After falling to Harvard in the season opener 9-8, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team knew that it would have to play much better if it were going to upset No. 15 Penn State.
The Nittany Lions had already lost twice this year, at the hands of No. 7 James Madison and No. 13 Cornell, and were looking to enact revenge on the Minutewomen. Against JMU, Penn State fell behind early and was unable to catch up, so when UMass traveled to Pennsylvania for a 3:30 p.m. matchup yesterday afternoon, it made sure to try and jump on the competition.
And that is exactly what it did.
From midway through the first half to midway through the second half, the Nittany Lions scored seven consecutive goals in order to build an 8-1 advantage, and from that point on, only needed cruise control to pick up the 11-4 victory.
With the loss, the Minutewomen fell to 0-2, with both games coming out of the Atlantic 10 conference, while Penn State improved to 1-2.
“I think we finally put it altogether this game,” Nittany Lion coach Suzanne Weinberg said after picking up her first ever collegiate win against Massachusetts. “We accomplished all of our goals and we won.”
Penn State opened up the scoring five minutes into the contest when Colleen O’Hara drilled a shot by UMass netminder Cyndi Doyle to put her team up 1-0. Doyle played admirably on the day in place of injured goalie Jen Nardi, making 10 saves and keeping the Nittany Lion attack somewhat at bay.
Senior Rachel Ingraffea was able to knot it up soon after with her first tally of the young season, but that would be the last score the Minutewomen would get for quite some time.
Penn State used two free position goals by Molly Ford to take the 3-1 lead, and then closed out the half on a normal goal by Kristen Wood.
Things would not get any easier for UMass at the start of the second frame, as the Nittany Lions rallied for four goals in four minutes to put the game safely out of reach.
Alison Decheco, Katie Jeschke and Sara Young (three goals on the afternoon), were responsible for the tallies, and made the score 8-1 with just over 20 minutes to play.
Ingraffea snuck one into the opposition’s cage to end the 7-0 run a few minutes later, but her goal was quickly answered by Kate Affonsa, who pushed the lead back to seven.
Young and B.J. Lucey pushed the lead up to nine with two more scores around the 15-minute mark, but senior co-captain Fay Naber and freshman Nicole Chominski were able to put two separate shots into the back of the Penn State cage to make the score slightly more respectable.
Chominski’s goal was the first of her collegiate career.
Statistically, the Nittany Lions outplayed the Minutewomen just as much as they did on the scoreboard. Penn State out-shot UMass 21-10 and garnered a 10-4 advantage in free position shots. The Maroon and White did win the draw control battle 9-8, but it would be far from enough to pull out the win.
As far as passing goes, Hope Zelinger was the only Massachusetts player to tally an assist, while Carey Bush, Ford and Lucey dished out helpers for the Nittany Lions.
Head coach Phil Barnes and the rest of the UMass lacrosse team next plays on Sunday, March 18, when it will travel to Durham, N.H. for a 1 p.m. non-conference game with UNH.
So far this year, UNH is winless in one attempt, falling at the hands of in-state rival Dartmouth on March 4, 13-4. In that game, the Wildcats got out to the early 1-0 lead, but were subjugated to 5-1 run in the first half and a 6-0 run in the second frame that put the game out of reach.
After the New Hampshire contest, the Minutewomen will head north to Syracuse and Burlington, Vt., in order to play two separate games with the Orangewomen and Catamounts. The Maroon and White finally gets the home portion of its schedule underway on March 31 when Hofstra comes to town, but will still end up playing eight of its first nine games away from the friendly confines of Richard F. Garber field.
Despite the fact that she failed to score against Penn State, sophomore Lydia Robinson still leads the team with three goals and an assist.
