The Massachusetts field hockey team captured its second weekend win, defeating Dartmouth 6-0 in a dominating fashion.
“It was a great weekend for us,” head coach Barb Weinberg said. “We needed this weekend to open up our scoring and to continue to gain confidence upfront.”
The Minutewomen (2-2) found control early and continued to thrive, allowing only one shot on goal in 60 minutes. UMass goalie Myrte Van Herwijnen had one lone save. The Minutewomen had 28 shots, 20 of those being shots on goal to accompany 11 penalty corners.
The Minutewomen came out strong harnessing their offensive power and keeping the ball in Dartmouth’s (0-2) side of the field, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that UMass hit its sweet spot.
Two minutes and 17 seconds into the fourth quarter, Elani Sherwood connected off a long pass from Claire Danahy, hitting the ball into the net for her second goal of the day. Just minutes later Paula Lorenzini found the ball off the rebound and passed it to Dempsey Campbell who shot it into the goal making the score 4-0, four minutes into the fourth.
“I said to our strikers after the game, we kept knocking on their door and knocking on their door and other than getting frustrated we were able to break them,” Weinberg said. “The second half that we were able to pull out and put points on the board was really important.”
UMass’ fourth-quarter momentum continued with a second goal from Campbell who tipped the ball in after an assist from Hannah De Gast. Lorenzini ended the game strong, slapping in a goal of her own from the top of the circle off a corner.
“We have a lot of delivers and a lot of options,” Weinberg said of her team’s versatility on penalty corners. “We need to continue to focus on our very basics.”
Freshman Elani Sherwood made an immediate statement for the Minutewomen, scoring two goals, her first coming early in the third quarter to put UMass up 2-0.
“[Sherwood] is a really talented player,” Weinberg said. “Playing on the strike line is a fairly new position for her so we knew it would take her some to fit into our system and find her own and she’s coming together at the right time.”
Kristy Leonard put UMass on the scoreboard early in the first quarter after receiving a pass from Neva Eisenga. At just under four minutes into the game, Leonard found the back of the net making it 1-0 early on.
After a scoreless second quarter, UMass returned after halftime ready to put the ball in the net. Sherwood scored the first of her two goals after receiving a pass from Claire Danahy, seeing the space in the bottom left corner of the goal and shooting right past Dartmouth goalie Isabel Andrews from the baseline.
Andrews had 13 saves in goal for Dartmouth and Lilly-Boau Shepard had one. Lucia Campano had the singular shot on goal for the Big Green.
“Our motto this weekend has been ‘what’s important now’ and not looking at the past moment or the future movement but really focusing on the moment that we are in, and I think that will continue to be a theme with our team all season long,” Weinberg said.
UMass travels to Boston on Friday, Sept. 13 to play Boston University at 4 p.m.
Lucy Postera can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X/Twitter @lucypostera.
