ALBANY, N.Y. – The No. 5 seeded UMass Lowell field hockey team (10-8) fell, 2-0, against No. 4 Vermont (9-8) in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 America East Championship at UAlbany's Alumni Turf Field on Thursday afternoon.
 
"It was a bad day to have a bad day," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "We've had some issues on the road this year and it didn't stop here. We prepared really well, had a great practice and the buy-in was great. Sometimes as a coach you just don't have answers. We just didn't play well today overall and when you don't play well in a championship game, that's what's going to happen."
 
Vermont took a slight, 5-3 edge on corners in the contest, in addition to a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal. Sophomore Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) paced the River Hawks with a pair of shots on target, while graduate student Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands) added one. In the cage, graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) made four saves, while sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) added one stop in the second-half.
 
The River Hawks earned a corner chance less than a minute into the contest, but an attempt from freshman Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Belgium) was blocked. Calandra fended off the Catamount attack in the first quarter, knocking away a pair of attempts. Penrod would fire off a strong backhand in the eighth minute, although it was booted away by the opposing keeper to maintain the scoreless stalemate through one complete.
 
Junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) had a chance in the second quarter, stealing a free hit and heading into the circle undefended, but with the keeper approaching, her final touch rolled just wide. Calandra came up with another big stop in the 24^th minute, however four minutes later, UVM was able to break open the scoring when Sophia LeFranc dribbled through the right side of the circle and fired into the opposite end of the cage to give the Catamounts a 1-0 edge at the break.
 
UMass Lowell started the second half in similar fashion as the first, garnering a corner in the opening minutes that would result in a blocked shot for graduate student Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands).
 
Vermont was able to extend its lead to 2-0 in the 37^th minute, as Lefranc netted her second goal of the game, this time redirecting a ball from teammate Sophia Drees on target. UMass Lowell continued to battle with Penrod testing the keeper once again in the 44^th minute.
 
Each side would register two shots in the fourth and final quarter. Oliemans staved off a threat from UVM in the 47^th minute, stopping LeFranc from completing a hat trick. Just a minute later, Gans forced a kick save by the Catamounts' keeper.
 
The River Hawks pulled Oliemans in favor of an extra attacker in the 56^th minute with hopes of cutting into the difference. de Vries fired off the final shot of the contest in the last minute, but the 2-0 margin would stand.