Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass looks to ride momentum into Brown

Jeff Bernstein/Collegian File Photo

Coming off of back-to-back shutout wins, the Massachusetts women’s soccer team looks to keep the momentum rolling when it travels to Brown Thursday afternoon for a date with the 5-1 Bears.

The Minutewomen (4-4) enter Thursday’s 4 p.m. contest with a renewed sense of optimism after defeating Boston University, 1-0, and New Hampshire, 2-0, this past weekend, and it’s all thanks to a little shake up in the ranks.

Prior to Friday’s game against the Terriers, UMass coach Ed Matz decided to make three key changes to the starting lineup.

First off, Matz replaced freshmen forward/midfielder Jen Coppola and sophomore forward Tori Souza with sophomore midfielder Emily Benjamin and freshmen forward Jackie Bruno, respectively.

Matz also  changed things up at goalkeeper by giving senior Emily Cota the start in front of senior Stephanie Gordon, who won the starting job from Cota at the beginning of the season.

The moves paid off for Matz as Bruno scored the game-winning goal against BU and Cota posted two shutouts and 14 saves while in net.

“I think all three switches helped benefit the team,” Matz said. “I don’t think the players we moved out of the starting lineup are to blame, it’s just something that we decided to do and it gave the team a little bit of a jump start and a different look and I think it really worked.”

Matz said there isn’t a big difference between Gordon and Cota.

Cota’s dominant play earned her  Atlantic 10 Player of the Week and UMass Athlete of the Week honors.

Matz plans to stick with the hot hand in Cota against Brown on Thursday.

Cota will need to be on top of her game against the Bears, who are riding a three-game winning streak into Thursday’s game.

Sophomore forward Chloe Cross (four goals) and junior forward/midfielder Mika Siegelman (three goals, one assist) have been strong for Brown thus far this season.

While the Bears have two legitimate scoring threats, the Minutewomen continue to rely heavily on sophomore midfielder Moa Mattsson for their goals.

Mattsson leads the team with four goals and  one assist for a team-leading nine points. The closest player to her is Hlin Gunnlaugsdottir with three points.

No other player has scored more than one goal this season.

Cota’s counterpart in net will be junior goalkeeper Amber Bledsoe, who’s started all six games for the Bears so this season,  posting a 3-0 record with 10 saves and has let up one goal.

Matz knows that Thursday’s game will be a tough one on the road, especially after the overtime thriller the two teams played last season that UMass won 1-0.

“Brown always has a really good program,” he said. “They are always very organized and they are always very athletic. They are one of the better Ivy League teams. So there are those challenges and I think that playing on the road poses a little bit of a challenge for us because we have to travel down there.”

Matz also reflected on last season’s match.

“Last year it was a very competitive match and we ended up winning in overtime, so I think this match against Brown can be very close,” he said. “I think it’s going to be one of those games that the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is going to come out the winner.”

Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.

 

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