After starting 5-0 at McGuirk Stadium, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team took its newly-earned No. 19 ranking on the road to face-off with Vermont. At the end of the 60 minute battle between the nation’s two top offenses, the Minutewomen (6-0) came away as the victors, 9-8.
The 6-0 start matches the opening run of the 2011 season, and now the first back-to-back 6-0 strings since 1985-1986.
Prior to the game against the Catamounts (4-1), UMass coach Angela McMahon expected a defensive battle and her prediction came to fruition.
“I thought we did a great job as a team defense,” said McMahon. “Especially giving credit to Kelsey Palmer, covering their best player. She limited her to just one assist, and she is usually a bigger scorer. I think Kelsey put the direction of the team on track.”
The Minutewomen started the scoring quickly, with Katie Ferris getting on the scoresheet after a little over a minute of play, but then the standoff began. UMass’ Lauren Terracciano scored next, but only after 14 minutes of scoreless play passed.
Karli Mackendrick continued her strong form for UVM. After a six goal performance against High Point, the sophomore registered four goals against the Minutewomen, including her team’s only two first-half scores.
“She’s a good player. She was fearless and aggressive out there,” said McMahon. “She was pretty tough for us to stop.”
Jesse O’Donnell and Sam Rush also added first-half goals, before Terracciano added her second to send the game to 5-2 at halftime. However, it was the performance of senior goalkeeper Katie Florence that made all the difference.
Florence made six saves in the first half to solidify UMass’s 5-2 position. The senior netminder played the full 60 minutes for the first time since the victory over Boston University, and McMahon highlighted her impact in the game.
“She was critical for us. They were getting pretty good looks on cage,” said McMahon. “Especially from eight-meter opportunities, forcing her to make some low, point-blank saves, and she played fantastic. I think she was really the sparking talent for our defensive unit.”
The Catamounts came out of halftime with flare. Adison Rounds, Mackendrick and Sydney Mas scored within the first five minutes to knot the game at five, forcing McMahon to use her timeout.
“[I told them] to start picking up the intensity,” said McMahon. “We needed to get the girls focused, and we had started playing a little sloppy. Part of that is attributed to Vermont and their caused turnovers, and some of those were unforced on our part. We just needed to focus on bringing it up and playing the 30 minutes of the second half.”
Following the timeout, the two teams began to trade blows back and forth. First, Jesse O’Donnell grabbed her second to regain the lead. Then, Mackendrick completed her hat trick seven minutes later to tie it up at six. Just 17 seconds later Jesse O’Donnell completed her own hat trick to put UMass back in front.
After Mas added UVM’s seventh goal, Nina Sarcona and Ferris added to UMass’s total, making it 9-7. From that point on, the Minutewomen locked possession down in order to kill the clock.
“We tried to slow down their momentum,” said McMahon. “I thought we did a good job with that, and obviously that is not really our traditional style, holding onto possession, but that sort of play will help in the long run when we face difficult opponents towards the end of games.”
Rounds added another for the Catamounts, but it was too little too late. The draw went UVM’s way, but Rounds picked up a yellow card soon after, and the Minutewomen held on for the win.
American next
The Minutewomen now return to Amherst with their perfect record intact to face American University today at 3 p.m.
The trip to Amherst is the final game of a three game road-trip for the Eagles (3-3). Having already lost to Virginia Tech, and Holy Cross, a visit to the home of the No. 19 team in the nation doesn’t seem like it will bear much fruit.
Junior midfielder Emily Burton leads American in scoring and goals with 17 goals to go along with three assists. Kimberly Collins has also hit the cage 11 times with five helpers along the way, while Lauren Schoenberger has added 7 assists to her nine goals.
The Eagles have suffered defeat at the hands of UMass’ A-10 rival Richmond, as well as Holy Cross, which the Minutewomen have already seen off at McGuirk Stadium.
Jeffrey Okerman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Okerman.
