Another game, another broken record.
On Sunday afternoon at Garber Field, Massachusetts women’s lacrosse redshirt junior Hannah Burnett set a new single-game school record with eight goals as well as tying the point’s record with 10 in its 24-14 win against Saint Josephs.
Seven of the eight total were scored in the first 30 minutes of the contest, which also marked a career high for the Huntington, New York native.
“It’ll definitely be a game I remember,” Burnett said. “Obviously the most important thing is we got the win.”
“She’s aggressive, she’s timing her cuts well but also her teammates are finding her and she’s putting the ball away,” Minutewomen coach Angela McMahon said. “We want to get her the ball as much as we can because she’s a fantastic finisher. Hopefully that continues for us.”
The previous high was held by Katie Ferris who potted seven against Holy Cross Feb. 15, 2012.
UMass (7-3, 2-0 Atlantic 10) picked up right where they left off Thursday against VCU offensively, scoring 13 goals in the first half, one shy of its season high of 14 against the Rams.
The Minutewomen were distributing the ball around effortlessly, finding open seams and capitalizing with scores all game long. UMass put 29 shots to the Hawks (5-5, 1-1 A-10) cage in the opening half alone.
“I think it’s just trying to be aggressive, trying to move the ball quickly, and trusting each other,” McMahon said. “[We’re] working the connections that we have and then trying to build more connections.”
Not to be overshadowed by the masterful game from Burnett, senior Callie Santos, and junior Holly Turner each had solid performances in the offensive zone. Both attackers were second behind Burnett in goals scored with four each, with Turner adding two assists and Santos with a single helper.
“I think the more people that we have involved in our offense, the harder we’re going to be to mark, and scout, and defend,” McMahon added. “That’s ultimately the goal is getting many people involved and having people come off the bench and contribute. I think our bench did a great job today.”
UMass also surpassed its team record of goals in single-game with 24 verse St. Joes. Confidence was prevalent for the Minutewomen as they looked calm, cool and collected almost every time they entered the attacking zone.
“I think as the days, and the weeks and the months have gone on we’ve gotten more chemistry together, and I think that just came with time,” Burnett said. “I think that our chemistry has taken us off to a new level.”
UMass threw 50 total shots to Hawks goalkeeper Amelia Deibler (10 saves) and went four-for-seven in free position shots.
“I think it’s because we have so many contributors,” McMahon added about her team’s confidence. “We’ve been working really hard in practice, had really challenging, hard practices, and I think ultimately if we challenge them really hard in practice they can come out and game days will hopefully be easier for them.”
The Minutewomen had 12 different players registering a point in their commanding victory, with 10 of them compiling multi-point efforts. It also marked the second straight game UMass won by at least 10 scores, and its 47th consecutive conference win.
Ryan Ames can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.
