The Massachusetts women’s soccer team finished its regular season with a win on Sunday afternoon, defeating Fordham 2-0 on the road. Bella Recinos scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season and Rose Gevanthor scored the first of her UMass (9-4-4, 6-2-2 Atlantic 10) career as the Minutewomen finished their season with a morale-boosting win heading into the playoffs.
Recinos opened the scoring for the Minutewomen just three minutes into the game. With the ball rolling down the right side of the field towards the corner, sophomore Nia Hislop caught up to the ball before it rolled out of bounds and crossed it towards the net. Recinos was left unmarked in the center of the box where she had a clear path to one-time the ball into the net.
After scoring two goals in her first two seasons, the junior midfielder has exploded this season to lead the Minutewomen in scoring in 2023. UMass is 5-0-2 in games that Recinos scores in and has greatly benefitted from having a top end scorer after losing last year’s leading scorer Lauren Bonavita.
Rose Gevanthor added the dagger for the Minutewomen with six and a half minutes left in the game when she struck home a cross from Chandler Pedolzky. A junior, Gevanthor has seen limited time in her three years at UMass, but her goal on Sunday afternoon shut the door on Fordham (4-10-4, 2-5-3 A-10) and solidified the victory.
Bella Mendoza pitched her eighth shutout of the season, making five saves. She is tied for second most shutouts in the A-10.
Looking ahead, the A-10 Championship starts on Friday for the Minutewomen, where they will be the fourth seed. Their spot in the standings clinches a home field advantage for game one, where they will take on fifth seeded Duquesne.
UMass faced off against Duquesne back on September 28th when it tied the Dukes 1-1 in Pittsburgh. Bella Recinos scored the lone Minutewomen goal in the tie.
The Minutewomen and the Dukes played a relatively even matchup with shots just slightly favoring the Minutewomen 16-12. It was an intense battle that featured 24 total fouls called and six red cards between both teams. Julianna Ryan was ejected with just over seven minutes left in the second half after getting a second yellow card.
Both teams have familiarity with each other and will likely play an equally physical game with the stakes being even higher than they were in their previous matchup.
The biggest advantage the Minutewomen have going for them is their home field advantage. UMass finished its season with an undefeated 6-0-1 record at Rudd Field. At home, the Minutewomen have outscored opponents 13-1, dominating defensively and in net where Mendoza has been just short of perfect.
In his sixth season as head coach of the Minutewomen, Jason Dowiak remains perfect in leading the team to the A-10 tournament. After a disappointing first round loss to Dayton last season, his sights will certainly be set on reaching the A-10 Championship game for the second time in his tenure.
Kickoff for round one is set for Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Rudd Field.
Matt Skillings can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @matt_skillings.
