Oct. 5, 2010

Box Score

The No. 3 UMass Lowell River Hawks (10-0, 2-0 NE-10) defeated the Merrimack Warriors (4-6, 1-2 NE-10) by a score of 5-0 on Tuesday evening in Northeast-10 Conference action on Cushing Field. Senior forward Sammy Macy (Tewksbury, Mass.) made her presence known from the start, having a hand in all three first half goals and finishing the night with two goals and a pair of assists.

The teams last met in North Andover on Sept. 14, as UMass Lowell captured a 5-0 victory that afternoon, as well, helping UMass Lowell complete the regular season sweep of the Warriors.

Macy's six point night began with her 12th goal of the year, scored just over seven minutes into the contest. She was assisted by classmate and fellow scoring powerhouse Katie Enaire (Amesbury, Mass.).

The squad increased the lead to two after Macy received an inbound pass from NE-10 Defensive Player of the Week Jaime Hadley (Chelmsford, Mass.) during a penalty corner. Macy found midfielder Liz Day (North Andover, Mass.) in the middle of the circle, allowing her to hit a clear bomb to the back of the cage with 21:30 remaining in the half.

Macy's stick was involved in the next tally, as well, as she dove to save the ball at the baseline right outside the goal. She struck the ball back to the front and center of the cage, where Enaire's stick was waiting to chip it in just under 20 minutes into the game.  They held onto the 3-0 lead entering the break.

Macy tallied her 13th goal of the year and second of the night, off a penalty corner. She opened scoring in the second half by receiving an inbound pass from Hadley at the top of the circle and blasting the ball to give the River Hawks the 4-0 lead with 18:31 remaining in the game.

Freshman Rachel McCarthy (Reading, Mass.) took advantage of a flurry in front of the cage, grabbing her own rebound and tallying her fourth goal of the year, giving the River Hawks a 5-0 advantage they would hold on to through the end of the game.

UMass Lowell held the 14-2 advantage in penalty corners in the game, including the 9-0 edge in the first half. They also outshot the Warriors 26-3 in the game and allowed just one Merrimack goal to reach the goalkeeper.

Freshman Melanie Hopkins (Harwich, Mass.) stopped the only shot she faced, en route to her seventh shutout of the year, while Merrimack's Kerri Bergquist made 11 saves in the tilt.

Next up, the River Hawks will head to Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. for a conference game on Sunday at noon.