The No. 16 Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team fell to No. 4 Princeton 19-10 on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This was UMass’ first appearance in the tournament since 2023 and its first loss since the early-season matchup with UConn at Garber Field.
“Overall, not to just focus on this game, this has been one of the best seasons that we’ve had,” head coach Jana Drummond said. “The leadership of our seniors has been incredible, the work of this team, you can just see a family atmosphere through and through. The grit that this group has really brought us back to UMass foundations.”
Drummond also attributed their strength as a team to the losses at the beginning of their dominant season, connecting them in both the attack and defense.
The Minutewomen (15-4, 10-0 Atlantic 10) were able to garner an early lead against the Tigers (15-3, 6-1 Ivy League) but ultimately could not hold onto it.
One minute and 15 seconds into the contest, Lauren Tolve leveled the playing field, scoring UMass’ first goal of the contest. From there, Kassidy Morris scored her sole goal of the evening 27 seconds after Tolve’s.
Morris scored after receiving the ball from Lil Hancock inside the eight-meter arc, completing a full 180 and firing over Princeton goalkeeper Amelia Hughes and into the bottom left of the net. She ended her red-shirt junior season with 78 goals and 101 total points.
With 12 and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter, Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw scored from a free position shot, giving the Minutewomen a 3-1 lead. She also scored in the second and fourth quarters to end the season with 51 goals.
Despite the early lead, they ended each quarter trailing the Tigers. Going into the last 15 minutes, UMass was down 12-8, a period in which it was outshot 7-2.
Within the first six minutes of the quarter, Princeton found open space between the Minutewomen’s defense and the back of goalkeeper Catrina Tobin’s net three times before UMass responded.
The Tigers’ leading goal scorer this season, McKenzie Blake, led their attack with five goals. Two of them came in their dominant fourth quarter. She picked up a ground ball inside the eight-meter, running behind the net. Unable to find anyone to pass to, Blake ran back from behind the end line to shoot a sidearm shot into Tobin’s net for her fourth of the afternoon.
Her fifth and final goal of the evening was scored with six and a half minutes left of the game to give Princeton a 16-9 lead and cement its advancement to the second round.
Ava Connaughton followed Rodriguez-Shaw in goal scoring with two. She also provided two assists during the 60 minutes.
The sophomore’s first goal came with 20 seconds left in the first half. Receiving the ball from Tessa Shields just outside of the crease, she dove just inside the crease, shooting underneath Hughes and falling onto the turf.
Also on the scoresheet for UMass with one goal each were Hancock and Dylan Lyons. Hancock also provided two assists during the contest.
“Since freshman year, [the seniors] have always been a team that you have to pull back a little,” Drummond said. “Then this year was like ‘just do what you guys do best,’ they’re such a strong class … not all of them were on the field right away, but you can see the hard work they put on off the field and through each practice to get themselves and get the team where it is.”
Kassidy Morris and Catrina Tobin will be returning for the 2026 season to fulfill their last year of eligibility.
Looking to next season, the Minutewomen will be moving to the Mid-American Conference, where they hope to continue their dominance. Drummond hopes to use their success to continue to push to be the best they can and raise the bar for the program going forward.
Emma Bensley can be reached at [email protected].
