Field Hockey opened up the weekend against Boston University in the Bay area. The game was forced into overtime, but the Bison were unable to capitalize on their opportunities in the final seconds of play.
The first quarter saw minimal action on both ends. Two shots came from Zoe Carlson-Pietraszek ’25 and Gianna Puorro ’26. The Terriers did not have any shots on goal. In the second quarter, the Bison were the team to fail to get a shot off.
Finally, in the third quarter, action picked up. Carlson-Pietraszek, assisted by Nicky Punt ’26, scored the first goal for the Orange and Blue only a minute into the second half. The Terriers managed to get a goal off themselves about three minutes later.
Both teams had many attempts in the fourth quarter but each came up unsuccessful. Sarah Althouse’s ’27 impressive showing in goal helped push the game into overtime.
Punt and Hannah Guarente ’25 had close chances but were unable to score. The Terriers were equally unsuccessful and the game went into a second overtime. Boston managed to score in the final minutes of the game before going into a penalty shootout.
Sunday afternoon the Bison faced No. 18 UMass Lowell in a close matchup. Once again the first period remained actionless. The River Hawks managed to attempt three shots on goal but were unsuccessful thanks to a strong Bison defense. Rachel Apa ’24 fired off a shot in the final seconds but was denied by the opposing team’s goalie.
UMass Lowell managed to grab the lead first about nine minutes into the second quarter. Carlson-Pietraszek managed to tie the game quickly after. Kira Leclercq ’26 and Althouse worked together in the back to make impressive saves to keep the River Hawks off the board.
UMass Lowell was successful in pushing the lead further in the third period. They put two goals up on the board in a span of five minutes. The Bison struggled to respond offensively and didn’t score their second goal of the game into the fourth quarter when Puorro made a rebound off of a shot from Leclercq. The Bison were unable to score again and lost 3-2.
The Orange and Blue are set to face American in Patriot League play Oct. 7.
