Live Stats & Text | Northeast-10 Field Hockey Central

If things go as they did a year ago for the UMass Lowell field hockey team in the 2012 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament and beyond, that'll be fine with them.

Placing second in the NE-10 regular season in 2011 was a disappointment, but the River Hawks captured the NE-10 Tournament and moved on to NCAA Championship match for the fifth straight year.

UMass Lowell (15-3, 8-2 in the NE-10) received the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Stonehill College (9-9, 5-5 NE-10) Wednesday night in the NE-10 quarterfinal round at Cushing Field (7:00).

Head coach Shannon Hlebichuk is hoping for an outcome similar to last year.

The other quarterfinal pits No. 5 Southern Connecticut (8-9, 5-5) at No. 4 Adelphi (7-11, 6-4 NE-10) Wednesday at 4:00.
Should UMass Lowell defeat Stonehill, it will move on to the semifinal Saturday at 11:00 to face No. 2-seeded Bentley (11-6, 8-2 NE-10) at No. 1-seed/host Merrimack College.

Merrimack (15-2, 9-1 NE-10), the regular season champion for the second straight year, meets the Southern Connecticut-Adelphi winner at 2:00.

The championship is slated for Sunday at 12:00.

UMass Lowell received the No. 3 seed by way of regular season losses to Merrimack (1-2) last week and Bentley (0-2) on Oct. 4, the latter accounting for the second-place tiebreaker.

Against Stonehill, UMass Lowell prevailed, 2-1, in a nervy regular season meeting in Easton, Mass., on Sept. 18 behind two goals from junior F Rachel McCarthy (Reading, Mass.) in the 12^th and 27^th minutes.

The Skyhawks pulled one back in the final minute of the first half behind Kelsey Davis. The two rivals played to a scoreless second half which saw Stonehill with a 7-5 edge on shots.

“Stonehill is creative on its attack. They can attack from both the middle and outside which makes them difficult to contain,” Hlebichuk said. “Our midfield and defensive units will need to be organized and composed in order to contain their attacking players.

“We have to take care of the opportunities that we create for ourselves,” she added. “I think the battle of this game will be in the midfield and that will be the determining factor as to who comes out with the win.”

Stonehill won its final two matches of the regular season – at Saint Anselm (2-1) and at Saint Michael's (2-1) – which halted a three-match losing streak.

Should it advance past Stonehill, UMass Lowell meets a surging Bentley squad – winner of its last seven games – for the third time this season. The River Hawks defeated the Falcons, 6-0, in Lowell on Sept. 8 in a non-conference clash before Bentley avenged the loss on Oct. 4.

The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Monday, Oct. 29 at 2:00 on www.ncaa.com.
 
 
Tournament Schedule
 
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, October 24
Game 1: #6 Stonehill at #3 UMass Lowell – 7:00 p.m.
Game 2: #5 Southern Connecticut at #4 Adelphi – 4:00 p.m.
 
Semifinals – Saturday, October 27 at Merrimack
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. #2 Bentley–11:00 a.m.
Game 4: Game 2 winner at #1 Merrimack– 2:00 p.m.
 
Championship – Sunday, October 28 at Merrimack
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner – 12:00 p.m.