Nov. 19, 2010
Tournament Central | Live Stats | Pack Network Live Video
The #1 seed UMass Lowell River Hawks (21-0), ranked second in the Kookaburra/NFHCA Division II National Coaches Poll, will take on the #2 seed Stonehill Skyhawks (15-5), ranked No. 5 nationally, for a chance at the 2010 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship, on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
UMass Lowell, the Regular Season Champion, is hosting the tournament at home on Cushing Field. The River Hawks are coming off a 4-2 Semifinal victory over #5 Adelphi University on Friday afternoon. Freshman Rachel McCarthy (Reading, Mass.) netted two goals for the River Hawks while senior Sammy Macy (Tewksbury, Mass.) added a goal and an assist in the victory. Classmate Katie Enaire (Amesbury, Mass.) also scored for UMass Lowell in their 21st consecutive victory. The 21-win mark the River Hawks have already achieved this season breaks the program's previous record of 20-wins set in 2005 and 2008.
Stonehill took on #3 American International yesterday and walked away with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Yellow Jackets. AIC led nearly the entire game before Stonehill earned a pair of penalty corners in the final seconds of regulation and again once time had expired. They capitalized on the opportunity and tied the game on a goal by Lindsey Pinkham, while Kathryn Nelson scored her 19th goal of the year just 3:36 into overtime to send her team to the Championship.
UMass Lowell is averaging a nation-best 5.10 goals per game, allowing just 0.29 per contest. Stonehill is letting up 1.38 per game to its opponents and netting 2.32 of their own, ranking them second and third in the conference, respectively
The River Hawks are led offensively by the senior trio of NE-10 First Team All-Conference selections Macy, Enaire and NE-10 Player of the Year Liz Day (North Andover, Mass.), who have combined for 67 goals on the year. Macy recently broke the program record for points in a season, tallying 71 (28g, 15a) so far this year.
Defensively, NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Year Melanie Hopkins (Harwich, Mass.) has let up just six goals on the year, as UMass Lowell has outscored opponents 107-6 so far this season. She has amassed a .924 save percentage and 0.30 GAA. The River Hawk defensive corps has helped the squad to out-corner opponents 249-98 this year and only allows 6.7 shots per game.
Stonehill has been led this season by junior forward Kathryn Nelson with 41 points (19g, 3a), as well as NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year Courtney Foley with 19 points (6g, 7a). Goalkeeper Courtney Osier has played nearly 1400 minutes between the pipes for the Skyhawks and has amassed a .750 save percentage with a 1.41 GAA.
The teams met twice during the regular season, as UMass Lowell outscored Stonehill 8-0 with a pair of 4-0 victories. The squads first met in Lowell on Sept. 22, as Enaire scored two of UMass Lowell's four goals. Hopkins stopped all eight shots she faced. In the teams' second meeting on Oct. 27 at Stonehill, it was Enaire again with another two-goal outing to lift the River Hawks to victory. Hopkins made nine stops during that second meeting.
This marks UMass Lowell's seventh trip to the championship game in the last eight years. Their last NE-10 Tournament Championship was in 2007 over Bentley. This is Stonehill's fourth trip to the Final in the last six years. The teams last met in the NE-10 Championship in 2006 when UMass Lowell took home a 3-1 victory over the Skyhawks. In the previous season, the teams were declared Co-Champions.
The teams' last NE-10 Tournament meeting was in the 2008 Semifinal, when UMass Lowell defeated Stonehill 3-2 and their last post-season meeting was in the NCAA Tournament Semifinal last season in Easton, Mass. The River Hawks knotted the game at one apiece at the start of the second half before Macy netted the game-winner with less than two minutes remaining in the tilt.
Tickets are available at the entrance to Cushing Field and can be purchased for $5 for adults, $3 for children (12 and under) and seniors and $1 for students with a valid ID. For those unable to attend the game, live stats and live video streaming will both be available.
