Heading into last Friday’s match with the University of New Hampshire, Jim Rudy, the head coach of the Massachusetts women’s soccer team was nervous. His team had played just one weekday game all season and had been soundly beaten 5-0 by Connecticut that day. But he seemed to be the only one worried about the squad’s weekday struggles because, in the words of goalkeeper Julie Podhrasky, “it was already the weekend.”

The Minutewomen picked up their third consecutive victory, weekend or not, as they knocked off the Wildcats 3-0 on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Michelle Luttati keyed the win by tallying a pair of goals for the Maroon and White, one on either side of halftime. Fellow sophomore Erin Lilly added her second goal of the season in the 64th minute to round out the scoring.

Just six minutes into the match Luttati provided what would prove to be the game-winning goal off a cross from Lilly. Senior midfielder Katelyn Jones played the first of the Minutewomen’s season high nine corners short to Lilly who turned the ball and unleashed a pinpoint cross that found Luttati alone at the back post. Her header eventually found its way into the Wildcat net following a pair of deflections to put UMass in front 1-0.

“We really worked on our restarts and our serving,” said Rudy. “We went through the whole thing the other day, short corner, turn, serve [to the] back post because everybody is going to shift toward the short corner, it was textbook stuff.”

UNH was unable to create much offense prior to the opening strike and continued to be frustrated by the UMass back line following it. Leading Wildcat scorer Ana Tobon was given little or no space all afternoon by the Minutewoman defense, which allowed just six shots all match.

“We had a priority to play really good defense today,” Rudy said. “The last few games we’ve been really suspect at letting things up out of the blue. We wanted to minimize the number of chances we give up.”

While the Wildcats struggled to find holes in the UMass defense, the Maroon and White had no such problems at the other end of the pitch and were unlucky to go into halftime up by just a single goal.

Senior center midfielder Kat Machamer nearly opened her 2001 scoring account in the 44th minute when she beat two UNH defenders on a mazy run before firing a low left-footed shot that caromed off the far post and away from danger. Just a minute later, Lilly had her appeal for a penalty waved away after she was obstructed and felled in the box by Wildcat defender Amber Radzevich.

The second half was more of the same as the Minutewomen continued to dominate at both ends of the pitch. Starting forwards Lilly and Stephanie Santos were left on the bench as play resumed with Rudy preferring freshman Erica Wideberg and senior Brooke Bartlett. The move to go with Bartlett would pay off just eight minutes in as she helped to win a controversial corner for her squad. The referee’s assistant on the right side of the pitch originally called for a goal kick only to be overruled by the head official, much to the chagrin of UNH coach Michael Jackson.

Bartlett proceeded to take the ensuing corner and found Luttati again at the back post. Luttati dispatched a looping header that found its way over the outstretched hand of Wildcat goalkeeper Kristen Oullette and under the crossbar to double the UMass lead at 2-0. The goal was Luttati’s third in the last two games and third of her career.

“She still doesn’t know how good she is and we’re trying to convince her everyday,” said Rudy. “She’s got a great total package and she works at it. I’m so glad she’s here.”

Just nine minutes later the game was out of reach as Erin Lilly pounced on a loose ball inside the UNH box and fired home to make the score 3-0. Midfielders Jones, Machamer and Martha Conover all played important roles in the goals buildup, but in typical fashion, it was the striker Lilly who ended up with the last and decisive touch.

The match digressed much from that point on as both coaches went to their benches to give the reserves some necessary time to impress. One reserve who definitely did impress was sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Nigh. Nigh, the understudy to Podhrasky, got the chance to start and did not let her team down by registering the first shutout of the year for UMass.

“We give our number two [goalie] quality games so they’re not 5-0 and nothing-to-do type of games,” said Rudy. “She’ll get more games because she’s training good and she’s a quality goalkeeper. We’re all very confident in her.”

The Minutewomen return to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Harvard for their first road game of the season in yet another midweek match.