LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) recorded two goals to propel the No. 20 UMass Lowell field hockey team (3-2) to a 2-0 victory against Stonehill (1-4) on Friday night at Wicked Blue Field.
 
"I thought we did a fantastic job possessing the ball probably 80% of the game," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "Obviously, I wish the scoring output was a little bit greater than two, but I have to give a lot of praise to Stonehill, who made it really tough for us."
 
In addition to Leeper, graduate student Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands) and senior Jillian Loebs (Acton, Mass.) each also contributed a point on the night with one assist apiece. In the cage, graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) earned the win, while sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) added two saves in the second half.
 
The River Hawks pressured from the start, as sophomore Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) sent a shot into the opposing keeper's pads in the opening seconds. The home side followed with a trio of corners, keeping play in their offensive end.
 
The momentum stayed with UMass Lowell to make it 1-0 in the 14^th minute, when Loebs fed a ball past the Skyhawks' keeper over to Leeper for the strong finish.
 
Leeper had a chance to extend the difference in the 23^rd minute when she broke into the circle and went one-on-one with the keeper, but her attempt was booted away. The River Hawks closed the second with two more chances, including one on goal by sophomore Christina Wagner (Cicero, N.Y.), however the score remained 1-0 heading into the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, Stonehill's Nadine Janssen would test Oliemans with her side's first shot of the day, although the sophomore keeper handled it swiftly. The visitors registered one more shot in the third quarter before the River Hawks stretched the lead to 2-0 thanks to a hard, turnaround slap shot by Leeper.
 
Freshman Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) carried the ball into the circle on a breakaway and passed to Penrod for a laser that caught the chest protector of the Skyhawks' keeper in the 51^st minute. Less than two minutes later, Oliemans made her second stop of the night, diving to her right to keep the opposition off the board.
 
In total, the River Hawks outshot the Skyhawks, 20-4, and took a 5-2 advantage on corners.
 
The River Hawks close out the weekend at in-state rival Massachusetts on Sunday, September 15 for the 2024 installment of the Kennedy Cup Challenge. That contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.