LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell women's soccer team (1-3-0, 0-0-0 AE) fell to the UConn Huskies (2-1-1, 0-0-0 BE) 5-0 on Sunday afternoon at Morrone Stadium.
 
Sophomore Ioanna Papatheodorou (Nea Erithraia, Greece) led the team with four shots on the afternoon.Redshirt junior Taylor Burgess (Mendon, Mass.) made two saves while freshman Mia Robinson (Greenland, N.H.) made one save.

"We had a rough start today. Going down three just fifteen minutes in was not the start we were looking for and that's difficult to come back from," said head coach Mira Novak. "The second half was a little better, but our starts are something that is bothering us right now. [The second half] was better, we had nothing to lose so we wanted to start 0-0 and show something out there. We need to have a better performance to get a result next match."
 
The Huskies dominated possession and put the River Hawks under pressure early.m Papatheodorou had an opportunity in the 2^nd minute, but her shot from outside the box went wide. UConn opened the scoring in the 7^th minute on a goal from Jaydah Bedoya. The Huskies continued to attack the River Hawks' back line and doubled the advantage in the 12^th minute. An own goal in the 17^th minute gave the hosts a 3-0 edge early in the game. Maddie Carroll's 26^th minute goal gave the Huskies a 4-0 lead.
 
UConn continued to pressure UMass Lowell, giving the River Hawks little space on the ball when in possession. With just over 10 minutes to play in the half, the River Hawks had their best spell of possession in the UConn defensive third. The ensuing corner from Chloe Layne bounced around the box, but UMass Lowell could not supply the finishing touch. The UConn high press proved difficult to counter and the Huskies took a 4-0 lead into the break.
 
Freshman Mia Robinson took over in goal at the start of the second half, replacing Taylor Burgess. The River Hawks started the second half much better than the first, earning consecutive corner kicks in the opening minutes and controlling more possession in the attacking third. UConn's counterattack was still dangerous, but the back line did its job to keep the hosts away from Robinson.
 
The River Hawks brought more energy and moved the ball through the midfield better in the final 20 minutes of the game, creating a few chances on the offensive end. However, UMass Lowell was unable to find a way through the UConn defense. The Huskies added a fifth goal in the 82^nd minute to secure the win.