(Caroline O’Connor/Daily Collegian)
Senior Hannah Murphy hasn’t had many off-days this season for the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team and certainly did not Friday afternoon in the Atlantic 10 semifinal.
The Duxbury native torched No. 5 Davidson, finishing the contest with six goals, two assists, 15 draw controls and seven shots on goal to lead top-seeded UMass (15-3) to a convincing 21-6 victory over the Wildcats (8-10).
“I think we did pretty well controlling the ball,” Minutewomen coach Angela McMahon told Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “The draw was critical. It came down to ball possession and having a lot of offensive opportunities which we capitalized on.”
UMass won their 14th straight game and will return to the A-10 championship game for the 10th consecutive season.
After Murphy’s eight-point effort, redshirt sophomore Kiley Anderson’s five-goal outburst was the second-highest point total on the afternoon. Four players were tied with four points in the victory.
Again, the Minutewomen’s offense got going right away in the contest as UMass outscored Davidson 13-3 in the first half, including an 8-0 run after the Wildcats scored the first goal of the game one minute, 15 seconds in.
Murphy notched five of her six goals in the opening frame, combined with goals from redshirt junior Hannah Burnett (two), junior Holly Turner (two), Anderson, senior Callie Santos, freshman Kaitlyn Cerasi, and sophomore Cassidy Doster to give the Minutewomen a healthy 10-goal lead.
UMass barraged Davidson with shots as 20 were thrown to the cage in the first 30 minutes, and the Minutewomen concluded the afternoon with 32.
The second half was more of the same for UMass as it added eight more markers to roll past the Wildcats, who mirrored their first half goal output with three more in the second, in dominating fashion.
UMass held a distinct advantage in draw controls out-muscling Davidson to 22 of 28 draws, including more than quadrupling the Wildcats in the first half corralling 14 draws compared to only three, giving the Minutewomen the upper-hand all game.
Murphy moved into fourth place all-time in NCAA draw controls with 496. UMass also set a tournament record in goals (21) and team points (34) in a single game.
Freshman Lauren Hiller made four saves in a little over 53 minutes of duty.
UMass will play Sunday at 12 p.m. against Richmond, making it the seventh time in the last eight A-10 championships the Minutewomen will face-off against the Spiders.
“They’re well coached, they’re disciplined. They have really good players,” McMahon told the Gazette. “I give them a lot of credit for how they finished their season. After they played us, they have come together and played pretty well. We’re going to have to be ready.”
Ryan Ames can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.
