Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass women’s lacrosse keeps A-10 win streak alive with big win over VCU

(Jessica Picard/Daily Collegian)

For six consecutive seasons, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team has gone undefeated in Atlantic 10 conference play. After UMass’ (6-3) 19-8 win over Virginia Commonwealth Thursday evening, it continued the streak into a seventh season in typical Minutewomen fashion.

UMass crushed the Rams (4-5) to earn its first A-10 victory of the season, while the Minutewomen also extended their win streak in 2017  to five in the process.

Senior Hannah Murphy furthered her spectacular season scoring two goals but more notably, corralling 18 draw controls on the evening, a UMass single-game school record.

“I think I was just trying to stay focused on every draw,” Murphy said. “ [I was] taking my time, making sure my technique was good and I think what helped today was me just focusing on everyone and my teammates boxing really helped.”

Murphy also tied an NCAA single-game record as her 18 controls put her in a three-way tie for eighth place in the all-time list.

“Hannah was just focused, that’s focused Hannah right there,” Minutewomen coach Angela McMahon said. “Sometimes we get focused Hannah and sometimes we don’t. Also credit the people that were around her that were boxing out and doing their jobs to make sure she came up with it. She played great, [we] can’t score if who don’t have the ball and she got us the ball.”

“It’s exciting, I guess,” Murphy added about her recent accomplishments. “We focus a lot on the draw and it’s exciting.”

UMass put on a clinic offensively with eight different goal scorers and nine players registering at least one point.

As if on cue, Hannah Burnett had another brilliant game scoring four times while also dishing out three assists. The seven-point performance was a team high in the contest and was a season high for the redshirt junior. Freshman Kaitlyn Cerasi had a stellar night managing five points (two goals, three assists), and the trio of Holly Turner, Kiley Anderson, and Callie Santos each put up four points in what was a runaway victory.

“After each game we talk about how we want to generate more shots, which will ultimately generate more goals and that’s been a big focus this year each game,” Murphy said. “I think it’s coming together game by game.”

Murphy’s utter dominance in draw controls gave UMass an advantage simply because it allowed the Minutewomen more offensive chances than the opposition.

“She’s just so focused on pushing the ball up field and creating offensive opportunities for us,” McMahon said. “I think she did a great job in terms of how much she handled the ball. It was probably one of her lowest turnover games that she’s had and that’s something I’m really impressed with because she sometimes makes passes too quick before seeing who she’s passing too. I think she did a great job of staying composed and taking care of the ball.”

UMass found twine early and often as it filled the VCU cage nine times in the opening 15 minutes and put the Rams in a substantial deficit.

VCU showed some resiliency afterwards, scoring six goals before halftime to keep the Minutewomen honest.

This wouldn’t subside UMass’ offensive pressure for long though as the Minutewomen tallied six more to take a 14-6 lead into the break.

Murphy had 14 of her 18 draw controls in the first half.

The second frame was more of the same for UMass as it scored five more to up its total to 19.

The Rams would tack on two more before the final horn sounded to bring their total to six. Keriann McTavish was the lone bright spot for VCU as the freshman tallied a hat-trick.

The transition game was another strong suit for UMass as they pounced on the Rams’ turnovers (21) all game long.

“We just played fast,” McMahon said. “We want to play fast, we want to get a lot of people involved and attack and be aggressive, keep the ball in the air and I think we did just that.”

Freshman Lauren Hiller and junior Aileen Kelly split time in net for the Minutewomen and the couple combined for seven saves.

Ria Peralta concluded the evening with 11 saves for VCU.

“We want to win every time we step on the field, especially when we’re at home, [we ] want to make sure we’re defending our home field,” McMahon said. “They came out and performed and were really hungry to compete and we need to keep that hunger and drive to play. Hopefully we do it again on Sunday.”

Ryan Ames can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.

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