Field Hockey

Information Provided By UMass Lowell Sports Information


LOWELL, MA (Aug. 5, 2008) – The UMass Lowell field hockey team, fresh off a 19-3 record and an appearance in the NCAA Championship match, will conduct five days of its preseason in Bermuda and will face the country’s national team on Aug. 12 and 14.

The River Hawks arrive in capital city of Hamilton on Monday, Aug. 11 and return to Lowell Friday, Aug. 15.

“We would like to expose our student-athletes to a different culture,” said Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk, entering her seventh year. “A lot of them have had limited travel, so we thought this was a good opportunity to introduce them to a different country, culture and style of play.”

UMass Lowell will face the women’s national team of Bermuda in a pair of exhibitions Tuesday, Aug. 12 and Thursday, Aug. 14 at 6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 Eastern Time).

“They are a solid team,” Hlebichuk said of Bermuda. “Their coach is the former coach of South Africa, and South Arica has always been a powerhouse internationally.”

The trip, which was coordinated by ZAG sports out of Lawrenceville, NJ, was made possible through a year of fundraising, Hlebichuk said.

The River Hawks return 19 players from last year’s team which captured the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament for the fifth straight year and the regular season crown for the third time in five years. UMass Lowell advanced to the NCAA final for the third time in five years where it fell to 13-time NCAA champion Bloomsburg (5-2).

UMass Lowell opens the 2008 season on Aug. 29 and 30 with a pair of games at Indiana-Pennsylvania. The River Hawks return home on Sept. 2 to host Stonehill (7:00).