On a rainy Amherst day, the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team powered past Richmond 19-10 at Garber Field on Saturday. Looking for redemption after last year’s Atlantic 10 final loss, the Minutewomen (9-3, 7-0 A-10) got the job done against the Spiders (7-6, 5-2 A-10) to remain undefeated in conference play.
Though Richmond controlled the pace early, UMass quickly settled in during the second quarter. Following a Spider turnover, the Minutewomen executed a quick passing sequence before attacker Ava Connaughton, positioned behind the net, found Tessa Shields cutting parallel to the left goalpost. Shields took the feed in stride and buried a shot into the back right corner of the net, securing a third goal for UMass and cutting its deficit to just one.
Less than a minute later, Minutewomen attacker Kassidy Morris charged up the middle from the 12-meter fan, shrugging off two Richmond defenders before rifling a shot past the Spiders’ goalkeeper, Abby Francioli, to tie the game.
Morris finished the day with five goals on nine shots, marking her ninth game this season with four or more tallies.
Shortly after, a pair of free-position opportunities swung the momentum further in UMass’ favor. Westwood natives Connaughton and Lil Hancock each capitalized, finding the back of the net to give the Minutewomen a 6-4 lead over Richmond.
“Overall, the team really bought into what their needs [were] and what their role [was] for the day, which really gave us a sense of unity on the entire field and [on] the sideline,” head coach Jana Drummond said.
UMass struck first, as Lauren Tolve found the back of the net within the game’s opening minute. The Spiders quickly responded, though, rattling off three unanswered goals to take control early.
Richmond’s scoring began with Colleen Quinn, who capitalized on a woman-up advantage after Minutewomen defender Katherine Cuozzo received a green card just under five minutes in. Riding that momentum, the Spiders’ Whitney Liebler and Alexis Morton each added goals of their own. UMass’ Morris briefly halted the run with a goal off an assist from Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw, but Richmond closed out the quarter with a fourth strike, taking a 4-2 lead.
“We started a bit slow,” said Drummond. “It’s like, ‘Let’s get back to our fundamentals, our roots and what makes us UMass.'”
While the Spiders were in a good position early, the Minutewomen came back to outscore Richmond 7-1 in the second, gaining the lead and maintaining control for the rest of the match.
“You could just see [a] shift,” Drummond said. “[We ran] through the ground ball, [made] our shots, [shot] at the net and also [maintained] possession when we had it.”
The Spiders briefly broke through to start the third quarter with a goal from Juliana Stanley, but UMass responded swiftly with another four-goal burst. In this stretch, Morris added two more scores to her tally while Rodriguez-Shaw and Hancock contributed one each.
The final frame followed a familiar rhythm as the Minutewomen poured in six goals compared to Richmond’s three, sealing a dominant conference win.
UMass saw seven different players net goals, with four clinching hat tricks and two securing braces. On the defensive end, the Minutewomen managed 16 clears and turnovers against the Spiders.
“It’s everyone out there playing defense together,” Drummond said. “It’s not just one person getting scored on, it’s all of us, [and we really] have cohesiveness on that.”
The victory marks the 52nd consecutive A-10 regular season win for UMass. The Minutewomen are now 25-12 all time against Richmond.
“With the UMass mindset, we can really pull it all together,” Drummond said. “We still had some mistakes, we still had some turnovers, so how can we focus on putting ourselves in the right mindset to fine-tune those so we’re even stronger for [the] next game?”
UMass is back in action with another A-10 matchup at Davidson on Apr. 12 at noon. That game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Kate Endres can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @Kate_e_endres.
