With its top scorer sidelined due to injury, the No. 9 Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team needed other scoring threats to emerge, which is exactly what happened.
The Minutewomen (16-1, 7-0 Atlantic 10) did not look like a team missing their top scorer this past weekend as they cruised to a pair of convincing wins over La Salle and Temple.
The top scorer that was missing from the lineup was sophomore attacker Katie Ferris, who has been one of the most dominating offensive performers in the country this season as she sits14th or better in every offensive statistical category in the country, including number one in points with 87.
Of those 87 points, Ferris has netted 52 goals, which is fifth in the nation, and dished out 35 assists, good for eighth in the nation.
Her 87 points are the most in school history for a single season.
Ferris currently stands at seventh in the nation in goals per game (3.47), 14th in assists per game (2.33) and third in points per game (5.80).
This meant that there was an extra large pair of shoes to fill if UMass was to capture the No. 1 seed in next weekend’s A-10 tournament.
Thanks to an overall team effort offensively on Friday, the Minutewomen claimed the highly coveted No. 1 seed as they cruised to a 20-7 victory over the Explorers (10-6, 3-4 A-10).
Four different players netted four goals, including Lauren Terracciano, Jesse O’Donnell, Nina Sarcona and Sam Rush. Terracciano also led the team in assists (four) and points (eight).
Cori Murray and Danielle Pelletier also chipped in two goals, while Murray added three assists.
“A lot of people stepped up and scored,” said UMass coach Angela McMahon.
UMass saw seven different players score in Sunday’s, 13-7, win over the Owls (9-8, 3-4 A-10), but one player was head and shoulders above the competition.
Jesse O’Donnell, who was coming off of a four-goal and five-point performance Friday, scored a stunning six goals and two assists for an eight-point game against Temple.
As a whole, McMahon was very impressed with the offensive execution of the team without Ferris.
“They did a great job. A focus of ours has been moving off the ball and really working off ball so that we can hit cutters and just create space for one an other and set each other up,” said McMahon. “They did a great job and that’s something [we] worked on all week in practice and it was good to see them execute on that.”
This increased execution on the offensive end has led to six other players contributing over 30 points on the season for the Minutewomen.
Both Terracciano and O’Donnell have over 50 points. Terracciano has been balanced on offense, with 30 goals and 26 assists.
O’Donnell has become a major scoring threat and now has 38 goals and 13 assists on the season. The senior came up big for UMass a week ago in its 10-8 overtime win over Duquesne. O’Donnell put the team on her back in that game, with four goals. She also scored the game-tying and game winning goals.
The other four players contributing over 30 points are Sarcona (37), Murray (37), Rush (35) and Tanner Guarino (31).
Murray and Rush have combined to start three of the Minutewomen’s 17 games this season.
Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.
