The UMass Lowell hockey team’s goal to get off to a better start to the 2026-27 season won’t get easier this weekend.

The River Hawks (1-3) are coming off being swept at home against Arizona State. The 5-4 and 4-2 losses were frustrating on several levels.

Now UMass Lowell begins Hockey East play and the opponent is Providence College, the runaway first-place team in the league’s preseason Coaches Poll.

UML will host Providence on Friday at 7:15 p.m. The Friars will host the rematch on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Saturday’s game will be the first road contest of the season for the River Hawks after five home outings.

The Friars (3-0) are undefeated and ranked seventh nationally in the latest USCHO.com poll. Among the wins is a 4-0 blanking of Clarkson, a team that rallied to defeat UML, 3-2, in the season opener in Lowell.

Providence has led been in scoring in the early going by National Hockey League draft picks Julius Sumpf, who has six assists in the three games, and Logan Sawyer, who has a goal and four assists.

Sophomore Jonathan Fauchon is averaging a goal a game. The Friars have also received excellent goaltending. Jack Parson is 2-0 with a 0.97 goals against average and .966 save percentage.

UML is allowing 3.5 goals per game despite having a deep defensive corps. In net, sophomore Austin Elliott has played in three games and senior transfer Cole Moore saw his first action as a River Hawk last Saturday.

Elliott (.891) and Moore (.852) have struggled in the save percentage category in the early going.

Offensively, the River Hawks have received terrific production from four players – sophomore Dalyn Wakely (1-5-6), junior Jacob MacDonald (3-1-4), senior captain Jak Vaarwerk (2-2-4) and freshman Kuzma Voronin (1-3-4).

MacDonald entered the season with two goals in two seasons, but he already has three. Voronin, a native of Russia, has been as advertised. His speed is noticeable on every shift.

The River Hawks have had plenty of scoring opportunities, averaging 34 shots on goal per game. One area of concern after four games is their power play. UML has had 17 power play chances and only scored twice.

Women’s soccer

It was almost a tremendous comeback, but a goal by Nina Ciri at the 87:20 mark lifted New Hampshire to a 4-3 America East victory over host UMass Lowell on Thursday night.

The River Hawks (4-6-4, 1-2-3) looked down and out when they trailed 3-1. But goals by Nora Belin and Elsa Freeman at 81:42 and 84:04, respectively, lifted the hosts into a tie.

New Hampshire (4-8-2, 1-5-0) earned its first league win. Belin figured in all three goals for UML, adding two assists.

UML led 1-0 at halftime on a tally by Nina Hertz-Saebbo. But the Wildcats dominated the early stages of the second half thanks to two tallies from Madison Donati and one from Ava VanBuskirk.