The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team defeated the University of Richmond Saturday 19-10 at Garber Field.
Kassidy Morris, Ava Connaughton, Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw, Lil Hancock, Tessa Shields, Lauren Tolve and Norah Prizzi found themselves on the score sheet for the Minutewomen (9-3, 7-0 Atlantic 10), and all but Prizzi scored multiple times. These seven players have all notched over 10 goals this season for UMass, the only seven on the team that have done so.
“[The goal scorers provide] a very selfless offense,” head coach Jana Drummond said. “They know the looks, [saying] ‘It’s not about me, it’s about how can we help each other, how can we get open for one another and what are the looks that [are] given’ and really being patient out [on the field].”
Furthermore, Drummond said assistant coaches are “preaching” a “diverse” offense, which helps the Minutewomen have so many different goal scorers.
For the second game in a row, Morris was the Minutewomen’s leading goal scorer, finding the back of the Spiders’ (7-6, 5-2 A10) goalkeeper Abby Francioli’s net five times over the 60-minute game. This is the ninth consecutive game in which she has scored four or more goals.
The redshirt junior’s first goal came midway through the first quarter. After receiving the ball from Rodriguez-Shaw inside the eight-meter arc, Morris shot over the top of Francioli to bring Richmond’s lead down to one.
“[Morris] is such a very hard worker…she knows what she needs to do, she’s also really great at cheering everyone on,” Drummond said. “Everyone gets so excited for her, but she also gets so excited for when everyone else scores. I think that development for her is awesome.”
Morris’ fifth and final goal was assisted by Connaughton, who scored her fourth hat trick of the season Saturday, not accounting for her two games with four goals scored.
The attacker’s second goal of the game came with a second remaining in the first half. After receiving the ball from Shields to the right of the net, Connaughton shot into the top left corner to give UMass a 9-5 lead going into the half.
Shields kickstarted the switch in the Minutewomen’s offensive attack just over two minutes into the second quarter with the team down 4-2. From there, UMass went on a four-goal run, with Morris, Hancock and Connaughton all contributing to stretch out its lead over the Spiders.
Hancock had her best stretch of the game midway through the fourth quarter. With just over 12 minutes to play, the sophomore assisted Shields before securing her third goal about 40 seconds later.
Receiving the ball from Prizzi outside the 12-meter arc, the Westwood native swerved around Richmond defender Keating Hopkins to shoot across the back of Francioli’s net, giving her side a 16-7 lead.
The Minutewomen’s 19th and final goal was scored by Rodriguez-Shaw with just over four minutes left on the clock. Running into the 8-meter arc, the senior ran around two Spider defenders and shot into the bottom right corner from the left of the circle.
The senior attacker also assisted twice for Morris and Hancock, respectively, bringing her tally for the season to 22.
Tolve and Prizzi also had their moments for UMass, with Tolve specifically notching her third multi-goal game of the season. The senior scored the first goal of the game unassisted before putting in another midway through the fourth quarter.
Prizzi has now scored in five straight games after breaking into the Minutewomen’s rotation at the beginning of the season.
Connaughton gave UMass the most points Saturday, scoring three goals and providing three assists, putting six points on the score sheet. Morris was close behind with five.
UMass will be back in action against Davidson on Sat. April 12 in Davidson, North Carolina. The conference matchup is scheduled for 12 p.m. on ESPN+.
Emma Bensley can be reached at [email protected].
