By Dom Nicastro, Amesbury News


Amesbury, Mass. - At UMass-Lowell, field hockey success these days is measured by how well you do in the national championship game.

By that, the River Hawks this year failed to accomplish their mission.

Jamie Vanartsdalen scored three goals and added an assist, and Bloomsburg of Pennsylvania topped UMass-Lowell, 6-2, last week in the 2008 NCAA Division 2 field hockey championship match in Lowell.

But No. 2 in the country? That’s not so shabby.
And an Amesbury trio played no small part in another outstanding season for Lowell.

Amesbury’s Katie Enaire was one of the leading scorers for the River Hawks, netting 14 goals. That included a huge goal in the national semifinal victory over Bentley College. Enaire, a sophomore and last year’s Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year, converted a penalty corner to make it 2-0 in the first half of an eventual 3-2 victory for the River Hawks.

Enaire’s former Amesbury teammate, Kayla LeSage, was also a key part of a River Hawks. LeSage was one of the team’s most improved players, her coach said, and was a solid defender.

And of course, there’s coach and Amesbury product Shannon Hlebichuk, who led the team to the 2005 national championship and back-to-back appearances last season and this fall. Each of those losses came to Bloomsburg.

Hlebichuk called LeSage an “integral” part of the stingy defense who can anticipate where the attacking player is going to send a pass.

Enaire was named to the Northeast-10 honor roll after she scored five points on two goals and one assist earlier in the season. She assisted on the game-winning tally at Bentley and scored twice in the win over Merrimack.

Enaire used her lightning-fast speed to get in position to score goals.

Last season, she was named the 2007 ECAC Field Hockey Division 2 Rookie of the Year and was also named Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year. Enaire is the school’s first freshman to win both awards. Coming off the bench, the forward scored 12 goals and had 25 assists in 22 games for UML. She had three multiple-goal games and finished the regular season on a 10-game point streak.

Bloomsburg has won three national championships in a row, and 15 in program history. They finished 23-1 while the River Hawks, making their fourth appearance in the NCAA championship in six years, ended the season 20-5.

Lowell won the NE-10 regular season championship for the third time in four years. This year’s tourney appearance marked the fifth straight. They also played in the 2003 national title match.