The University of Maine Field Hockey team fell for the first time ever to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in America East action on Friday afternoon 4-0 at the Maine Field Hockey Complex in Orono. The Black Bears were 14-0 against the Riverhawks all-time entering the contest. It was the conference opener for UML.
UMass-Lowell (6-2, 1-0) got the lone tally needed in the first quarter to start the scoring off a penalty corner by Berbel Rozema just 1:52 into action. The Riverhawks carried most of the play throughout the first half with the better opportunities, and extended their lead to a pair just before halftime. Madison Leeper had possession inside the circle on the right hand side, and centered into the middle where she found Ava Clarke who chipped it past Maine netminder Mallory Drayer to make it 2-0 at the break. The visitors from UML added on in the third quarter. After Leeper had scored for the Riverhawks for a 3-0 lead at 1:53, a Bbreagh Kennedy goal for the Black Bears was disallowed after a review. Just 43 seconds later, Karli Penrod took a pass just inside the circle and fired a hard shot that beat Jayde Temby five-hole to end the scoring on the afternoon. Temby was replaced by Drayer for the remainder of the match, after allowing two goals on two shots.
Drayer ended up with three saves on nine shots faced in the loss for Maine. Mallory Mackesy had five of the eight shots on goal for the Black Bears, as they also went 0 for 7 in penalty corner opportunities. Leeper and Penrod each had a goal and an assist for UMass-Lowell. Christina Calandra played the first half in net and had three saves, while Marie Oliemans played the final 30 minutes and had five stops for the combined shutout. Maine falls to 4-5, 2-1 in America East and will play on the road for the first time this season at Albany next Friday.
Recap by Chris Lessner
