LOWELL, Mass. -- Getting off to a good start is critical for any team playing on the road, something that the Fairfield University field hockey team took to heart this afternoon at UMass-Lowell. The Stags scored all three of their goals in the first 19 minutes of the game and used that quick start to post a 3-2 win over the River Hawks.
It was a collective effort as a freshman, a junior, and a senior found a way to put the ball into the cage.
Kaley McMullen was responsible for the Stags' first game just seven minutes into the contest. She teamed up with
Andrea Soler, who created a 2 on 1 break against the goalkeeper. Soler drew the goalkeeper off her line and found McMullen who deposited the pass into the goal for a 1-0 lead.
A pair of rookies combined for the second Fairfield goal as
Danielle Profita matched up with
Emma Matlach in the 16
th minute of the game. Profita brought the ball into the circle and sent a pass to center circle. Matlach accepted the pass and pushed the ball past the UMass-Lowell goalkeeper to double the visitors' advantage at 2-0.
Fairfield would close out its scoring for this game when
Jaclyn Gallagher broke free and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Gallagher found an opening and ripped a shot to the short side that pushed the Stags advantage to 3-0.
The River Hawks would put their first goal on the board nine minutes later when Anouk Lalande would poke home a rebound that was set up by Emily Flood, beating
Caitlin Gilligan near the goal. UMass-Lowell would be unable to cut into the lead any further and went into the locker room trailing by a 3-1 count.
The home team drew within a goal when Christa Doiron beat her defender and sent a shot through the legs of the goalkeeper which clipped the corner and made it a one-goal game at 3-2. Fairfield's defense would not relent any further threats and the game would stay 3-2 which gave the Stags' their second win of the season.
Gilligan made 11 saves in her 70 minutes of work to secure the win for Fairfield. The two teams each took 19 shots in the game.
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