LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Hilary Jaén (Las Margaritas, Panama) notched her first career goal as a River Hawk, as UMass Lowell (1-7-2, 0-1-0 AE) fell, 2-1, to America East opponent, UMBC (5-5-1, 1-0-1 AE) at Cushing Field on Sunday afternoon.

"We created a lot of half chances; I don't want to say chances just because we didn't put them away," said Head Coach Mira Novak. "We had 22 shots, but just not enough to win a game. I think our willingness to get in the box to do the dirty work to put the ball away just wasn't there today. We created a lot, but it wasn't enough," added Novak.

The River Hawks outshot the Retrievers, 22-8, with graduate student Calliste Brookshire (Kingston, Mass.) leading the pack with five shots. Freshman Mia Eva Girgis (Montreal, Quebec) started the last three games, seeing her career-high in minutes today with 58. Girgis totaled three shots this afternoon. In net, graduate student Taylor Burgess (Mendon, Mass.) made two saves.

The contest was quickly underway, as the Retrievers took the lead in the fifth minute. Meghan Mckye passed upfield to Izzy Binko, who was able to find Natasha Munro racing towards the goal to smoothly tally UMBC's first goal of the match, 1-0. 

UMass Lowell, now hungry for a goal, called for a header from Eva Girgis in the box, but the attempt resulted in a UMBC save in the 12^th minute.

Burgess then followed with an excellent save at the 15^th minute, as a Retriever lingered toward net. As the ball came off of her foot, Burgess got a solid read on the ball, saving the dangerous shot. 

At the 20^-minute mark, senior Hope Santaniello (Agawam, Mass.) was able to shuffle the ball towards Brookshire, who rocketed the ball at net, giving Jaén the chance to put the finishing touch on the pass to score the lone UMass Lowell goal and her first as a River Hawk, making it 1-1. 

The Retrievers' second goal was similar to the first, being earned just moments after play started and catching the River Hawks' keeper off balance. The goal was scored in the 51^st minute by Binko with assists credited to Misa Kasparcova and Payton Schenning.

Brookshire, who was the offensive threat today for the River Hawks, had two opportunities in a row at a goal, as she received the ball from sophomore Marissa Sage (Milford, N.H.) in the left top corner of the box, sending a shot just wide of the net in the 66^th minute. Brookshire followed with another shot in the 72^nd minute, as she battled off UMBC's defenders to get a shot off, but it was too high.

UMass Lowell spent a great deal of time in the offensive zone, as another two opportunities were produced. Brookshire sent a cross into the box, finding the head of Santaniello, but she was unable to make a clean play off of it in the 73^rd minute. Junior Maija Hodson (Sault Saint Mare, Ontario) then collected the ball, immediately sending a rocket of a shot on goal, but found the right corner of the crossbar.

Senior Emma Mitchell (West Orange, N.J.) recorded two back-to-back shots. The first came in the 85^th minute, as Mitchell struck the ball on target, picked up by the keeper. Next, in the 87^th minute, Mitchell corralled the ball to send a desperate shot over the net. 

UMass Lowell's final true chance of the contest was in the 88^th minute generated by a free kick taken by Brookshire. Jaén was waiting in front of the net and was able to get a foot on the ball, but UMBC's keeper saved the shot at the last second before it could cross the white line.

The River Hawks will travel to face Maine in their second America East Conference game of the season on Thursday, October 3 with a 6 p.m. kickoff at Mahaney Diamond.

"Maine is the best team in the conference right now," added Novak. "They won the league last year, they have a lot of returners, and they're the team that sets the pace. It'll be an uphill battle against Maine on Thursday, and we'll see what we're made of. I'm looking forward to seeing the response from the team."