Despite ending the regular season with a 2-0 loss to Richmond and a scoreless draw against Davidson, the Massachusetts women’s soccer team did enough to qualify for the final seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, which begins Thursday in Dayton, Ohio..
The Minutewomen (¬¬5-8-5, 3-3-2 A-10) faced a tough task just two weeks ago, when they sat three points out of the final playoff spot. But home wins against St. Bonaventure and Duquesne along with the season ending tie put UMass back in playoff position.
Now that they have qualified for postseason play, the Minutewomen face an even tougher task: a matchup against top seed La Salle Thursday in the first round of the tournament. It will be the second year in a row the two teams square off in the A-10 tournament.
“They’re just a good complete team,” UMass coach Ed Matz said of the Explorers (12-4-2, 8-0-0). “We played them last year in the semi-finals so they want to beat us, and we want to beat them. They have one of the best – if not the best – players in the conference in Kelsey Haycook. …Our focus is to help (each other) on defense.”
Haycook leads the A-10 in total points in 39, and goals (18).
Facing a player of that quality, the Minutewomen will have to be on top of their game defensively. However, that has been a problem for them on the road. UMass is a measly 1-6-3 record on the road, and in those games, surrendering 15 goals in 10 games. In contrast, UMass only allowed six goals in seve games at home, Matz, however, downplayed the significance of those numbers for Thursday’s neutral-site matchup.
“We have struggled on the road, but not too much,” Matz said. “It’s not more of the location, it’s more of the opponent that I think we will have trouble with. The playing surface will be equal for both teams.”
The Minutewomen went all the way to the semifinal round in last year’s postseason before falling to to La Salle in overtime on a controversial penalty kick that clinched the win for the Explorers. This year, Matz hopes UMass can go on a similar run, saying the Minutewomen will need to beat La Salle anyways if they want to make some noise in the tournament.
“We hope that we can repeat (last year’s success) this year,” he said. “I think the conference tournament is a little bit deeper this year, there’s a lot more parity amongst all the teams. Last year we were the fifth-seed and we got to play the fourth-seed, but this year is a little bit different because we have to play the one-seed. We’ll see how the girls play.
“La Salle is the favorite to win the A-10 Tournament, they are the regular season champions,” Matz continued. “You’re not going to win a championship without playing them. Whether it’s the first round or second round, we have to play them anyways.”
UMass will have some extra motivation in their preparation this week. After the dramatic loss to the Explorers in the tournament last year, the Minutewomen have been itching for a chance to avenge the loss.
“All of the upperclassmen remember how we lost last year in overtime,” Matz said. “That’s what drives them right now; we’ve been waiting a year to play La Salle. Hopefully we’ll do our best.”
Tom Mulherin can be reached at [email protected].
