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AMHERST, Mass. – Taylor Sokol (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored two goals, including the program's first ever tally, as the UMass Lowell women's lacrosse team made its debut, falling to Massachusetts 18-4 on Saturday afternoon.

"I was waiting for it (the first goal). It took a while, but when it came it was just awesome, " said Head Coach Carissa Medeiros. "I grabbed my assistant coaches and gave them a big hug. I'm very proud of the girls, it's such a big piece of history."

Sokol scored the historic goal less than four minutes into the second half, Jesse Jay (Amherst, N.H.) was credited with the assist. Jenn Guen (Braintree, Mass.) brought the ball into the arc and passed to Jay, who dished to Sokol in front of the crease. The freshman's low one-timer beat Rachel Vallarelli.

After the opening minutes of the game contained back and forth action, including point-blank saves by Courtney Barrett (Burlington Vt.), the Minutewomen (1-0) got on the scoreboard first off a Amy Tiernan shot, with 21:37 on the clock. 59 seconds later, Erika Eipp doubled the score in favor of the hosts.

With Massachusetts holding a 4-0 lead, Maeve Crowley scored a free-position goal at 5:38, and Tiernan scored 11 seconds later to end the first half scoring.

"I'm so excited we have a game under our belt, we couldn't say that before today. The score doesn't reflect how well we played, certainly I have to give credit to UMass Amherst, they played awesome," said Medeiros. "They made adjustments to us, I think we came out really strong defensively and they were really struggling to score goals. Their experience really came through."

Barrett made seven first-half saves, as the Minutewomen fired 20 shots on her in the opening 20 minutes.

Micaela Sanborn (Chelmsford, Mass.) also found the back of the net, when her hard shot beat Vallarelli with 17:02 remaining in the game. Emily Wright (Avon, Conn.) scored the River Hawks' third goal on a one-hopper past Leigh Henjes, who replaced Vallarelli.

Sokol added her second goal with 18 seconds remaining in the game. After getting fouled the freshman drove into the arc and the hard shot beat the keeper.

Barrett finished the game with 14 saves on 40 shots. Guen had a team-high four of the nine total shots for the River Hawks.

UMass Lowell continues its season with the team's home-opener on February 18 against Boston College at Wicked Blue Field.