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LOWELL, Mass. – Katelyn Vieira's (Warwick, R.I.)  hat trick helped to lift the River Hawks over Quinnipiac, 3-1, giving them their first home win of the season.
 
UMass Lowell now improves to 3-7 on the year while Quinnipiac falls to 5-4.
 
"I think the effort has been building, we stretched our efforts from 35 minutes, to 70-80 minutes," said Head Coach Joel Bancroft. "I thought we were the better team tonight. I liked how we played, I liked our tactics, and I liked our response to their goal."
 
The home team went into tonight's contest ready to attack, applying pressure early, and outshooting the Bobcats 12-3 in the first half. Vieira and Shannon Groffie (Toms River, N.J.) both created opportunities for the River Hawks, but couldn't convert leaving the score 0-0.
 
The Bobcats looked to grab the lead in the 40th minute when Nayda Gill had a one-on-one opportunity on Julia Schneider (Bridgewater, Mass.). The opportunity was spoiled after Alex Guzman (Las Vegas, Nev.) came from behind blocking the shot at the last second, sending it out of bounds.
 
The second half offensively was all Vieira, as she put on a show scoring her first career hat trick. In the 46th minute, Vieira tallied her first goal of the night, giving her team the 1-0 lead. Her goal came on a long kick from Guzman that lead the forward to the box, and made a move that created a one-on-one opportunity between herself and the goalkeeper, finishing it by burying the ball in the lower left corner of the net.
 
In the 58th minute, the Bobcats came back to even the score, 1-1, after Jess Jankowski picked up a lose ball off the cross bar and into the net.
 
The game-winning goal came in the 85th minute, after Vieira found the back of the net for the second time of the night. Vieira was not done there, nearly three minutes later the freshman tallied her third goal of the night, being the first River Hawk to score a hat trick since the program went Division I.
 
Monday's contest marked the first ever meeting between the River Hawks and the Bobcats. With tonight's win, UMass Lowell now leads the all-time series 1-0.