While the competition may have taken place on the foreign waters of Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass, the Massachusetts women’s rowing team took control of its regatta against Holy Cross on Saturday.

 Closing out the month of April, the Minutewomen earned the victory in two of the three races held. Even in the loss, in which the team had to change boats due to a winter storm damaging their boats, the Varsity Eight finished 1.1 seconds off of the winning pace.

UMass coach Jim Dietz, when discussing that race, let go of a bit of frustration.

“We should have won that race by twelve seconds,” said Dietz.

But despite the tough loss, he was pleased with the overall performance. When summing it all up, Dietz said that “[it] went pretty well.”

The Novice Eight got things off on the right foot for UMass. In the first event of the day, the Minutewomen crossed the finish line in a time of 7:59.00. The Holy Cross squad came across over 25 seconds later, in 8:25.00.

The Second Varsity Eight kept the momentum going in the next race. The team earned the second victory of the day for UMass, clocking in a time of 7:14.00. It was also the Minutewomen’s second win by a double-digit margin of the competition, as they spread a 19-second margin between them and the Holy Cross boat, which finished in 7:33.00.

However, the Minutewomen couldn’t notch the closest race of the contest. The Crusaders managed to avoid a sweep of the day’s proceedings with a victory, finishing in 7:13.30. The competition came down to the wire though, as the Minutewomen raced in and came across 1.1 seconds behind at 7:14.40.

“We were in line to sweep the regatta, but we had a misfortunate accident in that the varsity boat ran over a submerged object and ripped the bottom out of the boat,” said Dietz. “At the last minute, we had to take that boat out of the water because it couldn’t be rowed.”

With this regatta in the books, the Minutewomen are set to enjoy a two-week break before their next competition. They’ll next take to the water on May 13, the date of the preliminary heats for the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa.

This competition holds fond memories for the Minutewomen. Last year, they earned a gold medal in the Varsity Eight competition by knocking off second-place Georgia Tech. They also found success in the Pair races, as Kelsey Schacter and Emily Grogan worked together to notch a third-place finish.

However, the more recent past will not be on Dietz’s mind.

“Stuff happens. Sometimes you can’t tell what’s under the water,” said Dietz.

Ben Lambert can be reached at [email protected].