The Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team suffered its second loss in a row at Garber Field against No. 11 Yale in a hard-fought but lopsided 18-9 game on Friday.
Despite UMass (2-2) leading by one after the first quarter, things unraveled quickly for the Minutemen as the Bulldogs (2-1) pulled away in the second after scoring six unanswered goals.
With seven goals compared to UMass’ two in the second quarter, Yale went up 9-5 going into halftime. The Bulldogs’ dominant second quarter left the Minutemen in a hole they couldn’t climb out of as they played from behind for the remainder of the game.
“Threw us off our momentum,” UMass head coach Greg Cannella said about the second quarter struggles. “Failed some clears and fouled. Yale doesn’t need extra possessions and then playing a man down against them is very difficult.”
The Minutemen successfully cleared 14 times out of the 22 attempts made, with three failed clears coming in each of the first two quarters. The failed clears left UMass’ defense in a vulnerable state as it tried to regroup which led to some of Yale’s goals. Conversely, the Bulldogs successfully cleared 14 of 16 attempts.
“You can’t give teams second chances. Defense is really tired, guys are gassed,” Cannella explained.
With a strong team like the Bulldogs, it’s important to complete the clear when getting possession, but UMass’ struggles allowed Yale to have many second chances when taking shots which proved costly for the Minutemen.
On the day, UMass finished with 44 shots compared to the Bulldogs’ 55, but the most unbalanced comparison is another show of how tough the second quarter was for UMass. In the second, the Minutemen got six shots off while Yale had 21. UMass’ inability to clear the ball and maintain possession aided the 15-shot disparity.
With a high shooting day from both UMass and Yale, both goalies had impressive games. UMass’ senior goalkeeper Matt Knote finished with 16 saves, recording his third game with double-digit saves so far this season. Yale’s goalkeeper, Jared Paquette, finished with 23 saves.
Despite first-half troubles, the Minutemen continued to fight until the very end. UMass scored four more goals throughout the game, one of those belonging to freshman attacker Aiden Drunsic, his first collegiate goal. Gabriel Procyk, the Minutemen’s leader in goals for the season with nine in four games, scored a hat-trick on the day.
“Our effort was there, guys never quit,” Cannella said.
The Minutemen have a quick turnaround with another game on Tuesday, leaving just three days in between for rest. Leading up to the short week, Cannella explains the team needs to “get as much rest as [they] can,” and “just hope you can execute a little bit better on the offensive end.”
Cannella emphasized that the team’s priority is to “look forward, stay positive with each other, and stick together as a team.”
UMass travels to Albany, N.Y. on Tuesday, March 7 to take on UAlbany. Faceoff is set for 3 p.m.
Samantha Sands can be reached at [email protected].
