The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team opened its Atlantic 10 campaign Saturday afternoon with an 18-12 road win over VCU in Richmond, Virginia.
The Minutewomen (3-3, 1-0 A-10) scored four unanswered goals at the end of the fourth quarter, with the game winner scored by Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw to put them up 15-12. From there, Kassidy Morris, Lil Hancock and Tessa Shield all found the back of the Rams’ (2-5, 0-1 A-10) net.
Morris had an outstanding afternoon, scoring seven times and providing three assists. Both marks were season highs.
Her first goal was scored with about five minutes left in the first quarter after receiving the ball from Etta Coburn. That duo linked up again in the same way with just under four minutes left in the second quarter.
On the second time, Morris received the ball from Coburn just inside the circle, ran up to VCU goalie Molly Coyle’s net and shot over her head to give UMass a 5-2 lead.
Rodriguez-Shaw was the second top scorer of the day, getting her name on the scoreboard with three goals and two assists.
Her first goal came with 13 and a half minutes left in the third quarter. After receiving the ball from Morris inside the circle, she shot at Coyle’s net, finding the back of it with an overhead shot. To round out her hattrick, she was assisted twice again by Morris within a minute and a half of each other in the fourth quarter.
Over the course of the contest, the Minutewomen had mostly sustained a multi-goal lead over the Rams, but with 12 minutes left, VCU’s Mason Whitmore found the back of Catrina Tobin’s net to tie the game at 11.
After scoring three unanswered goals to tie the game, the Rams only scored once more with Whitmore scoring her third and final goal with six minutes left on the clock, bringing her season tally to 11.
UMass started the game off strong, scoring within the first 57 seconds of the contest when Hancock found the back of the opposition’s net, being assisted by Ava Connaughton.
After coming out aggressively, the Minutewomen scored four times without a response from VCU. Morris scored her first two goals in that stretch, while sophomore Brigid Welch recorded her first goal of the season.
UMass led the Rams in nearly all aspects of the game. The team had 24 shots on goal compared to VCU’s 22 and was awarded 17 draw controls in comparison to its opponents’ 16.
The Minutewomen’s leader in draw controls was none other than Jordan Dean, who carried out nearly half of their 17 with eight. Her season high of 15 was against Long Island University towards the end of February, but Saturday’s eight was still a good showing for the university’s all-time leader in the stat.
The matchup certainly did not lack physicality despite UMass’ offensive dominance. In the last 15 minutes of play time, six total cards were given out, four of which were green and four of which were given to the Rams.
At the end of the 2024 season, the Minutewomen finished first in the A-10 conference standings, going undefeated during conference play, yet fell to Richmond in the conference championship game. With a mix of new faces and returners, a conference-opening win was crucial to continue their winning ways in 2025.
UMass will be back in action on March 12th at Garber Field, where the team is slated to take on the University of Rhode Island. Start time is scheduled for 3 p.m. on ESPN+.
Emma Bensley can be reached at [email protected].
