As rain flooded Garber field on Saturday afternoon, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team rolled to its eighth undefeated conference run in the last nine seasons. UMass (14-3, 9-0 A-10) defeated George Washington (5-12, 3-6 A-10) with a final score of 21-9.
It was senior day in Amherst, and without a doubt the veterans came to play. Kiley Anderson, Hannah Palau and Cassidy Doster combined for 11 goals, enough to outscore George Washington who were held to just 9 goals.
“I can’t say enough about Hannah and Cassidy, their work ethic, what they bring to the table, what they bring to not only this university, but what they bring to this team is amazing and I’m going to miss them so much,” said Anderson. “I wouldn’t want to go out with any other seniors but them.”
In a very back and fourth first half, George Washington attacker Tori Hampton was able to score three straight goals, and gave the Colonials the lead 4-2 after about six minutes of play. As the rain came down, players adjusted to the conditions that saw groundballs playing a bit slower in the wet turf. However, wet conditions are nothing new for UMass, who have learned to play in all conditions, with spring weather being so unpredictable in Western Massachusetts.
“I think this weather couldn’t be more classic, and I’m actually not mad about it, because it sums up my career here at UMass, raining one second, freezing one second, hot the next, sunny the next,” Anderson said. “I think we handled it well, we didn’t get rattled because we’re out here every single day, we don’t have an indoor facility, so we thrive in this kind of weather and we really use it to our advantage and I honestly loved it that it was like this our last day.”
After the first half finished with the score at 9-6, the skies started to open up, and so did the UMass offense. The Minutewomen really ran away with things from that point, scoring seven straight goals to end the game, not hesitating to pile it on in the final minutes and keep the foot on the gas.
“Yeah it just got a little sloppy there obviously for a little while, but at the end of the day we pulled it together and I thought we were pretty crisp there in the second half,” said UMass coach Angela McMahon, “taking care of the ball, dominating the ground balls and the draw controls, all those possessions where, in a game like that it really matters having the ball as much as we possibly can.
“We also played very poised, and patient, where sometimes we’ve been very frantic and rushing our opportunities, so I thought we did a good job of just, maintaining possession and waiting for the best opportunity possible.”
One of those players who was being patient all day was Anderson, who finished with six points, five of which came off goals where she was shot faking before finding the net.
“That’s something I practice everyday, really putting the ball away,” Anderson said. “we knew that this goalie was really good high, so I really tried with my fakes to get her off balance and get her off her post, and then sight the net and shoot into the white.”
The Minutewomen finished the game with three players at five or more points, and junior goalkeeper Lauren Hiller continued her undefeated run, saving six shots and allowing nine goals.
UMass now look ahead to the A-10 Tournament next weekend, starting on April 25. George Mason will be the host of that event taking place in Fairfax, Virginia as UMass looks to reclaim the title that they lost to Richmond in an overtime game at the end of last season.
Cameron Sibert can be reached at [email protected] or followed on twitter @cameron_sibert.
