For the first time in nearly three years, the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team has won five consecutive games. The Minutemen (5-1) earned their fifth straight victory with an 11-7 win over the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday. The last time UMass had a winning streak at least this long came on April 2, 2022, after an overtime win against Delaware clinched a five-game winning streak. 

“It was a tough game,” head coach Greg Cannella said. “It was extremely cold, extremely windy, so tough handling the ball. Our defense was solid throughout, kind of controlled the tempo of the game on the defensive side. And then we had some timely scoring, particularly in the second quarter that kind of pushed us forward … but again, it was an ugly game and a grind out game for us, for sure.” 

Playing on the road in Burlington, Vermont, on the second game of a four-game trip, the Minutemen never trailed against Vermont (2-3). Every time the Catamounts tried to piece together a run, UMass had the response, allowing Vermont to score back-to-back goals just once in the game.  

After a strong first half scoring-wise with eight goals, the UMass defense locked down Vermont and only allowed two goals in the entire second half.  With six minutes left in the game, the Catamounts pulled within three goals but defense, clock management and a Trace Hogan empty net goal sealed the Gorillas win.

“Again defensively, we were very solid,” Cannella said. “[Salanger] didn’t start out great but he settled in, made some great saves … our short sticks again did a great job. Blaise New, Jimmy Elliott, Ryan Mourad and Brady Hoff, those guys were stellar.”

Four goals in the first half from freshman Robbie Granara helped put the Minutemen in early control of the contest. The Reading, Massachusetts native put the first two of three goals on the board for UMass in the first quarter. On Granara’s first goal of the afternoon, Brian Jackman nearly lost the ball but picked it up and saved the play with a dish to the freshman. Granara was waiting on the doorstep and scored right in front of the cage. 

A common connection this season on the UMass attack has been between Merrimack transfer Hogan and the freshman Granara. In the win on Saturday against the Catamounts, Hogan found Granara three times that totaled in three assists for him, tying a season-high previously set in the opener against Army.

“Three goals and three assists, good day,” Cannella said of Hogan’s performance. “[Hogan and Granara] had a good connection … [Hogan] has good eyes and he tracks a lot of people when he dodges … we’re fortunate to have him on our attack side.”

Granara achieved his hat trick early in the second quarter with help from Hogan. On his hat trick-sealing goal, Hogan sailed a pass over to Granara who was waiting to the right of the cage and snuck up on goalkeeper Ryan Daly for the short distance score. Hogan later fed a short pass to the freshman, and Granara drilled a low shot into the back of the net for his fourth goal.

Hogan put in work primarily with playmaking in the first half, but he added scoring to his repertoire in the second half, finishing with a hat trick in the game. Hogan’s second goal of the afternoon that came late in the third quarter helped give the Minutemen their largest lead of the game, a five-goal advantage.

Vermont had some opportunities to damage UMass in the scoring column, but the Minutemen defense held strong, as it has all season. For the fifth straight game, the Gorillas limited their opponent to under 10 goals. 

The Catamounts won the faceoff battle 15-6 and had three total extra-man opportunities on Saturday. Despite this, Vermont could not capitalize on the chances, and it was UMass who converted a couple times on goals after winning a faceoff.

One of these Minutemen goals off faceoff wins came late in the first quarter. After Tristan Whitaker had pulled the Catamounts back within one goal of tying the game, Brendan Coyle won the ensuing faceoff and aggressively charged towards the cage. Coyle’s shot was saved by Daly, but the rebound was quickly picked up by New, who punched in the Minutemen’s fourth goal and took away any momentum Vermont was trying to gain.

“Very important,” Cannella said about the importance of scoring after faceoffs to stop runs. “You know lacrosse is a game of runs and if you can stop a run from happening then you’re doing a good job in a game … they kind of chipped away and then we would go back up by two or three. It gives [us] the ability to play relaxed so those are important goals for sure.” 

The Minutemen will continue with their road trip as they travel to New Jersey to take on Rutgers on Sat. March 15. Faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.

Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected].