Box Score
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LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Marzana Fiedtkou (Georgetown, Guyana) recorded the game-winning goal with just 22 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the UMass Lowell Field Hockey team (5-10) to a 1-0 victory against Dartmouth College (5-8) on Team IMPACT Day at Wicked Blue Field Sunday afternoon. The River Hawks recognized honorary team member, seven-year-old Isabelle Johnson, at halftime.
 
"We worked really hard for the entire 70 minutes and earned that corner in the last 30 seconds to put it away," said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk. "We always want to finish on those, so we're happy that we were able to do that today. (Kelsey Federico) played fantastic today and to get a shutout is amazing, but our entire defensive unit really held it down and we showed up to win today."
 
The River Hawks earned a corner in the last minute of play thanks to good stickhandling by sophomore Georgia Cowderoy (Ashmore, Queensland, Australia), who dribbled the ball all the way in from midfield before earning the corner. On the play, junior Kelly Freitas (Manchester, N.H.) inserted the ball to Cowderoy, who was set up outside the circle to make the push-pass to Fiedtkou on the left side for the final shot on goal.
 
"I just saw the opening and pushed it towards the goal," said Fiedtkou, whose parents were in attendance at the game all the way from her native Guyana. "You have to take that chance because anything on goal could possibly score."
 
The Big Green tallied the first four shots of the day and came close to breaking the game open on a corner with just under 27 minutes remaining in the first half, but the goal was disallowed to keep the scored locked at 0-0. Freitas pressured with three straight shots for the River Hawks, including two that were knocked away by the opposing keeper.
 
UMass Lowell forced a corner with 14:33 to play in the half, although the squad was unable to capitalize. Freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Federico (Windham, N.H.), who logged her second career shutout with eight stops in the outing, and the rest of the River Hawks' back line then successfully killed four Dartmouth corners in the next five minutes. Senior Carrie Dresser tallied a defensive save during the stretch. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth in the waning minutes with neither side able to take an advantage, heading into the break knotted at 0-0.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Big Green was issued a yellow card, giving the home squad an extra player for five minutes. After the card expired, Dartmouth had two breakaways, but Federico extinguished the opportunities once again. UMass Lowell regained the momentum and followed with back-to-back, close-range chances of its own from freshman Christa Doiron (Worcester, Mass.) and Freitas, but a pair of diving stops maintained the stalemate with less than 20 minutes remaining.
 
The River Hawks earned two corners in a two minute span beginning with 13 minutes on the clock and Dartmouth answered with another breakaway, however, neither team was able to get on the board. The squads traded possession in the final minutes leading up to Fiedtkou's goal that sealed the 1-0 decision for UMass Lowell and snapped the team's five-game skid.
 
Sunday's contest marked the eighth meeting ever between UMass Lowell and Dartmouth in sport of field hockey, and the River Hawks' first ever win against the Big Green, who now leads the series, 7-1. The River Hawks will return to action on Friday, October 24 when the squad wraps up a four-game homestand against America East Conference opponent New Hampshire beginning at 6 p.m.