LOWELL, Mass. – Five different goal scorers highlighted a 5-1 victory for the UMass Lowell field hockey team (7-5, 2-1 AE) against America East foe Maine (8-5, 2-1 AE) on Friday.
 
With the decision, the River Hawks wrapped up a three-game homestand with a perfect record and improved to 6-0 at home so far this season.
 
"I'm so proud of the team effort today," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "We had a fantastic week of practice with a lot of good reps defensively, and when I say that, it's that individual defensive of making really good tackles and making something happen from those. I thought overall today, we were dialed into the details, we stayed true to our structure and we scored goals. I'm just really happy with the full 60 minutes."
 
Sophomore Christina Wagner (Cicero, N.Y.) paced the River Hawks with three points on the day with a goal and an assist. Graduate student Aurise Tattrie (Watertown, Mass.) and freshman Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Belgium) logged their first career goals in the contest, while graduate student Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands) joined in the scoring. Junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) reached the 10-goal mark for the second consecutive season, as well. Overall, the River Hawks outshot the Black Bears, 18-9, including 12-3 in the second half, and took a 5-4 advantage on corners.
 
Graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) and sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) split time in the cage, recording two saves apiece in the victory.
 
"We played fearless today and I really thought that was the difference," added LeBlanc.
 
The teams battled evenly to start the game, trading three shots apiece through the first quarter. The River Hawks earned their first corner in just the fourth minute, resulting in a good chance from freshman Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) that was kicked away by the Black Bears' keeper. Wagner and Van Hemelen also put chances on target in the first, but the scoreless stalemate remained.
 
UMass Lowell carried the momentum into the second quarter, breaking open the scoring in the 22^nd minute when Tattrie dribbled into the right side of the circle and fired a shot that ricocheted off a defender out front and in.
 
Just over two minutes later, the home team extended the lead to 2-0 on a direct corner scored by de Vries. However, Maine was able to cut the difference in half in the 26^th minute, as Zoe Furber put a final tip on a corner play to make it 2-1 heading into the break.
 
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, Maine had a chance for a breakaway, but Oliemans came rushing out of the cage and made an incredible sliding play to swipe the ball away and extinguish the rush.
 
Oliemans then made a pair of saves to help keep her squad's lead intact. The River Hawks turned up the pressure on the offensive end, following with a slew of shots before Van Hemelen rang the back of the cage with a hard, reverse-stick shot to make it 3-1 in the 41^st minute.
 
In the 53^rd minute, senior Maxine Van Havere (Wilrijk, Netherlands) sent a pass across the front of the cage towards Wagner for the one-timer on goal. Less than two minutes later, Wagner was back in the circle, this time dumping a pass over to Leeper for the reverse-stick finish to create the 5-1 margin.
 
The River Hawks are now off for the rest of the weekend and will continue America East play at Vermont on Friday, October 18 at 3 p.m.