AMHERST, Mass. — After seeing No. 5 Boston College (0-1) storm back to erase a four-goal deficit and take a 10-9 lead with 13 minutes to play, the UMass women's lacrosse team (1-0) responded in a massive way by scoring six of the game's final seven goals to knock off the Eagles on Saturday afternoon at Garber Field, 15-11.
The win is UMass' first over a top-5 team in the history of the program, and the first victory against a ranked opponent since beating No. 10 Colorado in the first round of the 2017 NCAA tournament.
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"We came out ready to play," said head coach Angela McMahon. "It could've been really easy to walk into this game being intimidated by BC, but I thought we took it to them. We were really aggressive, and I'm really proud of how we stepped up and took control of the game. I thought we were poised and confident, and so many people stepped up across the board."
Haley Connaughton and Kaitlyn Cerasi led the charge for the Minutewomen with four goals apiece, while Stephanie Croke and Emma Dotsikas both added a pair in the second half and Lauren Hiller made 13 saves. Charlotte North set the pace for the Eagles with three goals and 12 draw controls, while Rachel Hall had nine saves.
Kaitlyn Cerasi had four goals to help the Minutewomen get the victory on Saturday afternoon ⬇️#Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/4h7TIc5tlf
— UMass W. Lacrosse (@UMassLacrosse) February 8, 2020
After a back and forth first half in which the Minutewomen scored in pairs to go up by as many as 6-3 with less than five minutes to play in the opening half, the Eagles were able to cut it to two with three minutes left on a goal from Jordan Lappin (two goals, two assists).
That set the stage for a wild second half in which the teams combined for 27 shots on goal and 16 goals. After Cassidy Weeks brought Boston College within one in the first five minutes of the second half, UMass rattled off three straight in a span of two minutes from Cerasi and Dotsikas to go up 9-5 with 22 minutes left.
The Boston College offense came alive, though, when the Eagles buried five straight from the sticks of five different scorers (Jenn Medjid, Lappin, North, Paisley Eagan and Cara Urbank) over a seven-minute span to take its first lead since the opening goal of the afternoon at 10-9 thanks to five straight draw controls.
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It was all Massachusetts from there, however, as the Minutewomen scored six the game's final seven goals, knotting the game at 10 off the stick of Connaughton just 24 seconds after Boston College had gone ahead. UMass went up for good with 8:43 remaining when Croke ripped home her second of the afternoon before Olivia Muscella, Cerasi and Connaughton added insurance markers down the stretch.
The Minutewomen will be back in action next weekend when UMass hosts Dartmouth on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Garber Field. Admission to all women's lacrosse games is free of charge.
