Road Trip for March 27 Matchup at UMass Lowell (AE.tv)

New Hampshire (2-3, 1-2 America East) at UMass Lowell (2-4, 1-2 AE)
Saturday, March 27 | 12 PM
Cushing Field | Lowell, Mass.

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THE MATCHUP | CLICK HERE for complete series history

UNH has a 5-0 lifetime record against UMass Lowell; all five meetings have been since the River Hawks elevated to Division I in the 2015 season.
In the most recent meeting (April 3, 2019), UNH prevailed 11-4 at Cushing Field.
In that game, UNH led 4-3 (at 4:10 of the first half) and transformed that one-goal lead into a 10-3 advantage (at 13:07 of the second half) by scoring six consecutive goals overlapping the first and second halves. UML was held scoreless for 22+ minutes during that 6-0 run.
New Hampshire recorded the edge in every stat: shots (37-17), draw controls (11-6), ground balls (21-15) and turnovers (13-23).
The Wildcats have won all three previous matchups at Cushing Field (22-5 in 2015 and 10-7 in 2017).

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

UNH is led by ninth-year head coach Sarah Albrecht, who was named America East Coach of the Year in 2019, when the Wildcats finished 10-7 overall and 5-2 in America East.
New Hampshire has a 2-3 overall record that includes 1-2 in conference games.
The Wildcats are 2-0 at home and 0-3 on the road.
UNH went 0-2 in 2020 away games. The Wildcats' most recent road win was April 20, 2019 (20-14 at Vermont).
The 'Cats are coming off last Saturday's 14-13 overtime win against UMBC at Wildcat Stadium.
Eleven Wildcats have started every game.
The 2021 Wildcats are captained by grad student Rylee Leonard and senior Tatum Benesh. Leonard was an America East All-Conference Second Team honoree in 2019 and redshirted the '20 season.
The 27-player roster has a breakdown of one grad student, five seniors, nine juniors, five sophomores and seven freshmen.
The 2020 Wildcats were 1-4 when the remainder of the season was canceled the second week of March because of COVID-19.

PLAYING OVERTIME

New Hampshire is 1-1 in overtime this season with a 13-12 loss at UAlbany (March 6) and 14-13 win vs. UMBC (March 20).
The previous time the Wildcats won in overtime was April 2, 2016 (9-8 at Binghamton).
The last time UNH played two overtime games in a single season was 2017.

STAT CHECK

UNH is averaging 10.6 goals on 28.2 shots per game in comparison to the opponents' 13.4 goals and 29.6 shots per game.
The Wildcats fire 72.3 percent of their shots on goal and score on 37.6 percent of their shots. The opponents put 77.7 percent of shots on goal and score on 45.3 percent of their total shots.
Both overall ground balls (94-91 in favor of the opponents) and turnovers (70-78 in favor of UNH) are relatively even.
UNH is scoring at a higher percentage on free-position shots; the Wildcats are 11-for-20 (55.0%) in comparison to the opposition's 15 of 32 (46.9%).
The opposition is averaging 3.2 more draw controls per game (11.4 to 14.6).
New Hampshire's .879 clear percentage (80 of 91) is slightly lower than the opponents' mark of .891 (82 of 92).

NEYLAND'S NUMBERS

Senior Julia Neyland is UNH's leader in both goals (15) and points (18), as well as shots (41).
To put Neyland's goal total in perspective, her 15 goals are equal to the combined total of the second and third Wildcats; Dunn is No. 2 with eight followed by Sabrina Grovom with seven.
And Neyland's shot total is more than the next two Wildcats, who have a combined 35 shots with Elizabeth Blanding at 18 and Liv Dunn at 17.
Neyland scored a career-high six goals last Saturday vs. UMBC for a personal best of six points.
The senior attacker fired 11 shots in the March 6 overtime game at UAlbany and 10 at Vermont (March 13), as well as nine last Saturday vs. UMBC.

ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER POINT

Grad student Rylee Leonard is the only Wildcat who has recorded a point in all five games this season.
She scored two goals last Saturday vs. UMBC and has tallied a point in 21 consecutive games; she redshirted last season and finished the 2019 season with a point each of the last 16 games; the last game played in which Leonard did not record a point was Feb. 16, 2019 vs. Harvard.
Leonard has tallied 38 goals and 28 assists for 66 points (3.14 points/game) during the 21-game point streak.

CONFERENCE CALL

Julia Neyland is atop the conference leaderboard in shots per game (8.20) as well as No. 5 in goals per game (3.00) and No. 7 in points per game (3.60).
Rylee Leonard enters the weekend No. 8 in America East in assists per game (1.20).
Issy Torres is No. 4 in saves per game (9.60).
There are two 'Cats in the Top 10 in caused turnovers per game; Meghan Doyle leads all America East players with 2.00 CTO/game and Tatum Benesh is No. 9 (1.20).

