PJ Stanley/Collegian

The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team continues to struggle early this season, losing its past five games to four ranked opponents, and having one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

Despite a stout defense led by senior Julie Papaleo and Jackie Rosenzweig, a strong comeback by redshirt junior Kaytlin McCormick and consistent play by freshman midfielder Jacklyn Lyons, the Minutewomen (1-5) have struggled to secure a win. UMass coach Alexis Venechanos, in her second year at the helm for the Minutewomen, continues to be optimistic, although her team continues to struggle.

“I’m really happy with the team’s effort,” Venechanos said, after yesterday’s loss to No. 11 Yale.

UMass’s opponents have outscored the Maroon and White 73-45 through the first six games, but the Minutewomen still average 7.5 goals per game. The offensive production was not there Wednesday afternoon, as UMass fell to Yale, 10-3.

“I think the execution [needs to improve],” Venechanos said. “We need to obviously put some more goals away and do the little stuff right now as a whole.”

Some of that “little stuff” also includes putting accurate shots on goal, something the Minutewomen have not done on a consistent basis. The Minutewomen have 97 shots on goal with a .678 shot-on-goal percentage, while their opponents have registered 117 shots with a .758 shot-on-goal average. UMass has far more unassisted and free-position goals than assisted goals.

UMass’s midfielders have continued to excel on the attacking end as well as in their defensive responsibilities.

The team regularly collects more groundballs and win more draws than its opponents. Lately, the team has incorporated some freshmen into the starting midfield line, like freshman Hayley Smith and Vicki Farell, who started yesterday’s game against the Bulldogs. Neither had any points, but Venechanos believes that giving freshman playing time is beneficial to their development.

“We are changing some new systems and some new personnel around, and it’s going to take some time to adjust to,” Venechanos said.

The team tends to score early, but struggles keeping a lead. In four games this season, the Minutewomen have struck first, but have seen their lead slip away.

“We didn’t have as many shots as we did in the past, so we had [fewer] opportunities to put those shots away,” Venechanos said.

Venechanos has mixed up her goalkeeping rotation, basing playing time on performance in practice. As a team, the Minutewomen have not recorded as many saves as their opponents. Redshirt junior Krissy Anderson and freshman Colleen Speth have registered time in goal this season, but Speth has seen the most action, starting the last four games while Anderson started the first three.

“I’ve been really impressed with her leadership and she is definitely a presence [in goal],” Venechanos said of the freshman.

With McCormick emerging as a major offensive threat, the Maroon and White have a dynamic 1-2 punch. But, senior captain Kathleen Typadis has not performed to her record-breaking pace a season ago, not finding the net in the Minutewomen’s past two games. McCormick, on the other hand, leads the team in goals (12) and has four assists, also recording two hat tricks in the past five games.

David Brinch can be reached at [email protected].