The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team secured its fourth-straight Atlantic 10 tournament championship Sunday afternoon, defeating Richmond, 14-9, in Richmond, Va.
Junior attacker Cori Murray led the way for the Minutewomen (18-1, 7-0 A-10) offensively and won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, scoring a game-high five goals and six points on the afternoon.
“It was a great team win for us,” said UMass coach Angela McMahon. “I thought we played pretty well on both sides of the ball.”
A-10 Player of the Year Katie Ferris was held to just two points, but even with the unusually low output, the sophomore gave herself two more single-season records to add on to her stellar year.
The two points brought her season total to 95, a new A-10 single-season record, and her lone goal in the game was her 57th of the season, a new UMass single-season record, breaking the record she set last year.
The Minutewomen’s defense was superb, forcing six of the Spiders’ 13 turnovers and grabbing 17 groundballs. UMass also limited Richmond to 16 shots in the game.
“Our defense really stepped up big today,” said McMahon. “Especially in the first half, eliminating their opportunities and creating a lot of caused turnovers, that allowed us to have the ball more on attack.”
UMass went into halftime with a five-goal advantage, and continued to tack on goals with two straight in the opening minutes of the second half on goals by Ali Houlis and Murray to take a 10-3 lead.
Caitlin Fifield brought the Spiders to within four with just over five minutes to play, but in the end, UMass’ defense was just too much, as it prevented Richmond from scoring another goal.
Next up for UMass is a date with Canisius on May 6 in an NCAA Play-In Game for the right to enter the main draw of the NCAA tournament.
UMass rips GW in semis
The Minutewomen flexed their muscles in the semifinals Friday, as they dismantled George Washington, 17-3.
Ferris led the offensive attack with four goals and two assists for a game-high six points. Ferris was back to her usual self, leading UMass’ high-powered offense after sitting out the final two regular season games with an injury.
Lauren Terracciano, Nina Sarcona, Sam Rush, Jesse O’Donnell and Dayna Defliese contributed with a pair of goals while Ellie Bullitt, Brittany Schoen and Houlis scored a goal each. Schoen’s goal was the first of her career.
UMass’ offense was constantly on the attack, shooting a staggering 33 shots on Colonials’ goalkeeper Jess Hicks. Despite the offensive onslaught, Hicks came up with seven saves to keep GW in the game at times.
But the Minutewomen defense never let GW find its way offensively, causing seven of the Colonials’ 20 turnovers and limiting GW to only 14 shots the entire game.
Tanner Guarino anchored the defense with two caused turnovers and Melissa Carelli came up with a team-high four groundballs.
The Colonials kept things close in the draw control battle, only losing the differential by two to the reliable Sarcona in the faceoff circle. However, the Colonials rarely cashed in on the opportunities created by the draw controls.
Leading the way for GW offensively was Megan Seidman, who scored a pair of goals, and Casey Disharoon, who scored the only other goal.
Florence was once again dominating between the posts. She made an impressive four saves on seven shots, helping to maintain her team’s comfortable advantage.
UMass got out to an early 5-0 advantage in the first 10 minutes to take a convincing early lead.
By halftime, the Minutewomen had doubled their scoring total and held a comfortable 10-3 advantage.
With the game already well at hand, McMahon put in goaltender Rachel Vallarelli for the second half. She came up with three saves and prevented GW from scoring another goal the rest of the way.
Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.
