ALBANY, N.Y. – Freshman
Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) tallied her squad's lone goal in a 3-1 setback for the UMass Lowell field hockey team (9-5, 4-2 AE) at No. 23 UAlbany (10-4, 4-2 AE) in an America East Conference matchup on Friday afternoon.
"Today wasn't our day, not for lack of effort," said Head Coach
Shannon LeBlanc. "We created some great opportunities that we just didn't finish on due to UAlbany's defensive effort. We had a few uncharacteristic moments with some turnovers. We still like how we're competing, though, and are looking forward to getting back on the field on Sunday at Dartmouth."
Leeper's goal marked the first of the rookie's career. Junior
Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands) paced the team with three shots in the outing, while junior goalkeeper
Eleonore Boekhorst (Bilthoven, Netherlands) added one save.
Senior
Berbel Rozema (Rotterdam, Netherlands) put the River Hawks' first shot of the day on target, but it was turned away by the home keeper, Hannah Mangan. The Great Danes' Alison Smisdom then capitalized on a penalty stroke opportunity in the seventh minute to create an early, 1-0 difference.
The River Hawks evened the game at 1-1 in the opening seconds of the second quarter, though, as a long ball trickled through the defense and all the way down to the cage before Leeper rushed in to slip it past the keeper. The visitors threatened twice more in the waning minutes of the half, but the teams headed into the break knotted at 1-1.
The Great Danes pulled back in front at 2-1 on a direct corner by Smisdom in the 38
th minute and added an insurance goal in the 53
rd minute when Julie Rodijk put back a rebound.
UMass Lowell continued to battle back and pressed into their offensive zone with two corners and four shots inside the final five minutes. Graduate student
Caitlin Little (Acton, Mass.) registered the squad's final shot on goal of the day, but Mangan once again come up with the stop to close out the 3-1 decision.
The River Hawks wrap up their five-game road swing at Ivy League opponent Dartmouth on Sunday, October 16 at 2 p.m.
