No. 9 Maryland Field Hockey vs. UMass Lowell Preview

No. 9 Maryland Field Hockey opens the season against UMass Lowell River Hawks at the Field Park Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in College Park on Friday.

For the first time since 2019, fans will be able to participate in the games and offer players a highly valued normal feeling and dedicated support.

Oh my God, yes, we miss our fans so much, midfielder Kyler Greenwalt said about playing in front of the home team.

The game will be played at the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex at 3 p.m., and will be shown on BTN Plus.

Now let’s look at the UMass Lowell Hawks River.

UMass River Hawks

Record for 2019: 7-5 (5-3 Eastern America)

The River Hawks will be led by head coach Shannon Leblanc, who will begin his 19th season at the helm of UMass Lowell. Leblanc has amassed an impressive career record of 245-135 (.645) and is the most winning coach in his alma maters program history.

The Leblancs team plans to build on last season’s success as his team’s season was cut off when the Monmouth Hawks won the American East Semifinals 4-1.

UMass Lowell is visiting College Park for the first time in program history and is working to improve his record on the road from a 1-4 guest record of recent seasons.

Players know

Berbel Rozema, junior Midfield / forward, No. 15 Rozema will return to the team this year as the player who took the most shots a year ago and registered for his 26 second-year campaign. Last season, Rozema did her best for the River Hawks: scoring, assisting and shooting. He was ranked among the top ten in the Eastern American Conference for shots, goal percentages, passes and points.

Kate Miller, junior midfielder, No. 1 Miller appeared in all 12 games last season and finished ninth in the American East Conference in the game’s winning goals. Miller was the second-largest leader in goal percentage last season, at 72.7. He was a draw in the first match in winning goals, as he did two last season.

Jenna Berger, senior midfielder, No. 20 Berger had four goals for the first team of the season and a second-highest score of nine. A person from Waterloo, Ontario, will bring a wealth of experience to this year’s team and will be relied upon to achieve the much-needed scoring.

Strength

Defense. The UMass Lowell River Hawks have a meager defense that finished second in the Eastern American Conference and only allowed 1.42 goals per game. Their defense made an impressive three suspensions last season and ranked in the top five in several defense categories.

Weakness

Errors and cards. The River Hawks had the second most errors and yellow cards at their conference last season, 35 and three, respectively. UMass Lowell received a whopping 18 penalties in 12 games last season. Many of their games were decided based on the number of errors and the number of cards accumulated during the match.

Three to watch

1. Stop the Maryland UMass Lowells series? Maryland Terrapins plans to start this season with a good grip and win the Hawks River at home. UMass Lowell has won seven consecutive season openings and plans to make it to the teams ’first visit to College Park.

2. Can Maryland eat energy at home in front of its fans? Fans will have access to the field for the hockey and Lacrosse complex for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Terpi should succeed by seeing their fans encourage them as they open the season against a team that performed brilliantly last season.

3. Will Maryland make a promise for a promising 2021 campaign? Maryland wants to protect its home field by winning its fifth home game in seven attempts at College Park. Legendary head coach Missy Meharg wants to win her 19th consecutive season opener and return to the NCAA after she left the tournament last season.