Cristian Gomez/Collegian

The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team opened its season yesterday afternoon at McGuirk Stadium, defeating in-state rival Holy Cross, 9-5.

Junior midfielder Kaytlin McCormick, junior attacker Julie Pasquantonio and freshman midfielder Jaclyn Lyons led the way for UMass as all three scored two goals. McCormik added two assists and Pasquantonio one. The Minutewomen dominated offensively, recording a 32-12 shot advantage against the Crusaders, while causing 28 turnovers on defense.

“This is a big win for us and a great start to the season,” UMass coach Alexis Venechanos said after the game. “Holy Cross is a great team. They won the Patriot League Championship the last two years, and they went to the NCAA Tournament last year.”

The Minutewomen notched their first goal of the 2008 season 13 minutes into the game, as Pasquantonio found sophomore midfielder Merritt Cosgrove to put UMass up 1-0.

Two minutes later, senior attacker Kathleen Typadis found the back of the net, giving Massachusetts a two-goal lead. Lyons notched the third goal of the game and her first collegiate goal with a little over 12 minutes to go in the first half.

Holy Cross cut the deficit to one, after freshman midfielder Meg O’Leary scored back-to-back goals for the Crusaders.

With eight seconds to go before halftime, Pasquantonio put the Minutewomen up 4-2 on a pass from McCormik.

Pasquantonio picked up where she left off in the first half, scoring her second goal of the game three minutes into the second half.

A minute later, McCormik scored her first goal, giving UMass a 6-2 lead early in the second half.

Senior attacker Cashel Scanlon made it a 6-3 game, scoring her first goal for the Crusaders on a free-position shot.

But the Minutewoman offense was too potent, as McCormick and Lyons both scored goals separated by only nine seconds, putting the Minutewomen up, 8-3, with 13 minutes left in the game.

Holy Cross attempted to cut the lead down by adding a goal from senior attacker Kristine Corkum, but UMass had a number of long possessions, resulting in a goal by senior attacker Melynda Zwick, increasing the lead to five goals.

Scanlon added her second goal for the Crusaders with just over three minutes to go, but by that juncture it was too late to mount a comeback.

It was a physical game for both sides, with Holy Cross receiving two yellow cards. Both teams were even on draws, while the Crusaders were able to capitalize on their one free-position shot.

Last year, the Minutewomen lost their season opener to the Crusaders, 7-6, in a road game on Feb. 21.

“They are a well-coached team. We haven’t been able to beat them the past two years, and it was a huge team effort for all our girls,” Venechanos said.

UMass went 0-for-6 on free-position shots, but dominated on ground balls, winning 18 to the Crusaders’ 11.

UMass has 10 starters returning to the team, including its whole starting back four. Headlining the 2007 recruiting class is Lyons, along with freshman midfielders Nazy Kerr and Kelsey Schreiner.

“It’s been good having the upperclassmen and freshmen play together,” Venechanos said. “We’ve been throwing people in on the midfield lines, hopefully as the season goes on they [freshmen] will gain enough experience.”

The Minutewomen were not included in various annual preseason rankings, something that Venechanos doesn’t take personally.

“We’re just trying to get competitive everyday; we have a very tough competitive non-conference schedule that will hopefully prepare us for the conference games,” she said. “We need to take care of business so that we can get into the A-10 tournament; that’s the first step.”

This Friday, UMass hopes to continue its strong start to the season as it hosts No. 4 Maryland, where Venechanos played and graduated from.

“They are a tremendous team,” she said. “We are really excited for this opportunity to compete against them and to hopefully come away with the win.”

McCormick, who redshirted last season due to a knee injury, said, “It feels unbelievable to be back.

“We’ve been working so hard in the offseason,” she said. “It was tough last year watching on the sidelines with the knee injury, but coming back, I feel 110 percent.”

“I knew we could beat them,” Pasquantonio said. “It was just a matter of us finishing our shots and playing good defense. We are just going to play our game, and I believe we can beat anyone.”

David Brinch can be reached at [email protected].