Box Score (PDF)

ALBANY, N.Y. – Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Federico (Windham, N.H.) logged a career-high 22 saves for the UMass Lowell field hockey team (8-10, 3-5 AE) in a 5-1 setback at UAlbany (12-5, 6-1 AE) on Sunday afternoon to close out the 2016 regular season.

"Albany showed why they are the best team in the conference today by playing a complete game," said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk. "We had moments of great play, but moments are not enough at this level. Kelsey played remarkably in goal and kept us in the game. We missed some golden opportunities and we have to continue to work on the details of the game in order to progress to the next level. Albany showed us what that next level was today."
 
Freshman Anouk Lalande (Brussels, Belgium) registered the lone goal for the River Hawks in the contest, while junior Christa Doiron (Worcester, Mass.) picked up the assist. In addition to Federico's 22 stops, junior Kelly Mankowich (East Windsor, N.J.) and sophomore Allyssa Moser (Mertztown, Pa.) each added one defensive save apiece.  
 
UAlbany registered the first four shots in the squad's Senior Day contest, including a tip in by Molly Mariano that gave the Great Danes a 1-0 edge in the eighth minute. The home squad stayed on the offensive attack, but Federico turned away 10 more attempts in the next several minutes with the help of the River Hawk back line.
 
Mariano would break through a scrum in front of the cage in the 31st minute to extend the Great Danes lead to 2-0 before senior Kristin Aveni (Westminster, Mass.) notched the River Hawks' first shot of the day that missed just barely wide.
 
Although the host team was able to add one more tally in the first on a direct corner, Lalande put UMass Lowell on the board in the waning seconds of the half with the help of Doiron, who pulled the goalkeeper out of position, making the score 3-1 at the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, the River Hawks earned their first corner in the 51st minute, but sophomore Torrie Huk's (Milford, Del.) strike was kicked away by the opposing keeper. The visitors were awarded a penalty stroke on the same play, as Moser was called in to take her third of the year, although she was unable to convert.
 
UAlbany then pulled away, 5-1, with a pair of goals just three minutes apart, with a stroke from Frederike Helmke, in addition to Mariano's third score of the day, to help secure the outcome.
 
Sunday's contest marked the 10th meeting between UMass Lowell and UAlbany in the sport of field hockey. The Great Danes are undefeated in that all-time series. The River Hawks will make their first ever appearance in the America East Championship on November 3-6 in Stockton, Calif.