Oct. 28, 2009

Box Score

Audio Recap - The River Hawk Report

The No. 3 seed UMass Lowell River Hawks defeated the No. 6 Southern Connecticut State Owls by a score of 4-1 on Cushing Field, Wednesday afternoon, in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast-10 Tournament.

With the win, the River Hawks improve to 16-4 on the year, while the Owls complete their season at 6-14. The victory secures the River Hawks’ place in the semifinal round of the NE-10 Tournament, as they will take on No. 2 seed Bentley on Saturday.

The first half started slowly, as the River Hawks were unable to capitalize on their 15 penalty corner opportunities. Senior Jaci Moulton (Baldwinville, MA) put the River Hawks on the board, though, in the 29th minute of play (28:48), after grabbing a rebound off a teammate’s shot and sinking the ball into the cage.

The River Hawks outshot their opponent 17-1 in those first 35 minutes of play.

It was an explosive 10 minutes of play in the second that opened the game up for UMass Lowell, beginning with a high-speed goal by Katie Enaire (Amesbury, MA) in the 37th minute of play (36:41). Jaime Hadley (Chelmsford, MA) found Enaire running full speed upfield, where she hit a bomb across the cage for her 19th tally of the year.

In the 43rd minute of play (42:50), Sammy Macy (Tewksbury, MA) connected on a pass from Ashley Smith (Killingworth, CT) to score off the penalty corner, giving UMass Lowell the 3-0 lead.

Just over two minutes later, in the 45th minute of play (44:52), Enaire struck again, assisted by Macy to cushion the River Hawk lead.

Refusing to go down without a fight, Southern Connecticut’s Kelly Anne McCafferty (Durham, NH) tallied her 10th goal of the year, grabbing her own rebound in the 56th minute of play (55:09).

Junior netminder Lauren Zarrella (Morris, CT) stopped 13 shots for the Owls, allowing four goals, while UMass Lowell’s Amy Carbon (Bellingham, MA) stopped one and allowed one in 57:15 of play. Kate Hickey (Medway, MA) relieved Carbon and played just under 13 minutes of shutout field hockey, stopping the only shot she faced.

The River Hawks held their opponents to three shots on goal and outshot the Owls 26-6 on the afternoon. They also held a 20-8 advantage in penalty corners during the game.

UMass Lowell will return to the field on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. when they head to tournament host Stonehill College to take on the No. 2 seed Bentley Falcons in the semifinal round of competition.