Angela McMahon celebrated her 100th career win, freshman Anne Farnham scored her first career goal and the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team cruised to a 17-7 win against George Mason Sunday afternoon at McGuirk Stadium.
The Minutewomen controlled the game right from the initial face-off as Sarah Crowley scored UMass’ first goal 54 seconds into the contest, and Hannah Murphy scored her first of four goals on the game just seconds later on a free position shot to give the Minutewomen a 2-0 lead.
UMass’s scoring spree continued, as Murphy, Amy Tiernan, Nicole Troost and Eileen McDonald combined for six more goals as the Minutewomen raced out to an 8-0 lead.
The Patriots (6-4, 1-1 A-10) finally got on the scoreboard courtesy of Caitlin McGinn, but the damage of George Mason’s slow start had already been done.
Murphy led the way offensively with four goals and six points in the game. Troost had a breakout game as well, scoring a hat trick to bring her season goals total to eight.
Twelve different Minutewomen (9-1, 2-0 A-10) scored and McMahon emptied her bench in the blowout – the majority of the roster saw game action.
McMahon was pleased that many of her reserves got a chance to compete Sunday afternoon.
“I was really happy that we were able to get a good lead early on, so that we were able to get people out there, get them some experience and allow them to make mistakes. Mistakes will help them learn and allow them to improve and get better,” McMahon said.
Katie Ott, a junior attack and leader on the team believed the opportunity for everyone to play was crucial.
“We need every single player on the roster to have the same intensity on and off the field and the opportunity for many players to play will give them that chance,” Ott said.
McMahon played all three of her goalkeepers as well.
“It was great, and they were all able to contribute. Aileen (Kelly) had a great save and handled the ball out of the cage under pressure very well. Leigh (Henjes) has been doing a great job especially in Friday’s game, she had an amazing one on one save,” McMahon said. “I’m just very pleased because they work very hard everyday, taking shots, getting bruises and it’s nice to get them out there.”
Despite the victory, there were several areas where UMass believed it could improve. Ott noted that despite the final score, there were several breakdowns defensively the team was not happy with. She said it was the responsibility of every player on the roster to be disciplined and play to their ability to prevent those mistakes.
Ott also discussed the Minutewomen’s declining play as the game went on.
“We started off really strong, but we need to keep working on finishing as strong as we start,” Ott said.
McMahon agreed and made it clear it was not acceptable that her defense allowed seven goals, with four coming in the last 11 minutes of the game.
“Seven goals is too much to give up and we set the standard pretty high with ourselves averaging four goals against for our games, and seven is not acceptable in our minds. We want to keep any team that we play, regardless of who they are, below four goals,” McMahon said.
UMass will travel to St. Bonaventure on Saturday for a noon face-off.
Matthew Zackman can be reached at [email protected][liveblog].
