HANOVER, N.H. -- The UMass Lowell women's lacrosse team fell on the road to No. 15 Dartmouth on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 18-7. The loss moved the River Hawks to 4-11 over all, while the Big Green improved to 11-3 on the season.
 
"Dartmouth is a Top-25 team for a reason that has a chance to do some damage in the NCAA tournament," explained Women's Lacrosse Head Coach Carissa Medeiros. "Courtney [Barrett] played out of her mind that kept us in the game in the first half and they made halftime adjustments that took us out of our comfort zone and they capitalized on that. We will put this behind us and move our focus to Vermont on Saturday."
 
It was a low scoring affair the first 17 minutes of the afternoon, thanks in part to the play of senior keeper Courtney Barrett (South Burlington, Vt.) stopping five shots and causing two turnovers, but Dartmouth was able to tally two goals to take the lead in the first with 13:23 remaining in the first half.
 
Hana Caster (North Attleboro, Mass.) won the draw and stormed down the field past a couple of defenders and bounced one past the Big Green keeper to give the River Hawks their first tally of the afternoon.
 
Taylor Sokol (Hopkinton, Mass.) capitalized on a free position attempt to tie it up at 2-2 with 12:06 remaining in the first half.
 
Dartmouth scored the next two to retake the lead before Sokol took a pass from Kendyl Finelli (Southborough, Mass.) to cut the deficit to just one at 8:27 in the first.
 
After Dartmouth scored to take a two goal lead, the River Hawk defense caused a turnover and raced down the field on a handful of passes until Finelli found a sprinting Sokol on a breakaway and went one-on-one with the Dartmouth keeper and dribbled one into the net and make it a 5-4 game with 5:25 remaining in the first.
 
Cameron McKelvin (Westminster, Md.) tied it at five all in the first before Sokol buried a pass from Jane Dudley (Duxbury, Mass.) to give the River Hawks their first lead of the game with 30 seconds remaining in the first.
 
Dartmouth tallied the tying goal at the sound of the first half buzzer to go into the half with a 6-6 tie.
 
Dartmouth tallied the first nine goals of the second half before Dudley put one past the Dartmouth keeper off a pass from Sokol to make it a 15-7 contest with 5:37 remaining in regulation.
 
After tallying the final three goals of the afternoon, the River Hawks fell to the Big Green 18-7 to wrap up non-conference play.
 
Barrett ended the contest with a career-high 18 saves and 13 ground balls to go along with her four caused turnovers. The captain now sits at 595 saves in her career. The 18 saves tied for the most by an America East goalkeeper in a game this season and tied for 12th in the nation.

Dartmouth's Kathryn Giroux grabbed 17 draw controls on the afternoon, which was the second highest in a game in the nation this season. Giroux grabbed 19 draw controls against Jacksonville earlier this season.
 
Up next, UMass Lowell commences the 2018 campaign with an America East tilt at Vermont.