On a cool and sunny Friday afternoon at Gladchuk Field, the Massachusetts field hockey team scored four second-half goals to propel itself past Saint Francis and climb to third place in the Atlantic 10.
With freshman midfielder Mus Defauwes and junior midfielder Sara Davis both in the starting lineup, the Minutewomen (7-8, 5-2 A-10) were able to generate a well-balanced against SFU (8-8, 4-3 A-10), as four different players found the back of the net for UMass. Lucy Cooper, Antonet Louw and Mus Defauwes each scored one apiece, while Georgia McTear notched two goals on the day.
“We have worked all week on our attack movement and just working better together up front rather than having one player run it,” said coach Barb Weinberg. “We were passing really well today and we had more than one person who was able to put goals in the back of the net.”
In the 39th minute of the game, Defauwes scored off of a Davis rebound, after Davis was given a perfect pass in transition to create the opportunity. The score gave UMass a comfortable 3-1 cushion. It was Defauwes’ first goal of the season in just her second start of 2018.
“Yeah, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Defauwes. “I mean, all over the field everyone was good today, there was a lot of positivity and it was really a team effort, the goal. I gave [the] last push, but it was [a] beautiful attack from the whole team.”
For Davis, the start came as a surprise. “I didn’t see it coming but I worked really hard at practice,” she said. “Not to be cocky about it, but I might have earned it.”. Though Davis did not score in the contest, she pressured SFU with a season-high 3 shots on goal, in addition to assisting Defauwe’s goal.
Through Oct. 7, the Minutewomen had been outshot by their opponents, 151-210. However, after tallying a mere four shot attempts on VCU in their last contest, UMass was able to record 24 on Friday, as the insertion of Defauwes and Davis into the starting lineup going forward may help UMass keep up the offensive output it produced on Friday.
When asked if Davis and Defauwes could be starting more frequently in the future, coach Weinberg responded, “Definitely. They’ve been consistently developing all season long and as they’ve had consistent practices over the last couple of weeks that was a change that we thought that they deserved today.”
Receiving the starting nod was nice, but to Defauwes, it is the collective group effort that counts the most. “I mean, I appreciate it but it’s not something I put very much thought in it,” Defauwes said. “It’s a team. It’s a team sport so it’s not individual.”
Friday’s win was a much-needed rebound for the team after being shutout on the road by VCU. UMass will begin a three-game road trip at Boston College on Sunday.
Ben Painchaud can be reached at [email protected].
