POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Sophomore Samantha Blair (West Islip, N.Y.) recorded her third consecutive hat-trick, as the UMass Lowell women's lacrosse team (2-5) fell on the road to Marist (2-4) under the lights of Tenney Stadium on Tuesday night.

"We played hard, against a pretty good team," stated head coach Lisa Miller. "Overall, we've gotten better since our game at Holy Cross in terms of our shooting, but we still need to work on finishing through as we're getting hit. I think in this type of game that was past-paced, we're going to make young mistakes, and that is all a part of the process.
 
Freshman Izzy Liquori (Agawam, Mass.) recorded a career-high 10 draw controls to tie graduate student Kelly Moran's (Newfields, N.H.) record from last season in individual game leaders. Senior Hana Caster (North Attleboro, Mass.) made waves on defense causing three turnovers while picking up a team-high five ground balls.
 
In the opening minute Liquori struck first for the River Hawks, tallying the first point of the game to continue her five-game scoring streak. Adding to the River Hawk total seven minutes later, captain Hannah Rose (Framingham, Mass.) would dodge three Marist defenders to bury one deep at 22:13 for a two-goal lead.
 
Going on the offense, Marist's Alex Di Chara would pick up the home team's first points of the night at 20:10, followed by a free position opportunity by Kelly George at 18:44 to equalize the score, 2-2.
 
After a UMass Lowell timeout the River Hawks would regroup as Caster picked up a ground ball, cutting down the left lane and feeding a pass to freshman Natalie Choate (Spencerport, N.Y.) for a one-point lead at 12:18.
 
Equalizing the score three minutes later, Marist would tally two more goals over the next six minutes to take a 5-3 lead with 3:35 left on the clock. Freshman Grace Hansen (Stamford, Conn.) and Blair countered for the River Hawks, netting their first goals of the night to tie the contest, 5-5, with 1:24 to play, but Marist's Samantha Mehalick would attack on a free position to give the Red Foxes a 6-5 lead at the half.
 
Mehalick would add on another to the Red Fox total for a hat-trick in the opening minute of the second, but Blair would once again trim the gap at 26:57, ripping around the left side of the net to bury the shot past a defender, trailing 7-6. Hansen would post her second three minutes later, but George and Mehalick would strike again for the home team, extending the lead 11-7 by 17:21.
 
Blair tallied her third goal of the night with 9:50 to play, followed by Rose's second at 8:47 for a two-point deficit, 11-9. Marist would make their final attack with five minutes to play, rattling off four goals to pull away 15-9. Freshman Alex Palermo (Reading, Mass.) would post her first goal of the night with 40 seconds on the clock in a last-ditch effort for the visitors, but the score would end in favor of the Red Foxes, 15-10.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Madison Grazidei (Bayport, N.Y.) ended the night with six saves, while Marist's Delaney Galvin posted 15.
 
Up next the River Hawks will host Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon at Cushing Field. Opening draw is set for 1 p.m.