DURHAM, N.H. – The UMass Lowell women's soccer team finished out their regular season with a 4-10-2 overall record and 3-4-1 in America East as they fell to New Hampshire (9-7-0, 5-3-0 AE) 5-1 on Thursday night at Wildcat Stadium. Junior
Giulia Rabbito (Chelmsford, Mass.) notched her first career goal for the River Hawks.
"We didn't turn up today with a strong performance," stated head coach
Mira Novak. "It's not something you want to show three days before one of the most important games of the season."
Three minutes into the match and the Wildcats were able to find of the back of the net when Kaylan Williams sent a pass to Ally Reynolds who took a left angle shot from five yards out, setting the tone at 1-0.
After a shot rebounded off the crossbar, the Wildcats lead increased to 2-0 when Kaylan Williams tapped the ball into the back-left corner from eight yards out.
The River Hawks found the back of the net heading into the 34th minute when sophomore
Halle Anderson (Stonington, Conn.) sent a pass to Rabbito who ripped the ball through the UNH defense into the bottom left corner of the net, bringing the score to 3-1.
Just before the half ended UNH added on to their lead when Whitney Wiley scored a left-footed goal from just outside the 18-yard mark, increasing the score to 4-1.
At the half, the Wildcats outshot the River Hawks 13-6, while graduate student
Annerens Tijm (Tjerkgaast, Netherlands) recorded three saves.
An early strike coming out of the second half put the Wildcats at a 5-1 advantage when Liz Lane capitalized on her own rebounded shot from inside the 18 mark.
The River Hawks put up six shots in the second half but were unable to capitalize as the Wildcats came out with the 5-1 win.
With the loss, the River Hawks have earned the No. 6 seed in the America East tournament and will head to Hartford on Sunday, November 3rd for the quarterfinal round set for 1 p.m.
"If we want to save the season and be successful on Sunday it has to be a different team that shows up." Commented Novak.
