By Nicholas Bellofatto
Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team used ball control and a hard cutting to the net to top Vermont, 17-9, in its home opener at McGuirk Stadium on Saturday.
Senior Haley Smith scored the first goal of the game against the Catamounts just a minute and thirty second into the opening half.

Just two minutes later and only four minutes into the game, junior attacker Jesse O’Donnell took advantage of a free position opportunity, giving the Minutewomen (2-0) a two-goal lead in the opening minutes of the first half.

“Once we got that momentum going, it was nonstop, it was definitely a team effort all around,” Smith said.

The Catamounts (0-1) began to settle in and after a long possession that set up their offensive gameplan, they answered O’Donnell’s goal and seemed to gain a rhythm.

Vermont played defense in the first half by double teaming senior attacker Jackie Lyons almost every time she cut toward the net. That did not deter the 2010 Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year, however, as Lyons notched her first assist of the game at the 20-minute mark, giving the Minutewomen a four-goal lead.

“Once they put the double team, I just know to kick it out to someone else on the team because we practice that all the time,” Lyons said.

Leading 8-4 with under a minute left in the first half, Vermont gained control and pushed the ball up the field with a numbers advantage. Senior defender

Nazy Kerr stayed home on the play, used the clock and then made a play on the ball to end the half with a four-goal advantage.

UMass coach Angela McMahon believes that the biggest strides so far this season have been made on the defensive side of the ball and the last-second stand was a testament to their growth as a team.

“I think the biggest difference that I have seen in this team is our defense, we have made some great defensive stops,” McMahon said. “We did a great job of putting pressure on them on defense and getting the ball to our attacking end.”

The Minutewomen were in a similar situation Feb. 16 when they traveled to Holy Cross to open the season against a nonconference opponent. UMass took a four-goal lead into the half against the Crusaders, but they did not put them away and the game ended in an overtime win for UMass.

Against Holy Cross, the Minutewomen were outscored in the second half, took nearly 20 less shots over the course of the game and did not control the majority of the ground balls. It was a different story against Vermont as the Minutewomen improved in all of those areas, especially in the second half of the game.

“As we saw against our last opponent, we were up seven to two and we let them back in the game, so we really put the focus on finishing this game playing the full 60 minutes and not letting them back in the game,“ McMahon said.

It was a mixture of great play in net, communication in all phases of the game, a clamping defense and a cohesive offense that allowed the Minutewomen to put Vermont away.

“We had a balanced team effort, end to end,” McMahon said. “We were scoring goals, making plays on defense, and getting turnovers in the midfield, it was a great team effort,”

It did not hurt that two of the three seniors on the Minutewomen roster, Lyons and Smith, scored seven goals combined, with Lyons also adding three assists to stat line.

“We are the only two seniors out there on attack and I think we both know how each other plays so well and it is a good situation when two people get to play together for so long,” Smith said.

McMahon has stressed the importance of improving in the nonconference schedule. By beating Vermont, the Minutewomen have improved to 2-0 on the season, with both wins coming out of conference.

UMass will travel to Boston University on Wednesday and will look to remain undefeated this season with a win against the Terriers.

Nicholas Bellofatto can be reached at [email protected].