UMass Boston

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Sept. 1, 2026) — The UMass Boston Beacons dropped the inaugural game in field hockey program history by a score of 6-1 to the Mount Holyoke Lyons on Tuesday night at the MHC Turf. 

Tuesday's historic game was one of many firsts to come this season for the field hockey program led by head coach Kellie Stigas.  

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

• Mount Holyoke's Rory Bernardo fired an unassisted shot home just 2:28 into the first quarter to open the scoring and Linnea Alsted doubled the lead in the final minute of the quarter off a feed from Diane Lee, sending UMass Boston into the second period trailing 2-0. 

• The Lyons extended their advantage to five goals in the second quarter and a Mackenzie Hillman defensive save on a shot from Ava Duffy (Boston, Mass.) prevented the Beacons from getting on the board just prior to the halftime break. Mount Holyoke then added an additional tally in the third period for a 6-0 advantage. 

• UMass Boston turned in its best stretch of the game in the fourth quarter and Alexis D'Angelo (Monroe, Conn.) found the back of the cage for the first goal in program history with just over 12 minutes to play.  

• In the final stanza, the Beacons held a 4-2 edge in shots and tallied four penalty corners while holding the Lyons scoreless.   

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:  

• D'Angelo registered three shots on the night with all three going on target.  

• Two different goalies saw action for the Beacons as Jenna Smolinski (East Aurora, N.Y.) notched seven saves in the first 30 minutes and Bitsy Crowley (Medfield, Mass.) tallied four saves in the second half.  

• Mount Holyoke held an 8-4 advantage in penalty corners on the evening.  

• Zoey Candito recorded a hat trick for the Lyons and also added a pair of assists.  

UP NEXT: 

UMass Boston hits the road to face Johnson & Wales University on Saturday, Sept. 5 with action slated to get underway at 5:00 PM.  

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