On Saturday afternoon, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team scored eight unanswered goals in the second half, beating Long Island University 15-6 in a rainy match, digging up its first win of the season.
After falling to Holy Cross and Brown by a combined loss of only three points, the Minutewomen (1-3) looked to answer against the Sharks (0-6). UMass made sure the game was over before the final whistle by playing aggressive offense and tight defense after catching the lead against the LIU.
The Sharks started strong in the first period, leading 3-2 through the first 12 minutes of the game, suffocating the Minutewomen to a couple of shots on target throughout that stretch. However, around the five-minute mark, UMass went on a two-goal run in 50 seconds.
Kassidy Morris set a career-high and led the team in scoring with five goals, three of them being unassisted. She stepped up, helping the Minutewomen sail past LIU in the second half. The red-shirt sophomore continued her strong start to the season, with this being her third straight game with three or more goals. Ava Connaughton was second in scoring for UMass with her hat trick.
Graduate student Fiona McGowan led the Minutewomen in assists with three, paving the way for good goal-scoring opportunities against the Sharks.
UMass had four different goal scorers in the first quarter compared to the Sharks’ two goal scorers. “We played like a full team, offensively and defensively,” head coach Jana Drummond said. “We were very selfless, we did a great job of moving the ball around and having great teamwork.”
The Minutewomen shut down the Sharks offense and shooting during the second half. The Sharks went scoreless for the last 36 minutes of the game, being limited to only five shots for the entire second half. UMass forced five turnovers from LIU in 10 minutes during the final quarter of the game.
UMass won every single quarter of the game besides the second, tying 3-3 against the Sharks in an aggressive back-and-forth period. The Minutewomen led for the last 40 minutes of the game.
UMass outshot LIU with a ratio of 29 to 21 and had more shots on target with 20 to 15. The Minutewomen also dominated the draw controls, with 21 compared to the Sharks’ six. Jordan Dean led the way for the Minutewomen with 14 of those 21 draw controls.
The Minutewomen look to get their second win in a row against Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire on Tuesday, March 5 at 4 p.m.
Adam Kysiak can be reached at [email protected].
