The No. 10 Massachusetts field hockey team honored its six seniors by giving them all the start on Senior Day on Sunday. The team followed up by defeating Saint Joseph’s by a score of 9-1.

The Minutewomen paid tribute to seniors Lindsay Bowman, Alyssa Ineson, Molly MacDonnell, Hannah Prince, Alexa Sikalis and Mel Sutherland. Bowman, MacDonnell and Prince each scored a goal in the game and Sikalis added two assists in the lopsided victory.

“It was awesome to have all six of us start,” Prince said. “We have stayed super close and it was really great to see all of them have an awesome performance, and we’re looking forward to the next few games together.”

UMass coach Carla Tagliente praised the seniors, and said it was great to honor them.

“All six of them have given a lot to the program and really grown up a lot,” she said. “It’s definitely not the last time they’re going to be playing together, so it’s kind of a weird feeling because there’s no finality in it at all, but it’s just nice to have the opportunity to recognize them.”

The Minutewomen (12-4, 3-0 Atlantic 10) were led offensively by Brooke Sabia and Charlotte Verelst, who had season-high performances with three and two goals, respectively. The lone goal for the Hawks (4-11, 1-2 A-10) came from Emily Nonnemacher, who floated a shot over the head of goalkeeper Sam Carlino 56 minutes into the game.

Tagliente said she liked how the team came out strong early on in the contest.

“Unlike the past few games, I was happy with how we came out and controlled the play from the start,” she said. “Overall, our production, our decision making inside the [attack circle] was a lot better today.”

UMass overpowers La Salle

The Minutewomen won their first home conference matchup over La Salle on Friday, defeating the Explorers 7-1.

UMass struck quickly, scoring twice within the first five minutes on goals by Verelst and Izzie Delario. But despite launching 16 shots through the first period, the Minutewomen did not score again for the rest of the half and La Salle cut the lead to one on a penalty corner goal by Olivia Shoemaker just before halftime.

“I think the first half left a lot to be desired in terms of our execution inside the (attack circle),” Tagliente said.

In the second half, UMass came out and got five unanswered goals from Sabia, Renee Suter, Lauren Allymohamed and Hailey Cockrum, including three goals that were scored within two minutes, five seconds of each other.

“I think the decision making inside the [attack circle] was a lot better [in the second half], with what the ball carrier was doing and what the off-ball people, what they were doing, where they were leaning, where they were standing in the circle,” Tagliente said.

Sabia, the team’s leading scorer, played in her first game on Friday after serving a two-game suspension for violating a team rule, and picked up right where she left off, scoring two goals and adding her first assist of the season.

“It feels really great,” Sabia said. “Not even just the goals, but the assist, I don’t think I’ve actually had an assist this season, and it feels really good to be able to help others push towards our goal of winning.”

Next weekend, the Minutewomen will host Richmond on Friday and Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday for the team’s final home games of the regular season. Friday’s game is set to start at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s game is set to start at noon.

Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @jgms88.