It only took senior attack Lauren Terracciano 54 seconds to pick up where she left off.
After registering eight points in a 20-7 win over La Salle on April 20, 2012, Terracciano led the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team in scoring with five goals against the Explorers (8-2, 0-1 Atlantic 10) as No. 16 UMass (9-2, 1-0 A-10) trounced La Salle, 20-11, on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
Coach Angela McMahon said that a dominant and balanced Minutewomen attack played a crucial role in her squad starting its conference schedule with a win.
“It’s a great win for us, especially against a very good opponent in La Salle,” McMahon said. “They have some really great players on their team so coming out with that type of firepower and getting that kind of win is great, especially on the road. I think we showed a lot of resiliency by coming out strong.”
Terracciano, who has 12 goals and three assists in UMass’ last four games, continued her scoring touch by adding four goals in the first half, three of them coming on a stretch of seven unanswered goals to take a 14-4 lead into halftime.
Senior attack Cori Murray posted three goals and three assists to reach her 100th career point, including two goals notched nearly two minutes apart to follow Terracciano’s opening tally, giving the Minutewomen an early 3-0 lead.
Explorers scoring leader Caitlyn Brostrand, answered UMass’ run with a free position goal, but UMass junior attack Katie Ferris breathed momentum back into her squad with two consecutive unassisted strikes to put the Minutewomen up 5-1 with almost 21 minutes to play until halftime.
La Salle repeated its fortune, taking a step forward thanks to a goal by freshman attack Katelyn Fay, but took two steps back after allowing Sam Rush and midfielder Tanner Guarino to get on the board.
McMahon praised Terracciano and Murray’s efforts, saying they were important considering how much La Salle focused on Ferris throughout the afternoon.
“(Terracciano) scored every time she shot and that was something that we worked on since Holy Cross,” McMahon said. “For her to go 5-for-5 on her shooting shows that focus and her work in practice paid off. The fact that she’s a senior and wants to go out on top, she’s just working so hard right now, I’m really proud of her.”
In Murray’s case, McMahon said her passing and assists have largely improved, which allows her to put away more opportunities that she gets offensively.
“She’s becoming a more versatile player, which is helping her offense a lot,” McMahon said. “But what she’s been doing in terms of moving the ball and finding players in the middle has been great.”
Rush and Terracciano kicked off the second half, combining for three goals before sophomore attack Alanna Diffendal and Brostrand cut the UMass lead to 17-6 with under 18 minutes to play in regulation.
Despite scoring the last three goals of the game, it proved to be too little, too late for the Explorers as the Minutewomen held on for a 20-11 victory.
Despite the win, McMahon said her team’s foul trouble could have cost them.
“With all those fouls, we needed to make adjustments a little bit earlier,” McMahon said. “I think we need to do a better job of recognizing the way the tempo of the game is going.”
Ferris ties Pam Moryl for third all-time in points
With her three-point afternoon against La Salle, Ferris tied Pam Moryl for third all-time in points at UMass.
“I think it’s almost inevitable that it’s gonna happen,” McMahon said. “She’s had an amazing career and the fact that she’s been able to do it for three years now with teams safeguarding her, a defender shadowing her to make sure they don’t get the ball, speaks volumes to how great of a player she is and what a great shooter she is.”
McMahon also talked about Ferris’ team play, saying that even if she isn’t able to score, Ferris works to set up her teammates and make sure that the Minutewomen are ultimately winning games.
UMass continues its A-10 slate on Friday against Richmond when it returns to Amherst for a three-game homestand. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Peter Cappiello can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Cappiello.
