LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell women's soccer team (2-3-0, 0-0-0 AE) returned home and bounced back with a 5-0 drumming of the Stonehill Skyhawks (1-3-0, 0-0-0 NEC) on Thursday night at Cushing Field.
 
Sophomore Ioanna Papatheodorou (Nea Erithraia, Greece) tallied a hat trick and added an assist in the win. Juniors Chloe Layne (Wrentham, Mass.) and Calliste Brookshire (Kingston, Mass.) each added a goal. Brookshire and graduate student Emily Nelson (Peabody, Mass.) also recorded one assist each. Redshirt junior Taylor Burgess (Menden, Mass.) earned the win in goal, making one save to keep the clean sheet.
 
"I'm happy with result tonight and glad that we were able to score a few goals," said head coach Mira Novak. "We wanted to be proactive with the ball and make things happen on our own. I think we had good performances from everyone who played tonight. Going forward I think we can be a bit better and not take our foot off the gas. But overall, a good result for us."
 
The River Hawks got out to a fast start with plenty of possession and time in the attacking third. In the 14^th minute, UMass Lowell opened the scoring after redshirt senior Chaima Khammar (Cologne, Germany) started the attack in the defensive end. Khammar played Papatheodorou down the sideline before the sophomore cut inside and slipped a pass to Brookshire who finished the play for the 1-0 lead.
 
Brookshire picked up the ball in space just minutes later and went on an end-to-end run, cutting through the Skyhawk defense, but her shot was saved. The River Hawks added a second goal after graduate student Lily Fabian (Monson, Mass.) started yet another attack in the defensive third. Fabian fed Nelson in the middle of the field who then played a slick through ball in behind the defense to the streaking Papatheodorou. The sophomore's cheeky, bad angle shot found the net and made it 2-0 just 26 minutes into the game.
 
Papatheodorou scored her second of the night shortly after in the 29^th minute after bringing down a cross from freshman Nadja Andersen (Nakskov, Denmark) and calmly scoring through the goalkeeper's legs. The River Hawks midfield had space to build attacks, creating a few more chances on goal before taking a 3-0 lead into the break.
 
It took just eight minutes into the second half for Papatheodorou to complete the hat trick as the sophomore scored a header from a cross courtesy of freshman Sophie St. George (Walpole, Mass.) to make it 4-0. In the 66^th minute, Layne collected the ball on the right side of the field following a corner. The junior beat the Stonehill defender, cut onto her left foot and drilled a shot into the top corner to put UMass Lowell ahead 5-0.
 
The final 20 minutes saw the River Hawks create several chances as St. George and fellow freshman Kirti Craig (Spotswood, N.J.) had opportunities on goal, but could not find the back of the net. Junior Marissa Saucedo (Ventura, Calif.) had a close-range effort rattle off the crossbar and out in the 87^th minute. UMass Lowell came away with a comfortable 5-0 win.
 
Next up for the River Hawks is a matchup with in-state rival Massachusetts on Sunday, September 4. Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. at Rudd Field in Amherst.