PJ Stanley/CollegianIn a game characterized by quick scoring and aggressive play by both teams, Boston University took advantage of a Minutewoman offense that was only effective in short spurts.
The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team suffered a tough loss Wednesday afternoon, falling to the Terriers, 11-7, at McGuirk Stadium.
“We got some draws and good shots, but we didn’t execute,” UMass coach Alexis Venechanos said. “Unfortunately you have to play the whole game to win.”
UMass had the advantage in groundballs, turnovers and draw controls, but were outshot 29-to-24.
BU jumped ahead early but UMass fought back, chasing the Terriers and trailing 7-6 midway through the second half. The Terriers then scored three straight goals and pulled away from the Minutewomen, who could not put together a second comeback attempt.
BU got on the board early when midfielder Molly Collins scored her first goal of the season on a shot that went right over UMass goalkeeper Krissy Anderson’s left shoulder.
The Terriers scored again nearly four minutes later on an unassisted goal by Steph Walker, then BU made it a 3-0 lead mid way through the first half when attacker Erica Baumgartner found Curro cutting on the left side of the net.
The BU defensive unit was stout in the first half, not allowing a shot on goal for the first 13 minutes of the game. Goalkeeper Rachel Klein was impressive in net, rarely allowing the UMass offense any second chances on shots. BU would go up 4-0 before UMass could answer.
“We couldn’t get any goals to get our momentum going,” Venechanos said. “It was close in the first half, but we couldn’t put goals away.”
Attacker Holly Drown (two goals, one assist) took the ball in the offensive zone and scored the first goal for the team with just over 12 minutes left in the first half.
Redshirt junior Kaitylin McCormick was continually double-teamed, which helped free up the UMass offense. BU’s defense began to collapse, and the Minutewomen mounted a comeback.
Senior captain Kathleen Typadis easily scored with nine minutes to go in the first, cutting the deficit to 4-2.
The Terriers were unable to set up their offense due to a potent defense led by Julie Papeleo and Jackie Rosenzweig.
Midfielder Merritt Cosgrove split a pair of defenders and got the ball to McCormick up the field. McCormick turned and took a strong charge to the net, scoring the Minutewomen’s third goal in a row and the attacker’s sixth of the season, closing the gap to 4-3 at halftime.
The Minutewomen stalled the BU offense early in the second half, but struggled to transition out of their own zone and could not build any offensive momentum,
Three minutes into the second half, Curro finally broke through the UMass defense, giving the Terriers a 5-3 lead.
Attacker Holly Drown cut to the middle on a free-position shot and faked before firing behind the right corner of the net. McCormick tied the game at five on another free-position shot.
Terriers coach Liz Robertshaw called a timeout after the game-tying goal.
“After BU called that timeout, they started to out-hustle us a little bit and, they got more opportunities,” Venechanos said.
The Terriers scored two goals in a 20 second span, putting the team up 7-5.
Less than a minute after BU took the two-goal lead, Melynda Zwick caught a pass, turned and cut the deficit to one.
The Terriers then answered with three straight goals to open up the game.
Leading 10-6, BU began to run the clock, but McCormick tried to keep it close, scoring her third goal of the game with three minutes remaining.
Collins scored her fourth goal, putting the game out of reach for the Minutewomen.
“This one is tough,” Venechanos said. “We were there, but we still had to play a complete game to win.”
McCormick said the team is not going to dwell on the loss.
“We’re going to leave this in the past and move on,” she said. “These are two tough losses, and we should have won, but we were not executing properly.”
UMass will host Harvard at McGuirk Stadium Saturday at 1 p.m.
David Brinch can be reached at [email protected]
