Box Score (PDF) | Highlights

LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Jenna Freitas (Manchester, N.H.) logged a pair of goals to lead the UMass Lowell field hockey team to a 2-1 victory against Holy Cross (2-2) at home on Sunday afternoon. The River Hawks remain undefeated with their best start of the Division I era in 2015, improving to 4-0 so far on the young season.
 
"This start feels fantastic," said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk. "We've put a lot of both physical and mental work in over the last four games, and the team just continues to keep fighting through some adversity and holding on defensively, so we're really happy with our performance today." 
 
Freitas' two-goal outburst tied a career high set during her freshman season in 2012. Junior Georgia Cowderoy (Ashmore, Queensland, Australia) notched an assist on the day for a team-high five points this year. Sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Federico (Windham, N.H.) recorded the decision in the cage with two saves.
 
The River Hawks attacked early with a corner opportunity less than two minutes into play, but Cowderoy's reverse chip shot was batted away by the opposing keeper.
 
The home squad had two other close chances in the next 10 minutes, as freshman Torrie Huk (Milford, Del.) had a deflection bounce off the crossbar and senior Annie Villare (Chelmsford, Mass.) sent a shot of her own skidding just wide. UMass Lowell was able to get on the board first, however, when Freitas recovered a loose ball from the last Holy Cross defender and fired a hard shot that found the lower left corner of the cage to give her squad a 1-0 edge.
 
UMass Lowell would carry the one-goal buffer into the break before pulling ahead, 2-0, in the early part of the second half. Cowderoy dished a pass from outside of the circle to Freitas, who was set up in front of the cage for the one-touch sweep to the right side. 
 
The Crusaders cut the difference back to one with 18:29 remaining in the outing, as Caroline Bono tipped in a pass from Lauren Southerland.
 
The teams traded possessions and shots in the waning minutes of the contest, with the visitors pressuring to knot the game, but the River Hawk defense extinguished the late chances to secure the 2-1 decision.
 
Sunday's contest marked the 19th meeting between UMass Lowell and Holy Cross. The Crusaders still hold a 14-5 advantage in the all-time series. The River Hawks are slated to kick off a four-game road swing on Friday, September 11 when they travel to Massachusetts for a 4 p.m. tilt.