Oct. 1, 2011

Box Score

Photo Gallery

Junior F Keanna Santos (Lakeville, Mass.) scored the lone goal in the 41st minute to lead UMass Lowell over Franklin Pierce, 1-0, Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference women’s soccer clash at Cushing Field.

The victory was the third straight for the River Hawks, who improved to 5-2-2 overall and 4-1-2 in the NE-10 entering Tuesday’s match at Saint Michael’s (3:30).

The win also marked the third straight shutout for the River Hawks, who last conceded a goal in the 95th minute of a 2-1 overtime loss to Adelphi on Sept. 17.

Freshman GK Jane Hatzikonstantis (Tewksbury, Mass.), fronted by the defense of seniors Hannah Merullo (Wakefield, Mass.) and Casey Schulze (Chelmsford, Mass.), junior Taylor Hartmann (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and sophomore Sarah Raye (Salem, N.H.), has yet to allow a goal this season.

Hatzikonstantis stopped five shots en route to her fifth consecutive clean sheet and extended her streak to 470 scoreless minutes. The school record for scoreless minutes – also the NCAA Division II record – is held by former standout Jamie Gillis, who went 1,333 minutes without conceding during the 2009 season.

“We tried to keep things compact,” said head coach Elie Monteiro. “We tried to make it difficult (for Franklin Pierce) to break us down. We’re not a team that scores a lot of goals and we have to focus on the defensive side of the ball. We stuck to our guns very well, the way that we trained all week.”

Franklin Pierce slipped to 4-5-0 overall and 2-5-0 in the Conference. The Ravens host No. 18 Merrimack Tuesday at 7:00.

Santos scored the winner in the 41st minute off of nice work from junior M Jenna Costa (Attleboro, Mass.). Costa took a pass up the left flank and turned and threaded a through-ball between a pair of Raven defenders, enabling Santos for a breakaway down the right side of the box.

Santos slotted her shot inside the left post for her second goal of the year. She seemingly doubled the River Hawks lead in the 84th minute when she finished a cross from the right side from junior F Julia Donigian (Wakefield, Mass.), but was ruled offside.

Franklin Pierce had a pair of early opportunities to go ahead 1-0, but Hatzikonstantis was up for it. In the sixth minute, senior F Amanda Panaro took a centering pass at the top of the box, turned and fired right at Hatzikonstantis.

Sophomore F Tatiana Pereira nearly capitalized on a similar play in the 12th minute deeper in the box, but again fired at the UMass Lowell goalkeeper.

“It’s another shutout, which is exciting,” Monteiro added. “The way we create opportunities, we have to try to capitalize and try to keep things locked down on the other side of the ball. Now we have to think about Saint Michael’s on Tuesday.”

UMass Lowell had a 7-6 advantage on shots, including 4-1 in the second half, but Franklin Pierce had a 5-2 edge on target.

Senior GK Jocelyn Leon had one save.