With many of its players seeing their first game as a collegiate athlete, the
UMass, which boasts a roster of 13 true freshmen and only three seniors, twice came back from three goal deficits. But with a four goal burst at end the game, Holy Cross had the last word in the back-and-forth affair.
Due to the high turnover from last year, UMass entered its first game with many players in new roles and is still developing in terms of players adjusting.
‘We have a couple of new faces in the lineup; we have people playing different positions than they did in the fall,’ UMass coach Alexis Venechanos said. ‘We have to do a better job of being able to react when adversity happens and instead of reacting, being proactive and trying to take leads and control the game rather than playing behind. Because when you play behind, it takes a lot of energy.’
The Minutewomen (0-1) were led offensively by junior Merritt Cosgrove and senior Holly Drown. Both had a pair of goals. Meanwhile, UMass saw freshman goalkeeper Kathryn Florence make her first start, making nine saves on the day.
The Crusaders beat out the Minutewomen in shots on net (30-25), draw circle controls (14-6) and ground balls (13-11)
UMass’ season dawned with Holy Cross (1-0) jumping out to a 2-0 lead within the first eight minutes with goals by Annie Boylan and Kaitlyn Curley. The Minutewomen then tallied their first goal of the season with sophomore midfielder Jackie Lyons beating out HC goalkeeper Amy Martin with 21 minutes, 19 seconds left in the first half.
Following another Crusaders goal, the Minutewomen tied it up at three with back-to-back goals from Drown and Stephanie Hopkins. The comeback was short-lived, however, as Holy Cross closed out the half with three-straight goals, two by junior Megan Fenton.
‘Holy Cross came out strong right off the bat, and [we] were basically playing behind the entire game, down 3-1 and right before the half when they scored three-straight goals,’ Venechanos said.
Down 6-3 at the half, the Minutewomen came out of halftime with guns blazing, notching three goals (two from Merritt and one from Drown) in the first seven minutes of the half. The two teams then traded goals to tie it up 7-7.
The draw would be as close as UMass would get for the rest of the game as Holy Cross broke the tie with just over 17 minutes left and added three more goals in the last six minutes.‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
Despite the ending, Verechanos felt that her team performed well but simply did not execute when the opportunities arose while the Crusaders did.
‘We had the opportunities, but we didn’t shoot the ball too well. But the team was a lot closer than the score indicated,’ Venechanos said. ‘We came towards the end of the game and pressured the ball and tried to gather the team a little bit.’
Verechanos cited a lack of fight in the draw circle and inability to grab ground balls as major contributors to Holy Cross’s success as they allowed the opponent to control the ball for much of the game.
She then praised her young defense for performing well despite the transition issue. Led by senior Jackie Rosenzweig, the defense allowed the Minutewomen to get back into the game twice but could not hold up down the stretch against the late Crusader surge.
‘I thought our younger players played very well,’ Verechanos said. ‘We just need some other leaders on our team who’ve done it before to step up so that the freshman and the young non-starters can get in as well.’
Nick O’Malley can be reached at [email protected].
