LOWELL, Mass. – Junior forward Rachel McCarthy (Reading) recorded her second hat trick of the week as UMass-Lowell rolled to a 6-0 shutout of visiting Bentley University in non-conference field hockey action Saturday afternoon at the Cushing Field Complex.

Bentley, which had been ranked 10th in the preseason NFHCA Division II rankings, completed a strenuous season-opening stretch of five games in nine days with a 2-3 record. UMass-Lowell, ranked fourth preseason after reaching the 2011 NCAA Division II national championship game, improved to 3-1.

The River Hawks split their goals into three in each half. McCarthy knocked in what proved to be the game-winner off a rebound in the 12^th minute, and made it a 2-0 game 16 minutes later, again capitalizing off a rebound.

Junior Melissa Effertz (Oceanside, Calif.) completed the first-half scoring at 28:54, and Lowell picked up second-half goals from McCarthy, Effertz and senior Sarah Wilcoz (Old Town, Maine) to complete the scoring.

Melanie Hopkins (Harwich) earned the win in goal, making one save in her 59 minutes of action. Her teammates kept the pressure on the Bentley goal all day, outshooting the Falcons 25-6 with the first shot by the visitors coming with under 12 minutes remaining.

Bentley, after the grueling start to the season, will be off until next Saturday afternoon when it will host Franklin Pierce.