Burlington, Vt. – The River Hawks scored five of the last seven goals against Vermont on Saturday afternoon, but the late push fell just short of a comeback as UMass Lowell was on the wrong side of an 11-9 final.
The River Hawks fall to an overall record of 2-8, and a 0-2 mark in conference play. The Catamounts improve to 4-5, winning their first America East game of the season.
The two teams traded a pair of scores early, with Freshman
Austin Lane (Aurora, Ontario) answering an Ian Mackay goal, tying the game at 1 with 10:33 to go in the first quarter. Vermont then scored 5 straight, before
Cory Highfield (Georgetown, Ontario) stopped the run with 31 seconds to go in the quarter, making the score 6-2 at the first break.
Vermont scored 10 seconds into the 2
nd quarter on a man-up opportunity to extend their lead to five goals, the biggest the margin would be all day. After neither team scored for 10 and a half minutes, sophomore
Keenan Koswin, who had assisted on the first two River Hawk goals, found the back of the net himself. It was part of a season high 5-point day for the Winnipeg, Manitoba product. The River Hawks would score again in the second, with Koswin finding fellow sophomore
Brandon Luitwieler (Calgary, Alberta) who netted his first goal of the season, making it a three-goal game going into halftime.
After a pair of Vermont goals out of the gate to start the second half, Luitwieler scored again, this time unassisted, with 5:25 to go in the third. A little over a minute later, freshman
Blaine McMahon (New Milford, Conn.) scored his fifth goal of the year bringing the River Hawks within three. The Catamounts would score with three seconds left as Ian Mackay scored his fourth an final goal, making the score 10-6 through three quarters.
The River Hawks continued to push the tempo offensively in the fourth, scoring the first two goals of the quarter, one from Lane and one from Koswin. Vermont would get one more score late, but
Austin Lane finished off his hat trick with 39 seconds to go in the game, leaving the final score at 11-9.
Freshman goalie
Grant Lardieri (Ada, Mich.) posted his second straight 11 save game of the season. He has anchored a River Hawk defense that is fourth in the conference in goals against average, allowing just over 10 goals a game.
The River Hawks return to conference play Saturday, April 2
nd, when they come home from a two game road trip to host Albany. Coverage of that game will be available on America East TV.
