Saturday’s regular season finale at Garber Field painted a familiar picture: the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team running away from its opponent on its home turf, powered by an efficient attack and sound defense.
Saturday was also a celebration of a strong senior class, energized by a large and vocal home crowd filling the bleachers to celebrate senior day. The Minutewomen (15-1, 9-0 Atlantic-10) put the outcome to rest fairly early in the game, flying to a 9-2 first quarter lead and extending it to 16-3 by halftime.
The usual suspects led the way for UMass, as Fiona McGowan dominated her role as a distributor, registering 10 points on four goals and six assists, leading all players in both categories.
“I think energy was huge today… knowing in the back of our heads, obviously, this is our last game at Garber,” McGowan said. “I think it was just a lot of selfless play from everybody on the team. And I think, definitely, that’s where my head was at… just doing things for everyone else.”
After her statistical performance against George Mason, McGowan now has 79 total points on the season, good for seventh all-time in points scored in a single season in UMass history.
“I mean, she’s a star,” head coach Jana Drummond said of McGowan. “She’s really smart. She just stays calm the entire game, so you just trust her.”
The other seniors on the team greatly contributed to the blowout, with Kylee Bowen recording five points and Amy Moreau and Alex Finn each adding four points of their own. Though displaying highly functional team play throughout, each of the three scored impressive solo goals to show off their individual talents.
12 different players got on the score sheet as Drummond expanded her rotation for the regular season finale with the result set in stone for much of the contest.
Sophomore Paris Melberg scored her first goal of the season and second of her career. Graduate student Emma Farnham scored her first two goals of the season against the Patriots as well. Farnham zipped an accurate line drive past Patriots goalie Gianna Coburn for her second goal and the team’s 20th, just barely beating the shot clock buzzer and getting the sideline and the crowd on their feet.
“Having that support, seeing that outward verbal communication and cheering for them… it’s an empowering and uplifting feel,” Drummond said. “So it’s great to have all that support from alumni from parents and fans. It’s really great.”
After wrapping up their impressive regular season campaign, the Minutewomen look to the A-10 tournament.
“The intent is that we’re making ourselves better than the last game that we’ve played,” Drummond said. “It’s always on us and how we can level up and just increase the intensity, increase our skill at every opportunity.”
Having clinched the No.1 seed in the A-10 tournament taking place in Richmond, Virginia, UMass will receive a first-round bye to the semifinals and will await the winner of the 4-5 seed matchup between Davidson and George Washington. The Minutewomen’s semi-final game is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Friday, May 5.
“Obviously, our hope is [to become] national champions, but it’s step-by-step going along the way and our team is very aware of that,” Drummond said.
Jedhi Lee can be reached at [email protected].
