In an impressive all-around team effort, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team defeated Boston University, 13-11, Wednesday afternoon at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
The Minutewomen (2-0) outshot the winless Terriers 32-22 and avoided making too many turnovers, only committing 10 giveaways to BU’s 15.
Another key in the game for UMass was its ability to limit the amount of fouls it committed. The Minutewomen committed eight fouls against the Terriers after committing 21 against Holy Cross in the previous game.
“Our fouling was much better. I think especially when we were defending I thought we got a ton of turnovers as opposed to fouling, which we usually do,” said UMass coach Angela McMahon.
UMass got on the board first. A mere 54 seconds into the game, Katie Ferris scored her eighth goal of the season on an assist by Tanner Guarino to take the early 1-0 lead.
It was all BU for the next seven minutes though, as the Terriers netted three goals in a row to take the 3-1 lead. Danielle Etrasco netted two goals and Mallory Collins added one.
The Minutewomen responded well to the attack, scoring the next two goals to tie the game back up at three on goals by Cori Murray – her second of the season – and Guarino scored her first.
Etrasco was unstoppable for the Terriers all game long with five goals and two assists for seven total points. She netted two unassisted goals after UMass had tied the score in the first half to give the Terriers a lead once more.
The Minutewomen, facing a two-goal deficit, put together an impressive streak of six goals in a row and finished out the first half with an 8-5 advantage. UMass got goals from five different players over this stretch including another goal for both Ferris and Guarino. Aiding Ferris and Guarino were Jesse O’Donnell, Lauren Terracciano and Kelsey McGovern.
O’Donnell added her second goal of the game 51 seconds into the second half to make it six straight for the Minutewomen.
BU finally stopped onslaught with a score by Mallory Collins, but UMass responded again on Guarino’s third goal of the game.
Just as it looked like the game may have been getting away from the Terriers, BU scored two goals in a row two pull back within two.
The Minutewomen didn’t hand over the game though, scoring the next three goals to go up by five.
The Terriers made one final run, scoring three goals in a row to narrow the lead to two once more on another goal by Etrasco and on two by Hannah Frey.
BU was looking to score a fourth goal when the defense for the Minutewomen made an impressive stand, which ultimately led to a turnover by Etrasco. From that point on, UMass ran out the clock and held on to win.
“The defense stepped up, and I think our big goal was just to force them into bad shots,” said McMahon. “We knew they were going to get their shots and knew Etrasco was going to get her goals, but if we could just limit those goals and limit the shots to coming from the outside then our goalie was going to make the save or they would miss the cage.
“So I think defensively, we stuck to our game plan and did exactly what we needed to do to get the win,” added McMahon.
Up next for the Minutewomen is a Saturday matinee game at home against Marist, which is coming off a loss to Lehigh in its season opener.
Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.
