After a 1-4 start to the season, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team stacked up its fourth consecutive win to remain undefeated against Atlantic 10 opponents. UMass (5-4, 4-0 A-10) beat down on St. Bonaventure under freezing conditions in Amherst, winning 21-5 on Saturday.
The Bonnies (6-5, 3-1 A-10) started off with a quick goal from Brooke Piper in the first minute of the game off the draw. Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw scored on a free-position shot on the next UMass possession to tie it up and the Minutewomen never looked back, scoring over 20 goals for the third time in their last four games.
“We kept talking about play by play, not thinking about where we are, how many goals we scored,” said UMass head coach Jana Drummond. “It was always just 0-0, focus on this play, focus on right now to keep us with that momentum going, ignoring the weather, just focusing on what we can control.”
UMass scored 14 unanswered goals before Bonnies’ midfielder Megan Schillinger put up another goal halfway through the third quarter on a free-position shot. Charlotte Wilmoth was the star of the show; she earned a first half hat-trick and finished the game with five goals and two assists. Fiona McGowan also got a hat trick, with her third goal being a side-arm shot with six minutes left in the third quarter, to go along with four assists.
“It was a very selfless team effort from the beginning including the bench,” Drummond said. “There were a lot of new faces that got in and just playing as one and really buying into what their role was for today, you could tell how selfless it was.”
Katie Peterson and Bridget Valentine both scored their first collegiate goals against the Bonnies. Peterson tallied two goals, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth. Valentine scored an unassisted tally to bring UMass to the 20-goal mark.
“It was so exciting and there was so much energy from the bench, all of them feel that excitement,” Drummond said. “All of those goals came from all of that hard work they’ve been putting in practice and outside of practice to make themselves confident on the field so it’s great to see.”
Along with Peterson, Audra Tosone, Tessa Shields, and Rodriguez-Shaw all picked up a pair of goals for the Minutewomen. Tosone and Shields both scored on free-position shots, and UMass went 5-6 on free-position shots overall.
Another crucial contributor to the dominant performance was Jordan Dean, who has been consistent with draw controls for UMass all season long. The Minutewomen lead the Bonnies 22-7 in draw controls, and Dean won 19 of those.
“[Dean] just carries such a great leadership role in her energy with [draw controls],” Drummond said. “Just her winning or if she’s even losing, she’s the first one to ride and get herself back in that position. More possessions definitely help us on the offensive end and she just really does a lot off the field to keep her prepared for anyone she sees in a game.”
Three goaltenders saw the field for the Minutewomen. Catrina Tobin was between the pipes for the first half of the game, tallying five saves on six shots on goal. Bridgette Wall replaced Tobin for the third quarter and faced two shots on goal. Gianna Cameron closed it out for UMass, finishing with two saves on four shots on goal.
“We were strong mentally,” Drummond said. “The things we can control, control, and [we will] keep ourselves in that disciplined mindset, finishing and focusing on the full 60 minutes.”
The Minutewomen return to Garber Field to play Davidson on Saturday, March 30 at 12 p.m.
Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @devinlippman.
