The No. 25 Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team took down the reigning Atlantic 10 champions Richmond 16-11 on Friday afternoon. The Minutewomen (14-3, 10-0 A-10) entered the tournament undefeated in A-10 play, having previously beaten the Spiders (11-8, 7-3 A-10) at Garber Field.
“For [the team], it’s really about coming out here and competing,” head coach Jana Drummond said. “Even with us seeing Richmond in this playoff situation, it’s been a different outcome. So I think for us it was playing moment by moment…not thinking about anything except that exact moment and how we are going to support each other as a team.”
The conference tournament semifinal victory marked the seventh time in program history UMass has defeated Richmond in the postseason.
The Minutewomen’s three-goal run during the third quarter cemented the result. The run was kickstarted by Kassidy Morris after receiving the ball from Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw just outside the 8-meter arc. Running up towards the crease, the junior shot over Spiders goalie Abby Francioli for her third goal of the matchup.
Morris also concluded the three-goal run with just under four minutes remaining in the period. Finishing with a game-high five goals, this is the attacker’s 14th consecutive game in which she has scored at least four times.
Rodriguez-Shaw scored a player-up goal during the third quarter run as well, her 45th score on the season. She received the ball from Lauren Tolve and then maneuvered into the 8-meter arc to shoot right over Francioli.
Katie Peterson also featured in UMass’ offense, scoring her third goal of the season with just over a minute of game time remaining. Ava Connaughton fed the ball to her from behind the net, which led to Peterson running around from the right and shooting into the bottom left corner.
Also scoring for the Minutewomen was Dylan Lyons, Tolve and Connaughton. Lyons scored her second brace of the season, bringing her goal tally to nine.
Tolve scored her 20th of the season 38 seconds into the second period. Assisted by Morris, her goal extended the scoreline to 4-2 in UMass’ favor.
Connaughton scored four goals for the fifth time this season. Her hat trick goal occurred two minutes into the last period. With the Minutewomen having a two-player advantage, she found a hole in the Richmond defense and shot right outside of the crease.
Despite the win, UMass faced pressure from the Spiders offense. The team never had a lead larger than six goals, an anomaly for them this season.
Minutewomen goalkeeper Catrina Tobin faced 24 shots, 14 of which were on goal, and made three crucial saves throughout the contest.
“Richmond’s offense is obviously the strongest part [of] their team, so for us, we knew we were going to see a lot of shots so what kind of shots are we giving them?” Drummond said. “How can we get on their hands and slow [them] down a little bit more, so we put ourselves in an [advantageous] spot.”
Physicality played a large role on Friday, with 12 cards being given out over 60 minutes. Crucially, Richmond received five yellow cards and Caroline Chandler received her second early in the fourth period.
UMass will be back on the field Sunday, May 4, with first draw scheduled for noon and the game streaming on ESPN+. Its opponent will be the winner of the second semifinal game played Friday afternoon.
Emma Bensley can be reached at [email protected].
