LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Ava Clarke (Hopkinton, Mass.) registered a hat trick to lead 10 goal scorers for the UMass Lowell field hockey team (3-4) in a 14-0 victory against New Haven (0-6) on Friday night at Wicked Blue Field.
 
With the victory, Head Coach Shannon LeBlanc secured her 300^th career victory and 100^th win at the Division I level. The 14-goal effort also set a new all-time, single-game program record.
 
"After our weekend in North Carolina, we had a lot of work to do on goal scoring, playing with speed, playing with resilience and fire, and we certainly came out and did that right away," said LeBlanc. "We stayed disciplined and played a complete game of Lowell, gritty field hockey."
 
Clarke's performance marked the first hat trick of her career. Junior Karli Penrod (Seaford, Del.) added a pair of goals in her first game of the season, while freshman Alexa Guarneri (Hockessin, Del.), freshman Helena Herlocher (State College, Pa.) and junior Kathryn Guertin (Holden, Mass.) each logged their first career tallies. Freshman Rena Pistilli (Lambaré, Paraguay), freshman Haley Wernig (Franklin, Mass.), sophomore Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Belgium), sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and senior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) rounded out the scorers with one goal apiece.
 
The River Hawks attacked right from the first whistle, converting on a corner less than a minute into play when Leeper corralled the ball outside of the top of the circle and pushed it over to Pistilli for the shot on target to make it 1-0. Junior Christina Wagner (Cicero, N.Y.) then found Penrod moving through the circle for a finish in the eighth minute to stretch the lead to 2-0 through one quarter of action.
 
The home team continued to keep the momentum in its offensive end, netting four goals in a five-minute span in the second quarter. Clarke got the run started in the 17^th minute, finishing a rebound, before graduate student Cate Kleeman (Gibbsboro, N.J.) launched a long ball into the circle where a waiting Wernig was able to redirect it on target. Van Hemelen and Clarke then each quickly added reverse-stick tallies to make it 6-0 in the 22^nd minute.
 
UMass Lowell added one more on a corner in the final seconds of the half, thanks to a first-career finish from Guarneri to give her side a 7-0 edge at the break.
 
The River Hawks pressured in the opening minutes of the second half and got the scoring restarted on a one-timer from Penrod in front of the keeper in the 40^th minute. A minute later, Guarneri spun around the defense to find the back of the cage before Kerkhof dribbled expertly through traffic to make it 10-0 through three quarters.
 
Clarke went top shelf in the 47^th minute to complete her hat trick and surpass the program's previous single-game goal record. In the 49^th minute, Leeper backhanded in a goal before Herlocher converted on a corner and Guertin tapped home a pass from Wernig in the waning minutes to seal the 14-0 victory.
 
The River Hawks are back in action at home on Sunday, September 21 when they host Kent State for Alumni Day at 12 p.m. Admission is free all season thanks to Eastern Salt and Mahoney Oil.