The No. 14 Massachusetts field hockey team will take on No. 3 University of Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The matchup for the Minutewomen (15-5, 7-0 Atlantic 10) will be their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016 and the first time head coach Barb Weinberg has taken her team to the national stage.
UMass is coming off a tough 2-1 loss to Saint Joseph’s in the A-10 championship for the fourth straight year. While the score didn’t end in the Minutewomen’s favor, they gave the Hawks a run for their money. UMass outshot Saint Joseph’s 10-4 and had nine penalty corner chances compared to the Hawks’ five.
Despite the loss, the Minutewomen are trying to start afresh, putting the loss behind them as they head into the game Friday.
“I think the refocus happened immediately when we had gotten into the tournament,” Weinberg said. “We felt that we played a really good game against [Saint Joseph’s]. I think it was one of our best games of the season. [We] outstated them in a lot of categories and unfortunately were not able to win that game.”
The matchup between UMass and UConn (17-3, 6-1 Big East Conference) will not be its first head-to-head of the season after the Minutewomen took a 1-0 loss to the Huskies on Oct. 20. UMass was shutout on its six shots and its 11 fouls of the game.
The second chance to play the Huskies is an opportunity that the Minutewomen are embracing.
“I think it’s always fun to play a team twice in a season because when you look back at that game and really break down what went well and what we need to improve on, it becomes pretty clear about what we need to focus on going into this game,” Weinberg said.
UConn is led by its freshmen class with Sophie Perschk totaling 34 points off 13 goals and eight assists. Alongside Perschk, freshman Juul Sauer is not far behind, with 30 points from 12 goals and six assists and was named the Big East Freshman and Offensive Player of the year.
The Huskies’ goalkeeper Natalie McKenna has been in net for 20 of UConn’s 24 games with a 17-3 record in net. The sophomore has a 0.747 save percentage and 1.14 goals against average on 163 shots faced. Her performance between the pipes was rewarded when she was named Big East Goalkeeper of The Year.
The Huskies put up a strong performance in their conference, but the Minutewomen also impressed in theirs. UMass claimed 16 All-Conference awards, including four of the five major awards in the A-10.
The awards included graduate students Claire Danahy and Elena Clococeanu grabbing A-10 First Team honors. Senior Dempsey Campbell also took away a Second Team honor. The honors for the upperclassmen showed the leadership the Minutewomen have been playing under.
“I think [the seniors] have been critical for our team this year,” Weinberg said. “There’s always things that go on, adversity we need to overcome on the field and off the field every season and I think our leaders have done a phenomenal job of filtering what they need to, addressing what they need to and keeping a really clear focus on what the team’s goals is.”
A-10 Goalkeeper of The Year Myrte van Herwijnen has also been a large part of UMass’ success. The junior goalkeeper has a 0.792 save percentage and a 1.11 goals against average in 20 games played.
Freshman Elani Sherwood was a dominant player for the Minutewomen in the regular season, totaling nine goals and four assists for 22 points, earning the title of A-10 Rookie of The Year.
UMass will take on UConn on Friday, Nov. 15 at 12 p.m. in Storrs, CT. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
“I think if we come in with confidence, we know how we play, we know how we can play,” Danahy said. “Just playing to our best ability and I think that comes with just confidence. Everyone can play and everyone is at this level where we’re able to compete with these top teams.”
Kayla Gregoire can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @Kaygregoire.
