The 19th-ranked Massachusetts field hockey team had a bounce back win over Saint Louis on Friday, winning 5-1 after a tough loss to Harvard the week before. The win was headlined by four different UMass (8-3, 2-0 Atlantic 10) goal scorers adding their names to the scoresheet to cement a Minutewomen victory.
Despite getting out to a slow start, UMass found its legs as the first quarter went on with a goal by sophomore Kristy Leonard. The goal started with Elani Sherwood spinning and sending a pass to Leonard. The midfielder didn’t have the ball on her stick long before sending a shot past goalkeeper Abby Schalow from the middle circle.
“We had a slow start today, we weren’t quite connecting like we typically do,” head coach Barb Weinberg said. “Any A-10 game is going to be tough and that’s something we said to the team going into this game… I think Saint Louis came out gritty and with fire and I think that’s what every A-10 game is going to be because every game is a chance to win.”
Later in the first quarter, Sherwood had a chance for a goal on a backhand shot but as she went to shoot, she slipped. Even after slipping, the ball was still shot at the goalkeeper but was saved.
The story of the game was the number of penalty strokes the Minutewomen were given, with two of their goals coming on penalty strokes. In the third quarter, UMass got its second penalty of the game and its first to make its way past goalkeeper Kerri O’Donnell. Paula Lorenzini was the one to shoot it, sending a hard shot to the right of the goalkeeper that was too fast to save. The goal put the Minutewomen up 3-0 and from there, the team only continued to build momentum.
While the penalty stroke was Lorenzini’s only goal of the game, she was dominant on offense despite being a defender. The graduate student finished Thursday afternoon’s contest with 10 shots, seven of which were on goal.
“(Lorenzini) has gotten really good at coming from the backfield, running through the midfield and finding herself in scoring positions and she loves doing it, and we’ll encourage her to continue doing that,” Weinberg said.
10 minutes after Lorenzini’s goal, Elena Clococeanu went to the circle for the third penalty stroke of the afternoon. She shot it to the left side of the goal, scoring easily after the Billikens (1-7, 0-3 A-10) goalkeeper didn’t move fast enough to make the save.
While UMass was mostly successful on its penalty strokes, the first one didn’t go the way the team wanted it to. When the whistle blew to indicate a penalty stroke in the second quarter, the refs ran to the sidelines to review the call. After standing for a few minutes, the call went the Minutewomen’s way which put Clococeanu in front of the Saint Louis goalkeeper. The defender’s shot sailed wide of the net, not capitalizing on the first penalty stroke of the day.
“It can go both ways,” Weinberg said about penalty strokes. “The first one, there was a video review and we stood there for quite a while and we shot that one wide. It does build momentum and I think that obviously when you’re able to convert on a penalty corner, it just opens up the scoring for you.”
Clococeanu scored again with five minutes left in the fourth quarter when UMass was given a penalty corner. Claire Danahy started the penalty corner with a pass to Cara Falconer who settled the ball and backed away for Clococeanu. The defender wasted no time, sweeping the ball through traffic into the back of the net for the Minutewomen to come away with a five-goal win.
“I thought (Clococeanu) played really, really well,” Weinberg said. “She holds it down in the backfield for us, but she also steps in in really high pressure moments and delivers on penalty corners and also on penalty strokes. For her to miss one and then keep her head in the game for the rest of the game, I thought was really good today.”
No. 19 UMass will now shift its focus to No. 12 Boston College. The Minutewomen will host the Eagles on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1:00 p.m. at Gladchuk Field Hockey Complex.
Kayla Gregoire can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @Kaygregoire.
