With 24 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in regulation, junior attack Katie Ferris took matters into her own hands.

After junior attack Sam Rush snagged a ground ball pickup to send the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team on the offensive, Ferris beat Holy Cross junior goalkeeper Sarah Weber for her sixth goal of the game. The unassisted tally gave UMass (8-2) an 11-4 lead over the Crusaders (4-6) en route to the Minutewomen sealing a 20-5 victory in Worcester on Wednesday.

UMass coach Angela McMahon said that sustaining a merciless attack and causing pressure were the leading factors in the win.

“We were trying to be pretty aggressive on both ends of the field,” McMahon said. “The first half, we had a pretty tough shooting percentage, we were only 8-for-25, but we cleaned it up in the second half in terms of putting away our opportunities. That was a big focus at halftime, because it was relatively close, we started making adjustments to put it away.”

Senior attack Lauren Terracciano, who finished the day with a hat trick, opened the scoring just under three minutes into the game, while Rush and Ferris added goals to give the Minutewomen an early 3-0 lead before senior attack Taylor Zebrowski put Holy Cross on the board at 13:13 in the first half.

Ferris kicked off another three-goal burst by UMass as Rush, who also scored three goals, and freshman midfielder Nicole Troost completed the trifecta, which was ended by sophomore midfielder Laura Ryan’s marker.

With the Minutewomen leading 6-2, Ferris scored her hat trick goal and added another before Zebrowski sent the Crusaders into halftime trailing 8-3.

McMahon cited the efforts of Ferris, saying her productivity was part lacrosse sense and part team chemistry.

“She was just working well with her teammates,” McMahon said. “They were setting her up pretty well and she worked to get good space in front of the net. She did a good job of being patient and getting the best opportunity possible, not necessarily taking the first look that she got.”

Ferris, who also recorded an assist to go along with her goal total, moved to within four points of becoming third on UMass’ all-time scoring list.

McMahon said that while her squad’s main focus is to win and get better as a team, if and when Ferris breaks a record, it would be an honor for her because of the talented players to have gone through the program.

With longstanding records of 20 and 30 years, McMahon said to break them says a lot about Ferris as a player.

“As a player, she has really pushed herself to improve her game each year that she’s been here,” McMahon said. “Early on she came in as a pure scorer, then she was working on her assists and now she’s coming into her own as a leader. It’s a lot of hard work on her end and the results are showing from that work.”

Rush and Ferris got on the scoresheet to open the second half before the Minutewomen scored six consecutive goals to extend their lead, 16-4.

Following a free position strike by Holy Cross senior attack Kat Sutton with 9:00 left in regulation, Terracciano initiated a four goal run, ending in the final six seconds of the game as the freshman midfielder cemented UMass’ 20-5 victory.

Aside from what McMahon described as a fearless defense that forced the opposition into making poor decisions, the Minutewomen registered 25 shots per half, which transferred to the scoreboard.

“When you’re taking 50 shots, those guys are all gonna have a few with that kind of shooting,” McMahon said. “That’s why I think we’ve been tough to stop, every single person on our offensive end is a threat. It makes it tough for a defense to stop when you have seven amazing players who can score at any time.”

Moving ahead to Atlantic 10 Conference play, McMahon said finishing the non-conference schedule on a positive note creates momentum.

Adding that she likes where her team’s confidence is at, McMahon said she likes how UMass is working at both ends of the field.

“I think we’re really starting to come together, everybody is doing a great job of playing a team game,” McMahon said. “That’s the focus and that’s gonna be the focus going forward to the A-10s. We’re going to need everybody to step up.

Peter Cappiello can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Cappiello.