LOWELL, Mass.—Despite a multi-goal outing by freshman Ioanna Papatheodorou (Nea Erithraia, Greece), the UMass Lowell women's soccer team (1-2-1) faced a 4-3 setback against Fairfield (2-2-0) at Cushing Field Monday night.  
 
"I'm proud of the team in that second half put themselves in a position to win the game in the last 15 minutes. Unfortunately, when you concede four goals, that is hard to come back from," remarked Head Coach Mira Novak following the match. "I'm proud of the team and how they responded to adversity, but we still came up short."
 
The River Hawks defense was tested throughout the 90 minutes, with the Stags outshooting UMass Lowell 16-11. Despite early attempts by senior Halle Anderson (Stonington, Conn.), junior Emily Nelson (Peabody, Mass.) and senior Hailey DuBose (Raynham, Mass.), the Stags were the first to find the back of the net. Sending a corner kick just under the crossbar in the 30th minute, Fairfield's Gabby Diodati netted the first of the evening to give the Stags the 1-0 advantage.
 
Minutes later, a penalty kick opportunity for the River Hawks gave them the offensive spark to tie up the match. Outsmarting the Stags' netminder, Papatheodorou stuffed one in the bottom left corner to bring the score to 1-1 as the teams entered the half. 
 
Fairfield would regain its offensive momentum early in the second frame when an unlucky rebound off the post allowed Diodati to send one past in the 49th minute. Stags' Diodati struck once again in the 74th minute to give Fairfield the 3-1 lead before the River Hawks offense ignited.
 
Finding the ball off the throw in, Nelson controlled the ball and sent it towards Papatheodorou, who sent it up and over Fairfield's Gena Pike to cut the score to 3-2 in the 74th minute. Just over a minute later, Nelson would score her own off a quick pass from freshman Lærke Niklasson (Roskilde, Denmark) to lock things at 3-3.
 
Fairfield claimed the lead for the final time in the 78th minute after Kayla Leary took advantage of a rouge blocked shot off the corner kick. As time expired, sophomore Calliste Brookshire (Kingston, Mass.) made one last attempt at evening the score but was thwarted by Pike to keep the score at 4-3 in favor of the visitors.
 
The River Hawks return to Cushing Field on Sunday, September 5 for an evening showdown against in-state foe Northeastern. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m.