LOWELL, Mass. – The No. 5 seeded UMass Lowell field hockey team has earned a spot in the America East Championship for the third consecutive year and is set to square off against No. 4 Vermont in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday, November 7 at 2 p.m. at top-ranked UAlbany's Alumni Turf Field.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
The River Hawks finished the regular season tied for third place in the America East standings, but due to tie-breaking procedures will take the fifth seed for the upcoming conference tournament. The tournament will be hosted by No. 1 ranked UAlbany from Nov. 7-10 and all contests will be streamed on ESPN+. The winner of the UMass Lowell and Vermont quarterfinal will advance to take on the top-seeded Great Danes in semifinal action on Friday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. to determine who will play for the league title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 10.
 
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Five River Hawks were tabbed with All-Conference honors, as announced by the America East on Wednesday. Headlining the UMass Lowell awards was graduate student Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands), who earned a spot on the All-Conference First Team and the All-Academic Team. She was joined by junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) on the First Team, while graduate student Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands) secured Second Team recognition, as well as a spot on the All-Academic Team. Freshman Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) represented UMass Lowell on the All-Rookie Team and senior Cate Kleeman (Gibbsboro, N.J.) rounded out the honorees by joining de Vries and Gans on the All-Academic Team.
 
RIVER HAWK REWIND
UMass Lowell finished the regular season with a 2-0 week, first defeating No. 20 Rutgers, 2-1, in overtime before topping UC Davis, 4-1. Madison Leeper scored in both contests, while sophomore Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) tallied a pair of goals against UC Davis. Graduate student goalkeeper Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) and sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) each picked up a win in the cage, combining for nine saves.
 
LEADING THE FLOCK
Through 17 games, junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) paces the offense with 13 goals and 26 points. Karli Penrod follows with 19 points. Mirthe Gans is first on the team with eight assists. In the cage, Christina Calandra boasts seven wins. Marie Oliemans totals 65 saves and an .855 save percentage.
 
A WIN WOULD
A win on Thursday would give the River Hawks' their first Division I postseason win ever. It would also give the River Hawks their fifth win in the last six meetings against the Catamounts and improve the all-time series record to 10-7, although Vermont took a 3-1 decision during the 2024 regular season.
 
CLOSING IN ON A MILESTONE
Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc is closing in on major career milestone. She currently sits just three 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 allowed just five goals at home in 2024, earning shutout wins in their first four home games. Overall, the team went an undefeated, 9-0 at Wicked Blue in the regular season, setting a new DI program best.
 
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.
 
TWO 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. Just over a month later, the team's 2-1 overtime win against Rutgers marked the program's first against a Big Ten foe.
 
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 13th nationally for save percentage (.767).
 
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. She also picked up the final Rookie of the Week honors for three points in a 2-0 week to close out the regular season. 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 and this year the squad defeated No. 20 Rutgers. Since 2021, the team has challenged 12 nationally ranked opponents with eight of the nine setbacks being decided by two goals or less.
 
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.
 
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).