The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team dominated in its season opener against UMass Lowell, winning 18-4.
“Offensively, we were really efficient in our scoring and converting on our opportunities,” head coach Angela McMahon-Serpone said. “Overall, I just thought it was a great day. Sideline energy was awesome and just keeping us playing at a high pace the whole time. Definitely credit to our bench for stepping up today.”
Kendra Harbinger led the Minutewomen (1-0) in scoring, recording four goals in Saturday’s contest. The graduate student began her UMass career with a bang after transferring from the University at Albany and is already proving to be a solid addition to the offensive efforts.
“She contributes a lot offensively, but I think just from an energy and culture perspective, she’s an amazing teammate,” McMahon-Serpone said. “Just fit right into our team, not only from the relationship and connection side of things, but just being so open to learning and contributing and having her making the most of every single opportunity that she has.”
25 seconds after winning the initial draw, Julia Smith put UMass ahead with the Minutewomen’s first goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Amy Moreau put UMass ahead by two from a free position shot.
Moreau, Charlotte Wilmoth, Kylee Bowen, Maddy Moloney, Smith and Alex Finn each scored two goals in the win. Olivia Muscella and Hannah Young recorded one.
“We definitely are spreading the ball out and attacking from a lot of different points,” McMahon-Serpone said. “We always have everybody on the field being aggressive and changing their opportunity too, so the balanced scoresheet is really indicative of the fact that we play as a team and that we’re not just relying on one or two people to carry the load for us.”
Four minutes into the game, the River Hawks (0-1) earned their first goal of the day from a free position shot from Emily Stratton. She would go on to score the fourth and final goal for UMass Lowell during the third period. Fellow teammate, Molly Shaw would also score two, both being assisted by Megan Brockbank.
Adding on to its success, UMass finished with 17 draw controls to the River Hawks’ nine.
“I think is all about growth and learning early in the season, and just seeing how we can work in practice,” McMahon-Serpone said. “It’s a really long season and you face a lot of different challenges and adversity, and it’s just taking that in the best way we can to learn and grow both on and off the field. Every single person on our team is just so valued and contributes in so many ways.”
The Minutewomen will look to get the win in its home opener against Boston College at 12 p.m. on Wednesday.
Sophie Weller can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @SophieeWellerr.
