LOWELL, Mass. – Freshman goalkeeper Veerle Mous (Breda, Netherlands) registered 11 saves in a hard-fought, 3-0 setback for the UMass Lowell field hockey team (1-1) against No. 14 Massachusetts (2-0) at Wicked Blue Field as part of the 2025 Kennedy Cup Challenge between the in-state foes.
 
"I'm really happy with our performance in the first three quarters," said Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc. "We played really disciplined and played some really good hockey defensively. We had some great scoring opportunities that didn't go our way, but in the fourth quarter, we just couldn't get out of our own way and made some uncharacteristic decisions under pressure. It's just unfortunate that after three great quarters we didn't play our best when it mattered."
 
Sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) led the way on the offensive end with four shots, while senior Madison Leeper (Amherst, N.Y.) and sophomore Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Netherlands) each added two.
 
The River Hawks pressured early in the contest, as Leeper registered the first chance of the day, sweeping a ball just wide in the third minute. Four minutes later, the home team was back in the circle with two more shots just wide. UMass Lowell then registered back-to-back corners in the ninth minute when Kerkhof fired hard attempts into the pads of the opposing keeper.
 
The Minutewomen retaliated with a pair of corners of their own, including one in the final seconds of the first that took a diving save from Mous to extinguish, keeping the game scoreless through the first 15 minutes.
 
The visitors started the second quarter with another corner, but Mous stayed strong, batting a ball from the top of the circle away from the cage. Both teams added two more corners in the quarter, but the defense was steadfast, maintaining the 0-0 deadlock heading into the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, Massachusetts was able to break open the stalemate less than two minutes into play, as Emily Barrett stickhandled the ball under control before pulling back to the top of the circle and slapping a shot into the far corner to make it 1-0.
 
The fourth quarter proved to be the difference maker and despite an incredible, eight-save performance from Mous in the final 15 minutes, the visitors were able to add two insurance goals. First in the 48^th minute, Sophie Kent dribbled along the baseline and sent a short pass to the front of the cage for Alexa Collins, who then passed back through traffic to Kent for finish. Massachusetts then stretched the difference to 3-0 on a penalty stroke by Barrett in the 54^th minute.
 
The River Hawks are back in action at home on Friday, September 5 when they take on Northeastern at 6 p.m. Admission is free all season thanks to Eastern Salt and Mahoney Oil.