Sept. 4, 2011

Box Score

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Melissa Effertz (Oceanside, Calif.)recorded her first career hat trick to propel #1 UMass Lowell to a 4-3 shootout victory over #9 Millersville on Sunday afternoon at Cushing Field. The River Hawks won the shootout, 3-2.

The win pushes UMass Lowell field hockey back to .500 overall at 1-1, while dropping the Marauders to the same record.

"A win is always a good thing to have and Millersville is a tremendously tough team," said head coach Shannon Hlebichuk. "We were gritty; I thought we used our bench more than we have in the past few years. We had a lot of fresh legs and a lot of young players that got some minutes today--and that's great for the future of our program."

"We learned a lot from the loss yesterday and learned a lot from the win today, what we're capable of if we keep being relentless in our effort to win a game."

Millersville jumped on the scoreboard in the second minute of play. The Marauders' Ashley Weber (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) carried the ball into the circle and tried to a center a pass that hit a defender and deflected into the net.

The deficit then grew to two in the 21st minute as Katelyn Zapp (Camp Hill, Pa.) converted a corner from Brittany Anderson (Wrightsville, Pa.) for her second goal of the season.

The River Hawks bounce back several minutes later, cutting the score to 2-1. Annie Hansbury (Plaistow, N.H.)carried into the circle and passed to Effertz on the goalie's right. As the goalkeeper shifted towards the ball, Effertz sent a shot into the far corner for her second goal of the season at 29:28.

At the half, UMass Lowell had been out-cornered, 2-6, but outshot its opponent 5-4. Millersville regained control coming out of the half, scoring in the 45th minute. Emily Litchford (Dover, Del.) buried a shot off of a penalty corner from Mary Atkins (Quarryville, Pa.).

UMass Lowell responded in a big way, scoring a pair of goals in a span of 2:21 seconds, starting in the 50th minute. The first came after Ali Ferraro (Kingston, N.Y.)controlled a centered pass into traffic. Ferraro passed on the shot, flicking the ball to the weak-side for Effertz to hammer home at 50:21.

The River Hawks then countered on a turnover by the Marauders as Rachel McCarthy (Reading, Mass.)screamed down the sideline and into the circle. After drawing the goalkeeper to her, McCarthy dished to Effertz waiting once more on the weak-side for her third goal of the game, tying the score at 3-3.

The two teams then went nearly 50 minutes without another score, filling the remainder of regulation and two overtimes with stunning plays.

In the 88th minute, Millersville's Weber streaked down midfield with five steps on the nearest defender. As she closed the gap between her and the goalkeeper, defender Sarah Wilcox (Old Town, Maine)closed the gap on Weber. Wilcox knocked the ball loose no more than 10 feet from the net to save a potential game-winning shot.

The Marauders had their own heroics as goalkeeper Lauren Sotzin (Harrisburg, Pa.) made a stunning save with the waffle pad on Ferraro's breakaway with a mere 50 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

In the penalty strokes, UMass Lowell jumped out to a 3-0 advantage on scores by McCarthy, Hansbury and Kayla Littig (Carver, Mass.). Millersville then countered with back-to-back makes by Rachel Dickinson (Millersville, Pa.) and Zapp, while stopping the final two River Hawk attempts. The game came down to the final stroke as freshman Randi Boyd (Manheim, Pa.) put the ball on target, but a diving save by Melanie Hopkins (Harwich, Mass.)awarded UMass Lowell the victory.

Hopkins (1-1) finished with three saves, but made two stops in the shootout to earn the victory. Sotzin totaled nine saves, but fell to 1-1 on the year. The River Hawks outshot the Marauders 23-12 on the day and out-cornered their opponent 16-9.

UMass Lowell will begin conference play on Wednesday, traveling to St. Michael's at 4 p.m.