LEWISBURG, Pa. – Despite controlling the pace of play for much of the second half, the UMass Lowell field hockey team (2-2) closed out a three-game road trip with a 2-0 setback at Bucknell (1-3) on Sunday afternoon.
 
"If we brought our fourth quarter energy and performance throughout the game, I believe the result would have been different," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "As a team, we weren't playing on our front foot as much as we should have been early in the game. Bucknell played hard for the entire game and that was the difference between the win and the loss."
 
Graduate student Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands) and senior Maxine Van Havere (Wilrijk, Belgium) led the River Hawk offense with two shots apiece on the day, while de Vries also tallied her first defensive save of the season. In the cage, graduate student goalkeeper Christina Calandra (Manchester, Mass.) and sophomore keeper Marie Oliemans (Driebergen, Netherlands) made two saves each.
 
The River Hawk defense was tested right from the start of the contest, as the Bison forced two corners in just over three minutes, but Calandra made a nice save to keep the game scoreless. However, the home squad jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the sixth minute when Zoe Carlson-Pietraszek backhanded a bouncing pass from teammate Isabella Pavlides on target.
 
Bucknell threatened to add to its margin with a slew of shots on a corner in the 12^th minute, but a defensive save by de Vries and another great stop by Calandra extinguished the opportunity, keeping the difference at just one through the first quarter.
 
The River Hawk offense got to work to start the second quarter, earning a corner that resulted in a strong shot on target by graduate student Mirthe Gans (Tiel, Netherlands), but the Bison's Sarah Althouse came up with the stop. UMass Lowell then controlled possession throughout the remainder of the period, holding the opposition without a shot attempt, but the 1-0 margin would remain heading into the break.
 
Coming out of the break, the River Hawks continued to apply pressure, as de Vries and Van Havere fired back-to-back chances into the pads of Althouse on a corner.
 
Although UMass Lowell held Bucknell without a shot for over 25 minutes of action, the home team would extend the lead to 2-0 on a slapshot from the wing by Lily Neilson in the 40^th minute.
 
Sophomore Florine Gerrits (Amstelveen, Netherlands) started the fourth and final quarter with a ball on cage, but it was knocked away. The River Hawks kept play in their offensive zone and pulled Oliemans for the extra offensive player with just over four minutes to go, but the visitors were unable to change the 2-0 decision.  
 
Having now completed a three-game road swing, the River Hawks return home to host Stonehill under the lights at Wicked Blue on Friday, September 13 beginning at 6 p.m.