March 7 at Iona (1 p.m.)
Live Stats 
 
@RiverHawkWLax | @RiverHawkNation
 
LOWELL, Mass. – Kicking-off spring break with a trip to New York, the River Hawks will take on Iona on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Mazzella Field, followed by an evening matchup with Marist on Tuesday.   
 
LETS REWIND…
Sophomore Samantha Blair (West Islip, N.Y.) recorded her first career hat-trick, as the River Hawks fell, 16-10, to Bryant last Friday afternoon at Cushing Field.
 
Coach Quotes: "We played great team defense to start," stated head coach Lisa Miller. "On attack we were patient, working the clock and taking the shots we wanted in order to pick up some assisted goals. I think we keep getting better every game and I'm looking forward to the continued progress."
 
SCOUTING IONA
Coming off their most recent victory to Sacred Heart, 13-6, the Gaels have started their season with an even split of wins and losses for an overall record of 3-3. Starting in all six games, midfielder Caton Brisbin paces the Iona offense with 11 goals and five assists for 16 points while picking up a team-high 18 draw controls. Senior Mariah Metcalf has made her mark defensively, recording a team-best 13 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
 
Elyse Darcy and Samantha Tyo have both seen action in net for the Gaels with Darcy making an appearance in five of the six contests to record a .527 save percentage. Tyo has picked up 14 saves over her two games for .452 save percentage.
 
SERIES HISTORY
With their first battle occurring in the spring of 2015, this weekend's contest will be the River Hawks fifth matchup between Iona. UMass Lowell took home the victory last season, 15-8, to split the overall series with two games apiece. Blair, Cameron McKelvin (Westminster, Md.), Hana Caster (North Attleboro, Mass.) and Hannah Rose (Framingham, Mass.) all chipped in points to secure the win for the home team.
 
Nine different players had at least one caused turnover, and at least one point, while Caster and Kelly Moran (Newfields, N.H.) led the way in ground balls with four and three, respectively.
 
WEEKLY AWARDS
Freshman Izzy Liquori (Agawam, Mass.) was named the America East Rookie of the Week for her five-goal performance at UConn to pick up the River Hawks first weekly award of the season.
 
Leading the way for UMass Lowell, Liquori provided the team with the opening goal in the second to equalize the score against the Huskies, going on to notch two more before the final horn rang. Rounding out her performance the rookie snagged a career-high seven draw controls for 46 percent of the wins on the day.
 
HATS OFF TO YOU
So far this season a trio of River Hawks have tallied first-career hat-tricks with Blair being the most recent, grabbing four goals and an assist for five points. Liquori saw her best game against UConn picking up five goals in the outing while fellow classmate Abby McLaughlin (Walpole, Mass.) netted four in the season opener against CCSU.
 
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Freshman midfielder Caroline Klim (Wrentham, Mass.) made her first start for the River Hawks in net picking up seven saves with one ground ball and one caused turnover. She has also tallied one goal and one assist on the season for two points.
 
SOLO SCORING
UMass Lowell has scored 32 unassisted goals this season with eight of those coming from Liquori and six from Caster.
 
MILESTONE MARKERS
Caster is leading the team in draw controls with a total of 26 over the five games, giving her an average of 5.2 per game, placing her top 50 in the NCAA. Caster's impressive tally of 9 draw controls in the win over Central Connecticut puts her at second in the record books for most draw controls in a game just behind Moran with 10 draw controls last season. Through five games this season Caster has a total of 137 draw controls, putting her 22 away from the current record of 159 held by Moran, as well.