black Bear’s senior mid/back Sydney Veljacic scored on a tough penalty stroke against Berkhout. The remainder of the game was spent with UMass Lowell attempting to retake possession and re-establish offensive pressure to catch up. River Hawk shots on multiple corners in a row refused to find their way through Maine’s defense to the keeper, and the result was no tallies for UMass Lowell in the second half.
“Overall they’re well coached, well trained and they don’t make a lot of mistakes.” Coach Hlebichuk said of the Black Bears, whom she has lead teams against several times in her 15-year tenure at UMass Lowell as head coach. With this close defeat the River Hawk’s all-time series record against Maine drops to 1-8-1.
The Head Coach also stated that despite the disappointing result the team was happy, for the most part, with its play Friday.
Looking forward to its next match against Sacred Heart and a slew of conference match ups in the weeks ahead, the River Hawks look to carry on with some confidence and momentum. Knowing they can keep up with a nationally ranked adversary in such a way has the team sure it can snatch up a few wins in the coming month.
