River Hawks Headed to NE-10 Championship with 4-2 Semifinal Win Over Adelphi

LOWELL – The top-seeded UMass Lowell River Hawks (21-0) defeated the #5 Panthers of Adelphi University (13-9), by a score of 4-2, in the Semifinal of the 2010 Northeast-10 Field Hockey Tournament on Friday afternoon on Cushing Field.  Freshman midfielder Rachel McCarthy (Reading, Mass.) tallied a pair of goals in the first half to give UMass Lowell the jumpstart it needed to capture the victory.

The River Hawks earned a penalty stroke less than 2:30 into the game, as McCarthy took advantage of the opportunity, converting the stroke to put UMass Lowell up 1-0 early on.

Just over five minutes into the tilt, senior forward Sammy Macy (Tewksbury, Mass.) carried the ball into the 25-yard line and passed into the circle to find classmate and fellow forward Katie Enaire (Amesbury, Mass.).  Enaire dribbled to the left of the goalkeeper and snuck it past her on the right to double the River Hawk lead.

McCarthy struck again with 11:39 remaining in the half, dribbling in from the right side and fighting through a crowd to slam the ball to the back of the cage giving UMass Lowell the 3-0 lead they would hold onto through the end of the half.

Adelphi broke the shutout less than 10 minutes into the second stanza, as UMass Lowell goalkeeper Melanie Hopkins (Harwich, Mass.) dove for the ball but Erin Grekin got it past her for her first goal of the game, assisted by Jeanette Heimerle.

Macy answered back, hitting an unassisted bomb from the top of the circle straight to the back of the cage almost 11 minutes into the second frame.

Adelphi brought it back within two as Grekin scored her second of the day, assisted by Cassie Cabral less than five minutes later.  Cabral passed inside the 25 yard line to find Grekin in the circle for her third goal of the year.

The Panthers were unable to come any closer, though, as UMass Lowell closed out the game and earned its 21st straight victory.

Adelphi’s netminder Lucia Vigliotti finished the day with four saves, falling to 11-6 on the year, while UMass Lowell’s Hopkins improved to 21-0 after making two saves and stopping two shots.

The River Hawks owned a 22-8 advantage in shots and a 10-6 edge in penalty corners in the game.

With the victory, UMass Lowell heads to its sixth conference championship game in the last seven years and will play the winner of the late game between #2 Stonehill and #3 American International College.

They will look to capture the sixth NE-10 Tournament Title in program history tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. on UMass Lowell’s Cushing Field.

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