The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team dominated in a 20-7 win against Duquesne. The Minutewomen (7-4, 6-0 Atlantic 10) continued their undefeated record in the A-10 and currently are riding a six-game win streak.
Kassidy Morris got the first goal of the game within four minutes of the game’s start with a nice assist by Charlotte Wilmoth. Duquesne (6-7, 1-5 A-10) couldn’t stop the UMass offense, as the Minutewomen got off to an early 5-1 lead by the end of the first period and never looked back. The game marked the fourth 20-plus goal game in the past six to begin A-10 play.
“Just moving the ball so well and, you know, just finding different options, being patient with who to get the ball to, where the holes in the gaps were against the zone,” head coach Jana Drummond said. “Really excited with how different people stepped up and played together in that aspect.”
The Minutewomen offense was led by Wilmoth, setting a couple of career highs with seven goals and 10 total points. Along with Wilmouth, the UMass attack included Morris scoring a hat trick, Duquesne transfer Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw adding two goals, as well as Fiona McGowan scoring two, paired with three assists. Charlotte Clavelli led the game with four assists.
“The way [Wilmoth] was scoring and the way she was feeding, it was just so dynamic and versatile so it was really hard to defend her, but also just super selfless and all the other ends to get the ball to her to find her in the middle, and then for her doing a great job of different shot placement to finish her shots when she had them,” Drummond said.
UMass outscored the Dukes 8-1 in the second period, the highest scoring period of the game. After Haley Reeck put Duquesne within seven with four minutes left in the period, the Rooney Field crowd saw Rodriguez-Shaw score, back-to-back McGowan goals, and Morris finishing the first half scoring her third goal, all within the last two minutes of the half.
The Dukes offense was led by Tristen Chang and Emelie Curtis as both players scored two goals, while leading goal scorers Mackenzie Leszczynski and Corinne Webb were both held without goals until the fourth period. As a team, Duquesne was limited to 16 shots on goal, only scoring three goals in the first three periods.
UMass’ defense was led by Audra Tosone, as she got her 100th career caused turnover in the first period, becoming only the second to reach that feat in program history. UMass led the Dukes 21-8 in draw controls as well, with Jordan Dean winning 14 of those.
“Everyone was on, helping each other, sliding smoothly, so really knowing the top personnel of the team and making sure all eight who are on the end were tuned in to slide and help each other, it was great on that side, you can really just see them playing as a family,” Drummond said.
Late in the fourth period, Norah Prizzi and Bridget Valentine also got involved in the scoring outburst for the Minutewomen, both collecting their second goals of the season. Duquesne followed the UMass goals with three of its own, including stars Leszczynsk and Webb finally getting on the board. Those goals wrapped up a four-goal period for the Dukes, outscoring UMass 4-2.
Catrina Tobin started out in net for the Minutewomen, totaling five saves and a .714 save percentage. Bridgette Wall and Gianna Cameron also saw the field, both collecting two saves.
UMass looks to continue its six-game win streak as it takes on UMass Lowell on Tuesday, April 9 at 3:30 p.m. in Lowell.
Maxwell Solomon can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @Maxwell697909.
