LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell field hockey team will close out the regular season with two home games this week. The squad first hosts No. 20 Rutgers on Friday, November 1 at 12 p.m. before welcoming UC Davis on Sunday, November 3 at noon.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
The River Hawks have clinched a spot in the 2024 America East Championship and can currently finish anywhere between fourth and sixth in the seedings. The conference tournament starts on Thursday, Nov. 7 at top-ranked UAlbany. The winners of the two quarterfinals will advance to take on No. 1 UAlbany and No. 2 New Hampshire in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 8 to determine the two teams that will play for the title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 10.
 
RIVER HAWK REWIND
UMass Lowell dropped its lone contest last week, facing a 4-0 setback at New Hampshire on Friday, Oct. 25. Graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) and sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) totaled four saves apiece in the contest.
 
LEADING THE FLOCK
Through 15 games, junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) paces the offense with 11 goals and 22 points. Sophomore Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) follows with 15 points. Graduate student Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands) is first on the team with seven assists. In the cage, Christina Calandra boasts six wins. Marie Oliemans totals 62 saves and an .849 save percentage.
 
A WIN WOULD
A win on Friday would give the River Hawks' their second win against a Power 5 opponent this season. A win on Sunday would mark the River Hawks' fifth straight win again UC Davis, as UMass Lowell owns a 5-1 edge in that series.
 
CLOSING IN ON A MILESTONE
Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc is closing in on major career milestone. She currently sits just five wins away from 300. Her 300th career win would also mark her 100th Division I victory. LeBlanc is the winningest multi-year coach in program history.
 
WICKED TOUGH AT WICKED BLUE
The River Hawks have allowed just three goals at home in 2024, earning shutout wins in their first four home. Overall, the team is an undefeated, 7-0 at home so far, just one game shy of matching the best home start in DI program history (8-0, 2023).
 
GOING STREAKING
The River Hawks put together a three-game win streak from Oct. 4-11, defeating Bryant, LIU and Maine at home. Individually this season, Madison Leeper put together a five-game scoring streak, which started on Sept. 13 vs. Stonehill and ran through Sept. 29 at Northeastern.
 
ONE FOR THE BOOKS
The River Hawks' 1-0 win against Wake Forest on Sept. 22 marked the first win for the program against an ACC opponent.
 
BEST OF THE BEST
The River Hawks' goalkeeping unit of Christina Calandra and Marie Oliemans is proving to be one of the best in the nation. UMass Lowell is currently ranked 18th nationally for save percentage (.758).
 
CRACKING THE RANKINGS
The River Hawks were officially nationally ranked for the second consecutive year, breaking in at No. 20 in the Week 1 NFHCA Division I National Coaches' Poll. The team first cracked the national rankings in the 2023 Week 4 Poll at No. 18 and spent the remainder of the regular season (6 weeks) ranked.
 
AMERICA EAST AWARDS
Karlijn Kerkhof garnered the first America East Rookie of the Week nod of the new season thanks to five points in her first two games. Marie Oliemans then earned Defensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 24 with eight saves in the win against Wake Forest.
 
STIFF COMPETITION
Four of the River Hawks' 2024 opponents were listed in the NFHCA Division I preseason national rankings, including Duke, who had checked in at No. 5. Also on the list were Rutgers, Wake Forest and UAlbany. Last year, the River Hawks defeated two nationally ranked opponents. Since 2021, the team has challenged 11 nationally ranked opponents with eight of the nine setbacks being decided by two goals or less.
 
OF NOTE
Lisa Hagel and Jillian Loebs tallied their first career goals against Dartmouth (10.20) … Gaduate student Aurise Tattrie (Watertown, Mass.) and freshman Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Belgium) each scored their first career goal against Maine (10.11) … Marie Oliemans recorded a career-high 15 saves at Massachusetts (9.15) … Karli Penrod tallied her first two-goal game at Massachusetts (9.15) … Madison Leeper matched a career high with two goals against Stonehill (9.13) … Karlijn Kerkhof logged her first career points in her collegiate debut against Merrimack (8.30).