LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) scored the game-winning goal in an exciting, 1-0 victory for the UMass Lowell field hockey team (4-3) against Wake Forest (2-5) of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Sunday afternoon.
 
"We've been in a good space this week preparing for this game and I thought everything came together today," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "Obviously, we played a great three quarters and then in the fourth quarter, we had some 'cardiac kids' I'll call them, but we had some practice with that last weekend, so I thought we managed it much better this week and it really showed in the details."
 
The decision marked the River Hawks' first win ever against an ACC opponent, in addition to improving the team's undefeated home record this season to 3-0. The River Hawks have not conceded a goal on their home turf in 2024.
 
Leeper now boasts a team-best five goals and 10 points so far this season. In the cage, graduate student Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) and sophomore Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) combined for their third shutout win and 10 total saves, including eight from Oliemans in the second half.
 
The defenses contained play to the midfield for the majority of the first quarter. The River Hawks earned the first and only corner and shot of the period in the fourth minute, but Leeper's tip was blocked.
 
Calandra was tested for the first time in the 18^th minute, making a pair of nice kick saves. The River Hawks then successfully extinguished a corner opportunity for the Demon Deacons to keep the game scoreless.
 
Freshman Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) put a hard slap on cage in the 25^th minute, but Wake's Ellie Todd was able to boot it away, sending the teams into the break deadlocked at 0-0.
 
Leeper started the second half with a diving attempt that went wide. Not long after, though, in the 39^th minute, the River Hawks broke open the scoring when Kerkhof sent in a hard shot that was batted back into play by the opposing keeper towards a waiting Leeper, who fired a putback high into the net.
 
The visitors closed the third quarter on the offensive, but Oliemans successfully warded off three chances on cage. The Demon Deacons then kept the pressure high in the fourth quarter, forcing Oliemans to make a diving stop in the 49^th minute ahead of a Wake corner that resulted in another fantastic save, this time off the sophomore keeper's blocker. Wake Forest pulled its goalkeeper in favor of an extra attacker in the 58^th minute, but the River Hawks thwarted two more late corners to secure the 1-0 victory.
 
The River Hawks will now open America East Conference play on the road at UAlbany on Friday, September 27 at 2 p.m.