The Massachusetts field hockey team had a double overtime loss against Saint Joseph’s at home, with a final score of 2-1.

On Friday, No.19  UMass (7-6, 2-2 Atlantic 10) played a competitive game against No.14 Saint Joseph’s (10-3, 4-0 A-10). Despite the consistent back and forth between both sides, UMass struggled with conceding numerous penalties, ultimately leading to its defeat at home.

“We really need to limit our penalty corners,” head coach Barb Weinberg said. “A team like Saint Joseph’s is going to capitalize on that, so that’s something to work on going forward. We knew that [Saint Joseph’s] would be able to put a lot of pressure on us.”

The Hawks were awarded a total of 11 penalty corners throughout the game, compared to UMass’s mere five.

Saint Joseph almost entirely dominated the first half of the game. After some heavy pressure on the Minutewomen, the Hawks’ Alison Buffington got the ball past UMass’ Myrte van Herwijnen for a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

One thing that remained consistent throughout the entire game was the Minutewomen’s strong defense against offensive endeavors from Saint Joseph. With a total of 11 shots taken by Saint Joseph’s, the Minutewomen defense did well in clearing and preventing the ball from going past Herwijnen.

UMass began to find its momentum in the third and fourth quarter, conceding fewer shots on goal and slowly gaining possession of the ball.

“Cleaning up our basic skills, making a few adjustments to our formation to allow more players forward and building confidence,” were all significant factors in the Minutewomen’s ability to stage a comeback, Weinberg said.

About 13 minutes into the third quarter, UMass was awarded a penalty corner and seized the opportunity to capitalize. Mali Herberhold passed the ball directly to Emilie Keij, resulting in a clear shot on net for the lone UMass goal.

With five total cards given out, the highly aggressive game continued into overtime, tied 1-1. UMass took one shot in the first overtime, but the second overtime came around quite quickly. With both teams pressing and defending fiercely, the game was decided in the 72nd minute, with Saint Joe’s Lily Santi being awarded a penalty stroke after a massive blunder from the UMass defense. Although van Herwijnen put her glove in the right direction, a shot to the top left corner ended the game in Amherst.

“I think our team played very well,” Weinberg said.

The Minutewomen are next in action on Sunday, Oct. 6, taking on Connecticut from Gladchuk Field Hockey Complex. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Kate Endres can be reached at [email protected] or followed on X at @Kate_e_endres.