The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team followed up its 23-point scoring outburst against St. Bonaventure with another high-scoring performance against La Salle Sunday afternoon, winning 19-6.
The Minutewomen (13-1, 6-0 Atlantic 10) have been forced to find different players to step up in the absence of Nicole Troost, who has not played since injuring her wrist against George Washington on April 10th. Troost’s injury left a big hole for UMass to filled, as her 42 goals this year are the most on the team.
With the Minutewomen expecting everyone to step up to replace Troost’s production on the field, it has been the Florida transfer Hannah Burnett, who has stepped into that role. Her effort has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the team and coaching staff.
“Everyone is stepping up, Hannah Burnett especially. She is getting into (Troost’s) role and Nicole’s teaching her as we’re going along and she’s really stepped up,” Erika Eipp said.
UMass coach Angela McMahon added: “Hannah Burnett stepped right into that role and has been fantastic. I would say it’s almost seamless in terms of the transition.”
Burnett has had the hot hand since replacing Troost, scoring six goals Friday against the Bonnies, and continued her scoring tear Sunday finishing with four goals as well as adding an assist.
It was a slow start for the Minutewomen, as the Explorers (4-9, 2-9 A-10) were the team that seemed to come out of the opening whistle with more energy. La Salle capitalized off Minutewomen penalties, scoring two free-position goals within the first two minutes of the game. The Explorers then scored an easy breakaway goal from Brittany Edwards, putting them up 3-1 with 21 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the first half.
After the slow start, the Minutewomen’s talent took over the game, hitting another gear that their opposition simply couldn’t match. UMass exploded for a 9-1 run to end the first half, sucking any energy left out of La Salle.
McMahon sees the speed her team plays with as the main reason they have blown out opponents this year.
“We play a lot of people, we’re always running people in and out of the box. We like to play fast, so when we do that things seem to click,” McMahon said. “I think our connections on the field, having a ton of assists on goals make it hard to defend us.”
The Explorers answered the Minutewomen run with a goal from Katelyn Fay to end the half, sending it to the intermission with UMass leading 10-4.
The Minutewomen picked up where they left off in the second half. Despite allowing a Anna Kelly goal 1:09 into the half, UMass increased its intensity with an 8-0 run spanning across a 20-minute stretch.
The Minutewomen put pressure on the La Salle goalkeeper Sarah Gallagher all day, outshooting the Explorers 29-18.
“Our goal going into every game is to get shots off. In the beginning of the season we were slacking and in the last couple games we’ve been sticking to our game plan and we’re getting a lot of shots off which are turning into goals,” Eipp said.
UMass looks to continue its winning streak Friday when it travels to Virginia to face Richmond.
Thomas Johnston can be reached at [email protected].
