|
 |
 Freshman Taylor Hartmann |
Oct. 28, 2009
No. 23 UMass Lowell hosts Merrimack tonight in the Northeast-10 Conference women's soccer regular season home finale at Cushing Field (7:00)
Merrimack leads the all-time series against UMass Lowell, 11-4-1, but the River Hawks have posted a 4-2-1 clip against the Warriors since 2004, including last year's 1-0 victory in the Northeast-10 Tournament first round in North Andover, MA. Five of the last six meetings have either been in overtime and/or resulted in one-goal affairs.
UMass Lowell is fresh off Saturday's 1-0 setback at Saint Rose in which the Golden Knights scored in the second minute of double overtime for the win. The goal was the first surrendered by the River Hawks in 13 matches (first since the 13th minute of a 3-1 win at Stonehill), ending senior GK Jamie Gillis' string of scoreless minutes at 1,333, an NCAA Division II record.
Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, UMass Lowell is locked into the No. 3 seed for the NE-10 Tournament and will host one of five opponents - Merrimack among them - Sunday at 1:00 to be determined with tonight's slate of final regular season matches.
Tonight's match, however, will have bearing on the NCAA Tournament East Region field, to be announced Monday, Nov. 2. UMass Lowell was ranked No. 2 in last week's poll.
Prior to kickoff, UMass Lowell's six seniors - Gillis, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jenna McIntosh, Christiana Rogers, Kelly Soper and Kathleen Strazzere - will be honored as part of the starting lineup.
