On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team traveled to Dartmouth College for its second of three consecutive away games. The Minutewomen (1-4) fell 15-9 against the Big Green (3-2, 0-1 Ivy League) at Scully-Fahey Field in Hanover, New Hampshire.
While UMass got off to a slow start, two hat tricks late in the fourth quarter scored by sophomore Kassidy Morris and graduate student Fiona McGowan reenergized the team.
Morris started off the scoring spree with a free position goal with 3:49 left in the game, bringing the Minutewomen to a nine-goal deficit. McGowan got a quick shot past Dartmouth goaltender Gisele Todd 15 seconds after, tallying her third goal of the day. Morris scored the next two goals, and Charlotte Wilmoth picked up the last goal for the Minutewomen with two minutes to go in regulation.
“You could just see them all totally vying into each role, everyone on there, they were just going hard, moving the ball fast and it was awesome to see that spark, to see how smoothly they were running that gameplay,” head coach Jana Drummond said.
Despite the five-goal streak, it wasn’t enough for the Minutewomen to come out on top. Dartmouth’s offense was dominant from the start, scoring five unanswered goals in the first half.
Dartmouth’s lead goal scorer was Katina Christensen, who finished with four goals and one assist. Christensen’s third goal was a buzzer-beater shot in the third quarter, leaving the Big Green with an eight-goal lead going into the final 15 minutes of the game. Katie Elders scored a hat trick for Dartmouth, and Catherine Erb, Ellie Burdick and Fiona O’Keefe all finished with more than one goal.
Wilmoth opened the second half scoring on a quick shot wrapping around the crease after a feed from freshman Ava Connaughton, bringing Dartmouth to a four-goal lead. However, the Big Green responded by scoring four unanswered goals in four minutes, extending their lead to eight goals.
“Definitely some sparks of greatness for us,” Drummond said. “It’s just really putting together the full 60 minutes all over the field. When it was going hard, we did some great things, so just trying to piece more of that together as a group.”
Freshman Lil Hancock scored the first Massachusetts goal after the Big Green scored the first two goals of the game in the first quarter. Dartmouth failed to clear the ball, giving UMass possession and Hancock took the opportunity to put the Minutewomen on the scoreboard.
Catrina Tobin was between the pipes for the Minutewomen and ended with 11 saves on 26 shots on goal. Out of the eight free position shots Dartmouth had, Tobin saved four of them.
“We sprinkled in between man and zone just seeing what looks would be best for us,” Drummond said. “[Tobin] did such a great job in net of communicating and making some great saves for us, so that was really helpful for us throughout the whole game.”
“Just recognizing those highlights, if we could put more of those together of us being strong as one unit and really being fluid in that on both ends of the field, we could really be dominant,” Drummond said. “It’s just putting it for the full game versus just some sparks throughout.”
The Minutewomen return for their first Atlantic 10 matchup away at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA on Saturday, March 9.
Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @devinlippman.
