LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell women's soccer team fell to the Hartford Hawks 2-1 as they opened America East conference play. Sophomore Karah Fleet (Halifax, Nova Scotia.) was the lone River Hawk to make a connection with the back of the net.
 
"I'm proud of the team and how they are pushing to get goals this season," stated head coach Mira Novak. "I think if we want to achieve something great this year, we need to be more clinical in both boxes. Individually there was some very good performances, but collectively we need to push more throughout the 90 minutes."
 
The River Hawks struck in the 21st minute against Hartford when sophomore Lily Fabian (Monson, Mass.) sent a cross pass to sophomore Fleet who ripped a header into the back-right corner of the net bringing the score to 1-0.
 
Just when the River Hawks thought their lead was secure, the Hawks struck in the 44th minute off a corner kick when Izzy Lachcik dribbled the ball outside the box to push the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
 
At the half, graduate student Annerens Tijm (Tjerkgaast, Netherlands.) recorded two saves while Hartford's Maia Perez tallied three.
 
After a scoreless second half the River Hawks rolled into another extra 10 minutes of action. Unfortunately, Hartford took the final shot when Sierra Stone capitalized on a pass from Skylar Vitiello, bringing the final score to 2-1.
 
Coming up next, the River Hawks will hit the road for a 6 p.m. matchup with Maine on Thursday October 3. The next time the squad will see home action will be for a Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Day versus UMBC on Sunday, October 6 at 3 p.m.
 
"It's a quick turnaround with a mid-week trip," commented Novak. "Maine has been very good defensively this season, so in order to get the win we need to be better than we were today. If we can go in and capitalize on our chances, it will be the key to Thursday's game."