LOWELL, Mass. – Graduate student Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands) logged one goal and one assist for three points to help lead the UMass Lowell field hockey team (5-5, 1-1 AE) to a 4-0 victory against Bryant (3-7, 0-2 AE) on Friday afternoon at Wicked Blue Field.
 
With the performance, the River Hawks remain undefeated at home in 2024 and have not allowed a goal in the four games on their home turf so far.
 
"We put a lot of work into this week of practice to change a couple things that we weren't happy with last weekend and I just loved the team's performance today," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "They were dialed in, they were structured, they were disciplined. They really just put the game plan into play for all four quarters."
 
Senior Maxine Van Havere (Wilrijk, Netherlands) registered her first goal of the season, while graduate student Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands) and sophomore Christina Wagner (Cicero, N.Y.) added one goal apiece, as well. Graduate students Lisa Hagel (Driehuis, Netherlands) and Aurise Tattrie (Watertown, Mass.), along with sophomore Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) each notched one assist to round out the scoring. In total, the River Hawks outshot the Bulldogs, 26-3, with an 8-4 advantage on corners.
 
Graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) collected her third win of the season in the cage, and sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) tallied one save.
 
The teams kept play in the midfield throughout the opening minutes of the contest before the Bulldogs forced the first corner of the day, sending their first attempt wide.
 
In the ninth minute, Kerkhof fired just left of the post, leading to the River Hawks' first corner. Minutes later, the home team turned up the pressure with an attempt by junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) that got behind the keeper, but Bryant's Jenny Sorrentino made a defensive stop to keep the game scoreless.
 
The River Hawks maintained possession and put two more shots on target in the quarter before Wagner received a long pass and dribbled around the last defender to lift a shot into the top left corner of the cage, putting UMass Lowell on top, 1-0, in the 13^th minute.
 
The home squad was able to extend the difference to 2-0 just over a minute into the second quarter on a direct corner from de Vries with assists from Penrod and Hagel. The team would then strike again when Tattrie sent in a pass from outside the circle through traffic towards Gans, who was set up on the left post for a fantastically timed tip to make it 3-0 heading into the break.
 
The River Hawks kept the momentum going coming out of halftime, outshooting the Bulldogs, 4-0, in the third quarter. The first three attempts were all on target, including a backhanded laser from freshman Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Netherlands) in the 38^th minute that was batted away by the opposing keeper.
 
UMass Lowell would not relent, adding 11 more shots in the fourth quarter. In the 55^th minute, de Vries swept a hard ball from the top of the circle before Van Havere added a final touch. Two minutes later, Oliemans laid out for the lone River Hawk stop of the day to help secure the 4-0 outcome.
 
The River Hawks are back in action at home on Sunday, October 6 when they host Long Island for Youth Day at 1 p.m.