Box Score

Junior forward Rachel McCarthy (Reading, Mass.) scored a hat trick for the second consecutive match to lead UMass Lowell field hockey over Bentley, 6-0, on Saturday afternoon at the Cushing Field Complex.

“I thought we performed very well,” said head coach Shannon Hlebichuk. “We talked about a couple things prior to the game that we wanted to do. That was to be suffocating on our team defense—and I think we did a fantastic job with that—and we talked about goal scoring. We wanted to take advantage of our opportunities and I thought we did a good job of that in both the first and second half.”

The River Hawks (3-1) will take a few days off before heading to Rindge, NH to face Franklin Pierce on Wednesday. The Falcons also have a break before hosting the Ravens on Sept. 15.

McCarthy scored the match's opening two goals to put UMass Lowell firmly in the driver's seat. In the 12^th minute, McCarthy worked her way into the frenzy in front of the net and deposited the ball in the left corner off of a rebound. McCarthy then knocked in another rebound in the 28^th minute.

The River Hawks made it a 3-0 lead shortly before the end of the first half. Senior Sarah Wilcox (Old Town, Maine) carried down the far side and crossed a pass to junior Melissa Effertz (Oceanside, Calif.) waiting at the back-door for her second goal of the year.

The goals kept coming in the second half as McCarthy scored her third of the game in the 41^st minute on yet another rebound.

Effertz followed with her second goal of the game in the 46^th minute, and then Wilcox scored in the 55^th minute to set the final score at 6-0.

UMass Lowell's Melanie Hopkins (Harwich, Mass.) started in net, making one save in over 59 minutes of play. Rookie Bryanna Bourbeau (Litchfield, N.H.) played the final 10 minutes, making three saves.