Box Score

LOWELL, Mass. – After battling back in the fourth quarter to force overtime, the UMass Lowell field hockey team (5-6, 0-2 AE) succumbed to America East Conference foe Vermont (5-6, 1-1 AE), 2-1, as time expired in double overtime on Friday evening.
 
Despite playing through a complete, 20 minutes of extra time, the Catamounts were awarded one final corner as the horn sounded, which allowed Bailey Matthews to finish a rebound on the play and lift the visitors to the 2-1 victory.
 
"We stayed the course and I thought we played a good hockey game overall, but our attack had a hard time with their goalkeeper," said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk. "She made a lot of great saves. I'm happy with the fight that we showed through the fourth quarter, but we should've scored earlier."
 
The teams traded possession for the majority of the first quarter with neither side getting a good look until the Catamounts took advantage of their first corner opportunity with a strike from the wing by Pleun Haantjes.
 
The River Hawks accounted for the only two shots of the second period, in addition to earning a corner, but the visitors were able to hold onto the 1-0 advantage heading into the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, Vermont threatened to extend its margin, forcing three straight corners in the 40th minute, although the River Hawk defense was able to hold off the attack with the help of a defensive save by freshman Sofie Knook (Amsterdam, Netherlands).
 
UMass Lowell tilted the field in the fourth, outshooting the Catamounts, 5-0, before breaking through with the game-tying goal in the 58th minute when graduate student Leah Cardarelli (Acton, Mass.) got a tip on a hard pass from freshman Berbel Rozema (Rotterdam, Netherlands) to force overtime.
 
Friday's contest marked the 21st meeting between UMass Lowell and Vermont in the sport of field hockey. The Catamounts lead the all-time series, 14-6-1. The River Hawks will now head to Harvard on Tuesday, October 15 to open a three-game week. The start time for that contest is set for 6 p.m.