WHAT JUST HAPPENED | Box Score | Recap | Highlights

New Hampshire rolled out to a 6-0 lead, then had to score the last goal of regulation to force overtime and went on to record a 14-13 win vs. UMBC at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, March 20.
Julia Neyland scored her career-high sixth goal of the game – and 50^th career – to forge just the second tie of the game, 13-13, with 2:18 remaining in regulation. That tally came 53 seconds after UMBC took its first lead of the game (at 3:11).
UNH entered overtime down a player with a Wildcat serving a yellow card, then faced a two-player down situation when they lost the draw control and were issued another yellow card.
New Hampshire's defense rose to the challenge, as Meghan Doyle intercepted a pass 77 seconds into the extra session, the 'Cats successfully advanced the ball downfield and called a timeout 1:40 into OT.
UNH turned the ball over, however, 20 seconds later and the Retrievers quickly counterattacked to generate a 2-on-1 rush. UNH goalie Issy Torres came out of the crease to challenge and forced a shot wide of the cage to extend the game.
After three minutes elapsed, the teams changed ends of the field and Delaney Pratt controlled the draw. A shot by Neyland was stopped by UMBC goalie Lexi Roberts, but the ball ricocheted off the top of her stick and over the end line to keep possession with UNH.
Rylee Leonard was awarded a free position. She charged from left of center and ripped a shot into the bottom-right corner to give the Wildcats a 14-13 win at 54:57 (1:03 remaining in the first overtime).

'CAT NIPS

Elizabeth Blanding had a goal and an assist to reach 50 career points (37 goals, 13 assists).

Rylee Leonard recorded a career-high nine draw controls against UMBC. It is the highest total by a 'Cat since March 2, 2016, when Devan Miller had 10.
Meghan Doyle recorded a personal-best five ground balls and was also credited with three caused turnovers.
Issy Torres finished with a season-high 13 saves.

UNH LEADERBOARD

As mentioned earlier, Julia Neyland is atop the UNH leaderboard in goals (15), points (18) and shots (41).
Grad student and captain Rylee Leonard has a team-high six assists and has also scored five goals to tie for second in points with 11.
Sophomore Liv Dunn is second on the squad in goals (eight) and is tied for second in points (11).
Senior Sabrina Grovom, who scored two goals each of the first three games, is third in goals (seven) and fourth in points (seven); she has scored seven goals on eight shots.
Grovom scored a total of four goals (and six points) her first three years as a Wildcat.
Junior Meghan Doyle, who recorded a career-high five ground balls last Saturday vs. UMBC, leads the Wildcats with 12 ground balls. She also tallied three caused turnovers against the Retrievers to increase her team-leading total to 10.
Senior captain Tatum Benesh ranks second in both GBs (10) and CTOs (six).
Junior goalie Issy Torres is the other 'Cat who has reached double digits in ground balls with 10.
Junior Delaney Pratt is the top 'Cat with 12 draw controls.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Junior goalie Issy Torres has played all 307 minutes, 30 seconds this season; she has a 2-3 record with a 13.07 GAA and .417 save percentage.
Torres has double-digit saves three times this season, including a high of 13 in the March 20 overtime win against UMBC. She finished with 11 saves at Vermont (March 13) and 10 at UConn (Feb. 28).
She has made 10+ saves nine times in 27 career games (26 starts).

COUNTDOWN TO 50… AND BEYOND

Senior Julia Neyland scored her 50^th career goal with the last of her personal-best six goals March 20 vs. UMBC.
Senior Elizabeth Blanding tallied her 50^th career point with the second of her two points March 20 vs. UMBC.
Grad student Rylee Leonard has 44 career goals.
Junior Meghan Doyle has 48 ground balls.

MADE OF GRANITE

There are six Wildcats who hail from the Granite State; they are senior midfielder Gabby Masseur (Nashua), junior midfielder Abby Cranney (Amherst), junior defender Taylor Dudek (Amherst), sophomore midfielder Jessie Hounchell (Manchester), freshman midfielder Mackenzie MacEachern (Bedford), and freshman defender Izzy Aiello (Mont Vernon).

AT THE POLLS

UNH was selected third in the 2021 America East Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll that was released Feb. 9.
Stony Brook received all seven possible first-place votes and 49 points to sit atop the poll. UAlbany received the other first-place vote and 43 points.
UNH was next with 34 points, followed by UMBC (30), Vermont (26), Binghamton (21), UMass Lowell (15) and Hartford (7).

UNH ATHLETICS COVID-19 SPECTATOR POLICY | CLICK HERE to read more

UNH Athletics is currently permitting a limited number of undergraduate student spectators to the March 2021 UNH athletics events at Wildcat Stadium.
Attendance at Wildcat Stadium is strictly limited to UNH-Durham undergraduate student spectators.
Members of the general public are not permitted to attend any UNH Athletics events for the safety of all UNH students, student-athletes, and essential staff working events.
There are no tickets available for visiting teams or families of UNH student-athletes for events at Wildcat Stadium.
Students interested in attending events at Wildcat Stadium must set up a student ticket account in order to claim an electronic ticket for a specific event and assigned seat in advance.

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Izzy Aiello

Tatum Benesh

Elizabeth Blanding

Abby Cranney

Meghan Doyle

Taylor Dudek

Liv Dunn

Sabrina Grovom

Jesslyn Hounchell

Rylee Leonard

Mackenzie MacEachern

Gabby Masseur

Julia Neyland

Delaney Pratt

Issy Torres

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