The No. 10 Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team will have a chance to avenge a loss from last season. And for a team that finished 18-3, that’s a rare chance.
The Minutewomen (3-0) will be hosting Boston University on Wednesday afternoon in a rematch of last year’s 9-8 overtime loss to the Terriers. UMass coach Angela McMahon said her team is excited for the match.
“I think they’re pretty fired up,” she said. “It’s such a good rivalry for us.”
The Terriers (0-2) should be excited as well. After the team faced some tough competition to open the season in No. 1 North Carolina and No. 3 Maryland, McMahon believes BU will be extra motivated for Wednesday’s game.
“They’re going to be hungry for a win and they’re going to be hungry for a win against us, where we’re up there in the polls, and I think they’re going to come in pretty confident.” McMahon said.
The Terriers are led offensively by Mallory Collins, who has scored five goals through the team’s first two games. But McMahon said the biggest threat BU poses is its physical style of play.
“They are big, strong girls that play a very physical game, unlike some of the other opponents that we may have faced or will face,” she said. “We’re just going to have to be mentally prepared for that, play through it, not hoping or expecting any whistles or anything like that. We’re just going to have to be tough.”
After a good shooting day against Holy Cross, when 12 of the Minutewomen’s 22 shots went in, McMahon said the key for the team will be to continue to capitalize on those scoring opportunities, adding that the goal is to convert on at least 50 percent of the team’s shots.
“I think if we can get to cage but put away our opportunities that we get and have a good shooting day, then I think that that will bode well for us,” she said.
After a few fairly warm days where the weather got up to the 40s, tomorrow’s forecast has a high of just 25 degrees with a low of 5 and a 60 percent chance of snow, according to weather.com. So the game is shaping up to be similar to last week’s home opener against Holy Cross, where players had to play on a snow-patched field that had been plowed just moments before.
But McMahon is not fazed by the prospect of cold weather.
“I think it should be fine,” she said. “Definitely not as bad as some of the other days we’ve faced, so I think that should be a great spring game for us.”
The game is set to start on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @jgms88.
