Stonehill Blanks UMass-Lowell, 1-0

St. Martin scores for Skyhawks, Hickey makes eight saves in shutout

 
Sarah Hickey shut down UMass-Lowell on Wednesday, finishing with eight saves. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)
   

LOWELL, Mass. (September 15, 2010) – The Stonehill College women's soccer team clipped UMass-Lowell 1-0 in a Northeast-10 matchup Wednesday at Cushing Field. The Skyhawks got a standout performance from junior goalkeeper Sarah Hickey (Lee, Mass./Lee), who shut out a UMass-Lowell team currently ranked eighth in the East Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), and a second-half goal from senior Kirstie St. Martin (Providence, R.I./Mount Saint Charles Academy), who has now scored in four straight games.

UMass-Lowell totaled 16 shots on the night but couldn't solve Hickey, who made eight saves for her seventh career shutout. On offense, the Skyhawks made the most of an economical three shots on goal, with St. Martin's tally proving to be enough for the win as Hickey stymied the River Hawks.

With the game scoreless in the 66th minute, St. Martin took a pass from junior Kelsey Mahoney (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth) and broke away past the UMass-Lowell defense to give Stonehill the 1-0 advantage. She currently leads the Northeast-10 in scoring, with eight goals and 19 total points through Stonehill's first six games.

Hickey made three key stops over the final 15 minutes to preserve the slim lead and wrap up the Skyhawks' fourth win of the season.

Stonehill (4-2, 3-1 NE-10) next hosts Pace University at Skyhawk Field on Saturday at 2 p.m. UMass-Lowell (1-3-1, 1-2 NE-10) visits Adelphi University
on Saturday at noon.