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LOWELL, Mass. – Freshman Sophie Gehrels (Zeist, Utrecht, Netherlands) notched a season-best three points, as the UMass Lowell field hockey team (4-5) succumbed to No. 12 Stanford (5-2), 4-3, in the final minutes of play on Thursday afternoon.
 
The teams were tied, 3-3, for over 13 minutes late in the contest, until Stanford's Marissa Cicione finished a pass from Kristina Bassi in the 69th minute.
 
"I thought we played a really good game of field hockey," said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk. "We asked the team to dial in today and play a structured game. We knew that Stanford was going to bring their best and we competed with them for 70 minutes. We recovered well from our mistakes, scored when we needed to and I thought we defended well today."
 
Cicione paced the Cardinal with a hat trick on the day. Gehrels recorded one goal and one assist to lead the River Hawks. Sophomore Eva Berkhout (Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands) logged a career-high 14 saves, as well.
 
The Cardinal offense attacked early, registering its first goal in the ninth minute when Kennedy Schumacher sent a pass across the circle to the left post for the redirect on cage from Cicione.
 
Although the visitors held the River Hawks without a shot for 21 minutes of action, the home team took control of the momentum with back-to-back tallies less than five minutes apart. Sophomore Anouk Lalande (Brussels, Belgium) put her squad on the board, receiving a long ball from Gehrels and breaking free from the last defenders before slapping a hard shot into the lower left corner. UMass Lowell then quickly pulled in front, 2-1, as Gehrels collected a rebound and fired past the opposing keeper.
 
Stanford converted on a corner in the 30th minute to send the teams into the break knotted at 2-2. The stalemate was short-lived, however, as the Cardinal regained the upperhand less than three minutes into the second half thank to Cicione's second tip in of the contest.
 
The River Hawks battled back to erase the difference once again thanks to an unassisted goal by senior Christa Doiron (Worcester, Mass.) in the 56th minute that she lifted up into the cage. The sides would trade possession until the difference maker came with just over a minute to go.
 
Thursday's contest marked the second meeting between UMass Lowell and Stanford in the sport of field hockey. The River Hawks will remain at home this weekend to host Siena on Sunday, September 24 beginning at 1 p.m.