The Massachusetts field hockey team needed a shootout to decide its game against Yale on Sunday.
In the shootout, the Bulldogs (3-7, 0-2 Ivy League) started off 0-for-2 while Claire Danahy missed her first attempt for UMass (7-4, 2-1 Atlantic 10). Hannah de Gast came next who drove in and juked Yale’s goalkeeper to find the net. Yale’s next attempt also didn’t find the net, setting up Mali Herberhold to put the ball into Yale’s court. Herberhold delivered with a seemingly sweat-free shot into the back of the net, setting up UMass goalie Myrte van Herwijnen with a chance to seal the win.
Yale chose Ellie Barlow for its final chance. Barlow approached van Herwijnen who aggressively came out of the net to defend the shot. She poked the ball free and a second attempt on the rebound went in the air and got swatted away, prompting van Herwijnen to throw her gloves and helmet off as the entire team mobbed her while waving a UMass flag.
“[van Herwijnen] competes and for her, it’s just about keeping the white ball out of the back of the net,” head coach Barb Weinberg said. “In my opinion, she’s one of the best penalty shootout goalkeepers in the country, which proved true today.”
van Herwijnen’s dominant game in goal continues a stretch of superb performances in the net over the past few games. Her 14 saves on Sunday brought her save total of her last four games to 39.
Yale had its only goal of the game in the first quarter. Barlow took a penalty corner, firing it into the zone to teammate Maddy Wong who passed it back to Barlow as she found the bottom right corner of the net. Yale had 15 penalty corners in the effort.
The Minutewomen found the net later in the game during one of their nine penalty corners. Jess Beech deflected the ball off her perfectly positioned stick into the bottom left corner of the net, evening up the score in the third quarter. The goal was Beech’s fourth of the year.
In both overtimes, UMass maintained possession for a majority of the time, outshooting the Bulldogs 8-5. de Gast managed to find the net during the first overtime, leading to the goal song playing and the Minutewomen celebrating. However, the referee called it a no-goal due to a stick infraction.
“She took a shootout two years ago in the A-10 semifinal and missed it. So right before the shootout started, she said this is redemption. She was referring to that one, but she was also referring to [her called back goal], which she thinks she scored,” Weinberg said.
Both teams combined for 52 shots, with 26 of those being on goal. UMass’ 29 shots are a new season high, surpassing the 16 shots in its games against St. Louis and Quinnipiac.
“Coming out of Friday’s game, we knew that this was a game to really get our mojo back,” Weinberg said. “Start connecting, communicating with one another and just play really good hockey on our home turf.”
The Minutewomen look to continue their mojo Friday, Oct. 6 at Gladchuk Field against Saint Joseph’s. Faceoff is set for 1p.m.
“We’ve got some things we’re going to tackle this week in training, and we’ll be ready to go for Friday,” Weinberg said.
Owen Shelffo can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @owen_shelffo.
