Anouk Lalande scored the River Hawk’s only goal in the effort against Stanford.
Kathryn Leeber
Connector Editor
The UMass Lowell field hockey team fell to the Stanford Cardinal 5-1 in the quarterfinal matchup of the America East championship tournament on Thursday afternoon.
Four of the Cardinal’s goals came in the first half from four different players. The lone goal for the River Hawks came from forward Anouk Lalande in the 52nd minute. With the loss, the River Hawks ended their season with a 9-11 record overall; the team’s best as a Division I program.
“Stanford turned on a level of field hockey and speed that I don’t know if we were anticipating in the first half,” said UMass Lowell head coach Shannon Hlebichuk. “I thought we collected ourselves at halftime and certainly came out looking like a different team [with] a lot of momentum, a lot of speed [and] urgency, so I was happy with how we recovered.”
Stanford dominated the first half, keeping most of the possession and scoring four of their goals. The Cardinal had three penalty corners in the first five minutes, but all were saved by UMass Lowell goalkeeper Eva Berkhout. The first goal for Stanford at 8:30 came as a result of their fourth penalty corner. Forward Corinne Zanolli sent a pass to fellow forward Marissa Cicione who scored her 10th goal of the season.
UMass Lowell did not have their first shot until 12 minutes into the match. Following a penalty corner taken by midfielder Katie Lynes, defender Clara Defourt received the ball and sent in a shot that was wide of the net.
The Cardinal scored three consecutive goals in a span of six minutes as a result of a scattered River Hawk defense. The second goal came after a penalty corner in which forward Katie Keyser scored from the top of the circle in the 16th minute.
Stanford continued to keep the ball in their favor and had two more penalty corners that were unsuccessful. After midfielder Frances Carstens took a shot that was saved by Berkhout, defender Sarah Johnson gathered the ball and send a pass to forward Emma Alderton. She scored directly in front of the net, extending the Cardinal lead to 3-0.
The fourth and final goal of the first half came less than a minute later. Midfielder Phoebe Crosthwaite sent a running shot into the back of the net unassisted.
After a UMass Lowell timeout, the River Hawks attempted to score and were awarded two consecutive penalty corners. Defourt got a shot off on each corner, but they were blocked.
Forward Torrie Huk had the last attempt for UMass Lowell in the first half, but her shot was saved by Stanford goalkeeper Kelsey Bing.
The start of the second half saw a more aggressive UMass Lowell, with two back-to-back shot attempts from Lynes. The River Hawks also had the first penalty corner, which allowed Defourt to get a shot off but it was again blocked.
Stanford continued to pepper Berkhout with shots, but none resulted in a goal. Carstens kept trying to score in front of the net after Berkhout saved her shots. Zanolli had a shot from the top of the circle in the 46th minute, but that was also saved.
Following a string of passes, UMass Lowell forward Christa Doiron sent a pass to Lalande who was able to tip the ball just past Bing, bringing the score to 4-1 with just under 18 minutes to play.
The River Hawks continued to push the ball towards the net. Midfielder Katie Luchino sent a cross to Huk who dived to try and get a shot off, but the ball went wide.
In the 61st minute, Carstens moved the ball through the middle of the circle and sent a pass to Zanolli who scored Stanford’s fifth goal.
The game remained in the Cardinal favor, but no more goals were scored, awarding Stanford a 5-1 victory.
“Obviously as the fourth seed you’re never really expected to win [and] you have that underdog mentality, so we talked about how important it was to make it [to the quarterfinals] for the second year in a row. They’ve made history this year on so many fronts,” Hlebichuk said.
Stanford moves on to play in the semi-finals on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2:30 p.m. at Cushing Field. They will take on the winner of the University of Maine versus Pacific University which will be determined tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m.
