River Hawks Eager Heading into the 2025 Campaign

8/13/2025 11:47:00 AM

LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell women's soccer team is slated to kick off its 2025 season on the road this week at reigning CAA Champion Stony Brook on August 14 at 6 p.m. in Stony Brook, N.Y.

Head Coach Mira Novak, who steered the team in the right direction in 2024 en route to a seventh consecutive postseason appearance, has the River Hawks seeking another chance at the America East title in 2025. UMass Lowell advanced to the America East Championship semifinals last year, ending the campaign with a 6-10-3 overall record and an America East Conference record of 4-3-1.

The River Hawks enter the 2025 season projected to finish fourth in the America East Preseason Coaches’ Poll with one first-place vote.

This week, we are headed into the non-conference season, and I think these first nine games is where we are looking to develop our playing style. We’re looking to try new things because once you hit conference, those eight games define your year ahead.

Mira Novak

Head Coach Mira Novak

We’re not going to become a better team magically by just waiting for conference play. The thing that we’ve talked about with the team is getting better every game. We want to learn and learn quicker than the other teams.

Mira Novak

The River Hawks are looking for leadership from 18 returners. Senior Hilary Jaén (Las Margaritas, Panama) is back after earning America East All-Conference Second Team honors. She registered six points in 2024, the third most on the team, while logging 1024 minutes in 17 games, starting in 15 contests.

Hilary Jaén

Sophomores Gaby Eckroth (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) and Nuala Rodgers (Dedham, Mass.) are looking to top All-Rookie honors. The Pennsylvania native, Eckroth had a successful freshman year, collecting six points. Rodgers appeared in 19 games, starting in 15 with 1210 minutes logged.

Gaby Eckroth

Nuala Rodgers

Megan Banzi

Mia Eva Girgis

Marissa Sage

Another familiar presence returning to the back line for her final season is senior Megan Banzi (Plymouth, Mass.). The defender posted a team high in minutes last season with 1609 in 19 games played, starting in 18 matches.

In her first year, sophomore Mia Eva Girgis (Montreal, Quebec) took advantage of any minutes given, as the forward recorded five points, two goals and one assist, in 17 appearances.

Looking to make impact again, junior Marissa Sage (Milford, N.H.) added a total of four points, one goal and two assists over 19 games played last year.

Rachel Welch

Sophomore Rachel Welch (Franklin, Mass.) will look to step up in the net for the River Hawks in 2024. Welch learned from sharing the net last year with former teammate and now coach Taylor Burgess, seeing action in three games and starting in one with nine saves in 180 minutes played.

We could see glimpses in the spring because you aren’t going to get better by watching, but by doing. Rachel has had enough opportunities in the spring to show what she can do, fix some things and I'm really happy how she pushed herself over the summer and came back ready.

Mira Novak

Lucie Chumanová

Lucie Chumanová (Prague, Czech Republic) is another piece to watch out for in goal, as the freshman goalkeeper enters the program after representing IMG Academy and the Czech Republic youth national team.

UMass Lowell is excited about the arrival of seven newcomers to the team for 2025.

Those additions to the program include freshmen Anna Joseph (Sutton, Mass.), Ava Kopicko (Nashua, N.H.), Anneliese Collin (Portland, Maine), Nora Belin (Stockholm, Sweden), Kiera Fitzpatrick (Methuen, Mass.), Emma Theorén (Sollentuna, Vällingby), and Lucie Chumanová (Czech Republic).

Nora Belin

Emma Theorén

Kiera Fitzpatrick

2025 Newcomers Release

Our young players, last year’s freshman class, came pretty hungry, came very ready and challenged even our best players. I’m pretty excited about players having the opportunity to step up, play out to their level and show what they can do.

Mira Novak

Although the River Hawks prepare to bring back a good amount of experienced players for the upcoming 2025 season, a big goal of the women’s soccer program is to make sure that every single player, starting with the freshman, can lead in their own way.

Instead of going the normal route with captains, the UMass Lowell coach staffing implemented a new model, establishing a wider leadership council for the team. The council, made up of six players, helps give a bit of a different dynamic through having players from different classes involved, leading to more voices and opinions which will only help find the team's strengths.

We ask them to serve on leadership committees within the team and help the team in a number of ways. It’s not just leaders and passengers, but we want every single player to have an active voice and actively contribute to what we do and how we do it.

Mira Novak

The River Hawks have trained hard, both in the spring and over the summer, coming in ready to go as they look to take on the 2025 campaign with it fast approaching.

Maddie Guthrie

The River Hawks host Idaho in their home opener (Aug. 21), which starts a six-game homestand, before eventually welcoming the Patriot League Champions, Boston University, on September 7. The non-conference action closes with a matchup against New Haven (Sep. 14).

“I feel us putting a competitive, non-conference schedule together challenges other teams in the conference because it raises the level across the conference," said Novak. "It’s comparable to last year, and I'm really excited. We have a couple of teams coming here that we’ve never played before.”

Nadja Anderson vs. Stony Brook

Eliana Parreira vs. Bryant

America East play begins when UMass Lowell faces off against NJIT (Sep. 21) at Cushing Field. A few weeks later, the River Hawks welcome the defending America East Champion, Maine, on October 16, with the final regular-season game of the 2025 season at Bryant (Oct. 30).

“The conference games define how everybody is looking at the team, at the record, and we don’t have too much time within the conference play to change things," said Novak. "So, I think it's becoming robust in how we deal with challenges, and how we deal with ups and downs of conference play, and that's kind of the objective right now.”

2025 Schedule

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