For a fleeting moment, the Massachusetts field hockey team appeared to lose one of its top players, Lauren Allymohamed.
“And down goes Allymohamed,” declared the color commentator on Sunday as UMass faced Boston University in what turned into a thrilling match.
Allymohamed was drilled in the chin by a stick early in the second half and remained down on the field for over five minutes. Her injury was not evident until after she got up, as blood permeated the area in which she went down.
However, Allymohamed would overcome her injury and scored the game-winning goal in overtime, giving the Minutewomen their sixth win in their last seven games.
UMass received a decisive penalty corner in the 81st minute, allowing Melanie Kreusch to zip a pass to Allymohamed, who calmly placed the ball in the back left corner of the net after returning to the game.
Allymohamed, a senior captain and the 2013 Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year, could not have been happier after scoring the game-winner.
“Winning means a lot to us,” Allymohamed said. “We’ve been working really hard and I think we’ve been playing really well, but we haven’t quite been there at the end and we haven’t won games.”
Minutewomen coach Carla Tagliente said she was delighted to see Allymohamed score the decisive goal.
“She did a great job today,” Tagliente said. “She flew for us after having not flown for a while.”
It was clear that Allymohamed’s on-field contributions were missed as the UMass trainer patched her up on the sideline. Tagliente emphasized how heavily Allymohamed’s teammates lean on her leadership when she is on the field.
“On the field she leads by example. She leads by her tone, what she says, by her play,” Tagliente said. “She goes all out and is resilient.”
At the time of the injury, Tagliente said she was not sure whether Allymohamed would return to the game at her normal position on defense. While Allymohamed was sidelined, the Terriers tied the game at one apiece with a penalty stroke that goalie Sam Carlino was unable to stop.
“We have played without (Allymohamed) before for stretches of time. Right now we are thin in the back, so when we lose her at this point we are trying to fill a lot of holes in the ship,” Tagliente said. “But I think the group did a good job coming together while she was out.”
After reentering the game in the 48th minute, Allymohamed’s strong defensive efforts were instrumental in preventing several BU goals.
Interestingly enough, Allymohamed’s confidence was a little low after bouncing back from the injury and checking back into the game.
“I was a bit flinchy going into some things, there were a lot of balls in the air all game. It took me a while to get back into it and stop being a little bit hesitant,” Allymohamed said, who added that “to win this game, meant a lot to everyone’s morale and confidence and was the icing on the cake.”
Allymohamed’s efforts were rewarded as she was declared the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week this past week.
Matthew Zackman can be reached at [email protected].
