Hannah Prince certainly has a flair for the dramatics.
For the second time in as many days, the Massachusetts field hockey team walked out of Memorial Field in Durham, N.H., as winners thanks to her overtime heroics. On Friday, the junior defender scored in overtime to push the Minutewomen past No. 15 New Hampshire in their season-opener.
On Saturday, it was more of the same. Prince netted a goal in the extra session to lift UMass over No. 15 Ohio State, 2-1.
The Minutewomen are now 2-0 on the season with two convincing wins over nationally-ranked teams.
“They are an extremely resilient group and they are not going to give up,” UMass coach Carla Tagliente said.
It took Prince only one minute, 38 seconds into overtime for her to end the game, scoring on a rebound after a shot from Thando Zono, who had given the Minutewomen a 1-0 lead at the 31:46 mark of the first half on a successful penalty corner.
The Buckeyes evened the game at 1-1 at the 60:22 mark after a shot from OSU’s Danica Deckard, deflected off a UMass defender and scooted past freshman goaltender Sam Carlino.
Tagliente said she is enjoying the wins, but would not be opposed of winning the games in the originally allotted amount of time.
“Obviously, we would like to win in regulation,” Tagliente said “It makes our blood pressure a lot less.”
The Minutewomen will now return to Amherst for their home-opener, which will take place on Friday against Dartmouth.
Matt Levine can be reached at [email protected].