The No. 13 Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team will kick off Atlantic 10 conference play Thursday when it takes on Temple at 1 p.m. at McGuirk Stadium. Originally, the teams were scheduled to play at 3 p.m. on Friday, but a massive snowstorm is projected to rip through Amherst on Friday afternoon.

The Minutewomen (7-2) are coming off of a 5-2 season in the A-10 last year that put them in third place overall after the regular season. In the playoffs, they rallied to knock off the top two seeds and take their second-straight A-10 title.

UMass coach and first-year coach Angela McMahon knows that the conference is improving and winning a third-straight title will be no easy task.

“The league is getting more and more competitive, some different teams are stepping up and doing well,” said McMahon.

However, the Owls are not one of those teams

Temple struggled mightily with its non-conference schedule this season, with its 2-7 record ranking last in the A-10.

That being said, the Owls hope to turn things around. After losing six-straight and starting the year 1-7, Temple got its second victory of the season, a 12-11 win against Lafayette.

The Owls best source of offense comes from Charlotte Swavola, who leads her team with 22 points (16 goals, six assists). Temple also receives offense from Stephany Parcell (15 points), Missy Schweitzer (14 points), Karly Cohen (13 points) and Kelsey Zenuk (10 points).

Tess Bishop, the goalkeeper during all seven Owl losses, comes into the game with a .321 save percentage and a 13.19 goals allowed average.

Meanwhile, Jackie Lyons (16 goals, 15 assists), Katie Ferris (21 goals, four assists) and Jesse O’Donnell (14 goals, three assists) lead UMass offensively.

Junior goalie Katie Florence has had another successful season in the cage. She’s collected all seven of her team’s victories this season and her .491 save percentage and 9.77 goals allowed average are both career bests.

The Minutewomen trounced Temple in their only meeting last season, 16-7. Lyons led the way, scoring five goals and O’Donnell added a hat trick for the Minutewomen.

UMass is looking to bounce back after a lopsided loss to No. 2 Northwestern, 17-7, last Saturday under the lights at McGuirk Stadium.

Despite suffering the tough defeat, McMahon, who played for the Wildcats, has been pleased with her team’s play.

“I think as a team, we’ve done a really good job of getting better consistently through each game and improving,” said McMahon. “Our offensive units are really gelling well.”

However, she was quick to point out that this team is far from perfect.

“We need to get back to doing well on the draw controls,” said McMahon.

Against Northwestern, the Huskies dominated the Minutewomen on draw controls, winning 24 of the 26 decisions. An uncharacteristic performance considering UMass had owned 59 percent of its face-offs before the Northwestern game.

This weekend could reveal whether UMass’ fast start was legitimate, or just a result of an easy non-conference schedule. After their matchup with Temple, the Minutewomen will hit the road to face La Salle, a team they narrowly defeated in a semi-final matchup during last year’s A-10 Championships.

“We just have to make sure that we take care of our business on our end and bring it every single game, no let downs,” said McMahon.

Jackson Alexander can be reached at [email protected].