The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team ran away with a dominant 14-point wire-to-wire victory on a bitter Saturday afternoon against Long Island University, scoring 19 goals and conceding only five, earning its first win of the season.
After starting the season 0-2, with a close loss against Dartmouth and then a blowout at Boston College, UMass (1-2) responded with an intense offensive onslaught.
UMass came out firing with 44 shots, many of them going off the post or right by the net, outshooting LIU (0-4) by 31. The tormenting offensive pressure by the Minutewomen put the Sharks in deep water, letting up 12 goals in the first half of the game, as well as a 7-0 run in the first 13 minutes of action.
Tessa Shields led the way in scoring, clocking in six goals and one assist, with a total of eight shots on target. Shields went toe-to-toe with the defense, knifing her way inside and scoring at will, with a 13-second goal in the first quarter, right after the whistle blew signaling the start of the game.
Although Kassidy Morris struggled on the offensive end, scoring two goals on 10 shot attempts, it was Ava Connaughton who stepped up for the Minutewomen. Connaughton had three goals and one assist as well as a quick spin move which led itself to the back of the Shark’s net.
It was the Minutewomen defense that shut the Shark’s down, only allowing 11 shots on goal and suffocating their half of the field. The UMass defense crashed on almost every pass that found its way within 10 meters of the net, making LIU burn some steam if it wanted a chance to score and forcing every goal to be a different goal scorer.
After fighting off serious firepower against the Boston College Eagles, Catrina Tobin had a pleasant time fending off the Sharks, only having to save five out of nine shots in just under 48 minutes thanks to the Minutewomen’s unmovable defensive line.
UMass played exceptionally well on the middle ground where it had 19 draw controls compared to the Shark’s eight. This was all because of defender Jordan Dean, who had 15 alone.
Head coach Jana Drummond was keen on dominating the game from the jump. “We have been really trying to focus on starting strong and playing together,” Drummond said. “We want to work as a team … we always try to move past our mistakes, stay in the moment and celebrate the little things.”
UMass led LIU in every major statistical category and never fell behind on scoring. The Minutewomen played well in every aspect of the game, including turnovers, where they had a season-low of seven compared to the Sharks 15.
However, Drummond still wants to see more out of her squad as she has high expectations. UMass showed some weakness in the second quarter, allowing three open play goals in five minutes. “Winning always feels good but for us, it is about learning from our mistakes, learning from the last game and learning from this game,” Drummond said. “It wasn’t perfect, we’re finding those holes and trying to make them better.”
The Minutewomen look to fill in those gaps against Holy Cross on Tuesday at Kuzniewski Field at 6:30 p.m, and the game can be viewed on ESPN+.
Adam Kysiak can be found at [email protected] or @adampkysiak on X/Twitter
