LOWELL, Mass. – Six different River Hawks tallied points to help lift the UMass Lowell field hockey team (1-0) to a 6-0 victory in the 2024 season opener against Merrimack (0-1) at Wicked Blue Field on Friday afternoon.
 
"I thought overall we played really well defensively to limit them to one shot," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "We did a really good job repositioning, redefending and creating layers on the field, so even if we made a bad touch, there was someone right there to help their teammate out and I love that. Obviously, we created a lot of opportunities, maybe would have liked to finish on a few more, but to have six goals in our first game, I'm certainly not disappointed."
 
Graduate students Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands) and Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands), along with sophomore Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) and freshman Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) each tallied one goal and one assist for three points apiece on the day to pace the River Hawk offense. Sophomores Florine Gerrits (Amstelveen, Netherlands) and Christina Wagner (Cicero, N.Y.) rounded out the scoring with one goal apiece.
 
UMass Lowell maintained possession for the majority of the contest, outshooting the visitors, 23-1, in attempts on goal. Graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) earned the start and the decision in the cage, splitting time with sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands), who recorded the lone save for the River Hawks in the contest.  
 
The River Hawks applied pressure from the first whistle, registering five shots in the first eight minutes, including two on goal. Helping to keep the field tilted in their favor, Kerkhof dished a pass towards the left wing for Gerrits, who put a reverse-stick laser high into the cage for the first goal of the 2024 season in the ninth minute.
 
Kerkhof would threaten to extend the margin in the opening minutes of the second quarter, firing a one-timer right on cage, but the Warriors' Isabelle Gardiner was able to bat it out of the air, as one of her 17 stops on the day. However, the home team quickly followed with a perfectly executed corner that resulted in a goal from de Vries in the 22^nd minute. Two minutes later, Gans would stretch the buffer once again, this time to 3-0 when she dribbled past her defender and launched a shot above the outstretched arms of the opposing keeper.
 
Coming out of halftime, Wagner helped keep the momentum going for the home side with back-to-back attempts on target before Penrod knocked in a rebound to make it 4-0 in the 36^th minute.
 
Two more River Hawk tallies would close out the third period, as Kerkhof converted on a corner with a strong sweep from the wing in the 43^rd minute and Wagner broke through with a hard ball off of a reverse stick to make it 6-0 just ahead of the buzzer.
 
UMass Lowell would keep the defensive pressure up in the fourth and final period when Oliemans turned away the Warriors' lone chance on goal on the day, holding on for the decisive win.
 
Next up, the River Hawks open a three-game road swing at No. 5 Duke on Sunday, September 1. That contest is slated to begin at 12 p.m.