McKinley Makes 13 Saves, Walsh Strikes as Field Hockey Serves UMass Lowell First Home Loss of the Season

Sunday, October 18

Lowell, Mass.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

(4-9)

UMass Lowell

(8-7)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Dartmouth	0	0	1	0	1
UMass Lowell	0	0	0	0	0

10/18/2026 5:02:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

LOWELL, Mass. – Dartmouth field hockey handed UMass Lowell its first home loss of the season Sunday afternoon, as Kylie McKinley made 13 saves and the Big Green defense turned back all 16 River Hawk penalty corners in a 1-0 win at Wicked Blue Field. Ruby Walsh scored her fifth goal of the season for the game-winner, and the victory is Dartmouth's first over UMass Lowell since 2019. The Big Green improve to 4-9, while UMass Lowell falls to 8-7.

UMass Lowell came out on the attack and earned six penalty corners in the first quarter alone, but Dartmouth's defense was ready for every one of them. The Big Green blocked three Rena Pistilli shots off corners in the opening frame, and when the River Hawks were awarded a penalty stroke at 13:22, McKinley stood tall and denied Audrey Carter to keep the game scoreless.

Dartmouth tightened up even further in the second quarter, holding UMass Lowell to just one shot, which McKinley saved off a corner in the 17th minute. The Big Green defended two more corners in the frame and went into halftime level at 0-0, having turned back eight penalty corners and allowed just six shots through two quarters.

The third quarter brought the River Hawks' biggest push, and McKinley met it with seven saves. Playing shorthanded after a green card, Dartmouth survived a goalmouth scramble just before the 35-minute mark in which McKinley made four saves in a span of five seconds, turning away Christina Wagner, Carter and Holly Beckinsale before the defense cleared another corner. McKinley added stops on Wagner, Mae Kemps and Pistilli over the next several minutes, and the Big Green blocked a Frédèrique van den Dungen shot moments later. Dartmouth then made its chance count. At 41:42, Maria Ariza Solans fired a shot that UMass Lowell goalkeeper Megan MacMiller saved, and Walsh was there to bury the rebound for a 1-0 lead.

Dartmouth protected the lead with another strong defensive quarter. UMass Lowell earned four more penalty corners in the fourth, but the Big Green blocked shots from Alice Van Hemelen and Pistilli on back-to-back corners, and McKinley made four more saves to close the door. Dartmouth also killed off a stretch down a player after a yellow card midway through the quarter, and Gemma Franco nearly added an insurance goal in the 57th minute before the Big Green ran out the clock on the shutout.

McKinley was the star of the afternoon, playing all 60 minutes and finishing with 13 saves for the second shutout of her career, following her first in Dartmouth's 4-0 win over Penn on Sept. 25. The defense in front of her was just as impressive, blocking six shots and keeping UMass Lowell off the board on all 16 of its penalty corners and 23 total shots. Walsh delivered the game-winner on her lone shot of the day for her fifth goal of the season, and Ariza Solans set it up with Dartmouth's other shot on goal.

Up Next Dartmouth returns home to host Cornell on Friday, Oct. 23, at Chase Field.