The UMass Lowell Riverhawks (3-4, 0-0 America East) squeezed out a win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-5, 0-0 MAAC) Tuesday afternoon in Hamden by a final score of 3-2. Despite the dominating performance the Bobcats were unable to capitalize on their chances and allowed the Riverhawks to counter attack and score.

The Bobcats started the game strong maintaining most of the pressure in the first few minutes of the game. They connected most of their passes and threw the ball into the circle for some quality chances.  Unfortunately for the Bobcats they were unable to capitalize on those chances in the first half.

The Riverhawks were slow to start the game allowing the Bobcats to put six shots on goal in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Bobcats best chance of the game came from sophomore Lea Dietrichs as she made a great individual effort to dribble the ball in the circle past three Riverhawk defenders and blasted a shot just over the crossbar. The sophomore midfielder came within inches of scoring her first goal of the season.

The Riverhawks picked up the pace as the first half was winding down. They scored on their first and only shot on goal in the first half as freshman Fiona Fitzgerald scored at the side of the goal off a feed from fellow freshman Christa Doiron.

Despite out shooting the Riverhawks 14-2 and dominating play in the first half the Bobcats trailed 1-0 going into the second half.

“It’s difficult to have a game where you have a dominating effort in terms of possession and shots on goal,” head coach Becca Main said. “We have to ask ourselves to dig deep.”

The Bobcats answered back in the first minute of the second half as Dietrichs blasted home a nicely placed passed from senior forward Danielle Allan to tie the game 1-1.

The play of the second half was even as both teams had some good opportunities to score until Doiron capitalized off a turnover from the Bobcats in the circle once again giving the Riverhawks a 2-1 lead.

The Bobcats pushed the pace after that goal by winning one on one battles and fighting hard for the ball. The Bobcats answered right back as it only took two minutes to score and tie the game again. Freshman Midfielder Michelle Federico scored off a creative penalty corner executed by the Bobcats. She was assisted by junior Savanna Rielly who initially took a shot on goal but the ball was deflected by a Riverhawk defender and finally found its way to the front of the net where Federico poked it in.

The Bobcats nearly took the lead off of another well executed penalty corner, but the ball just deflected wide off of Federico’s stick as she was wide open in front of the net.

The Riverhawks took the lead back for good off a controversial goal. Doiron struck a powerful shot that blasted into the opposite side of the goal leaving senior goalkeeper Megan Conaboy, who only had one save all game, no chance. The Bobcats thought that Doiron was outside the circle when she shot it, therefore nullifying the goal. But the goal counted and the Riverhawks held the lead for a 3-2 victory.

“For us the you have to be inside the circle to score,” Main said.  “We were saying it was outside the circle and they were saying it was a tip and it’s heart wrenching to see the same kind of goal that happened to us at Yale.”

The Bobcats return to action on Sunday and will look for their second road win of the season as they play the Catamounts in Vermont.