The UMBC women's soccer team (5-5-4, 1-2-2 America East) returns to action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Lowell, Massachusetts to battle the UMass Lowell River Hawks (6-5-3, 3-1-1) at Cushing Field. The opening whistle is set for 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on AmericaEast.TV. 
 
NOTABLE

• The Retrievers currently own the final America East playoff spot with five points as they enter Sunday's contest against the River Hawks, the final road match for the Dawgs. UMBC will then close out the regular season with home tests against New Hampshire (10/23) and Binghamton (10/27).
• UMBC is fresh off a thrilling, 1-0, road victory at NJIT on Thursday evening. The Black and Gold produced the game-winner with 12:16 remaining on an own goal off a throw in deep in NJIT territory. Senior midfielder Caroline Koutsos (Boyds, Md., Our Lady of Good Counsel) lobbed a high-arching service towards the goal and Highlander keeper Molly Saylor let the ball get over her head, leaving her out of position. The ball came down directly off the head of a defender and was directed straight into the lower left side of the open goal.
• Senior goalkeeper Morgan McGruder (Overland Park, Kan., Blue Valley North) recorded a career-high 13 saves in the contest and now has made 73 stops on the campaign. It was also the third-highest total made by a conference keeper in 2022.
• McGruder leads the America East with seven clean sheets and a .839 save percentage. She is currently second with a 1.00 goals against average and is third with an .811 save percentage.
• Sophomore back Abby Joseph (Lexington Park, Md., Great Mills) is seventh on the circuit with three assists this season.
•  Meghan McKye (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Northern Secondary School) leads UMBC with five goals, which is good for seventh in the America East. The junior striker is also ninth overall in points (11). Her three game-winners are tied for tops in the league.      

A GLANCE AT THE RIVER HAWKS     

• UMass Lowell (10 points) is currently locked in a three-way tie for third place with New Hampshire and UAlbany.
• The River Hawks came away with a 1-1 draw in their previous game at Maine on Thursday evening. UMass Lowell scored in the 18' on a tally by Emily Nelson with an assist from Chaima Khammar, however, the Bears got the equalizer in the 63'.
• Ioanna Papatheodorou is second in the league with eight goals and 18 points while Calliste Brookshire has hit the target six times.
• Lily Fabian is tied for the conference lead with four assists while Khammar has added three helpers.
• UMass has scored a combined total of 25 goals and have also yielded 25 markers.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES

• This will be the 10^th meeting in the series with UMass Lowell holding a 7-2-0 record against the Retrievers, who have lost six straight against the Highlanders.
• UMBC's last victory came on October 1, 2015 when the Black and Gold came away with a 2-0 win in Lowell.
• Last season, the Dawgs dropped a 1-0 decision at Retriever Soccer Park as Papatheodorou scored the lone goal with just over 11 minutes remaining in regulation. McGruder recorded 11 saves, which was a career-best until her 13-save performance on Thursday evening.