No. 19 Women's Lax Sets NCAA Record with Win at Mason

FAIRFAX, Va. - For the 39th consecutive time, the No. 19 UMass women's lacrosse team came out victorious against an Atlantic 10 foe with Friday's 13-9 win at George Mason giving the Minutewomen a new NCAA record. The 39th straight conference win for UMass (10-1, 3-0 A-10) broke its tie with Northwestern for the longest such streak in the history of the NCAA.

The Wildcats had originally set the record with 38 straight American Lacrosse Conference wins from 2005-2011. The Minutewomen have won every Atlantic 10 regular-season game since March 2011.
Friday's game was not without its early drama as the Patriots (7-3, 2-1 A-10) held UMass at bay for the first 20 minutes of play taking a 4-3 lead at the 9:42 mark of the first half.

The final four minutes of the first half, however, was all Minutewomen as UMass closed the opening
frame with a five-goal run to take an 8-4 lead into the intermission. Three of those goals came in a one-minute span that swung momentum squarely in UMass' favor.

The teams each traded the first four goals of the second half until an Erika Eipp tally with 15:01 left put UMass up 11-6.

George Mason, one of most improved teams in the A-10 this season, fired back with three straight goals to pull within two, 11-9, with 11:34 to go. Hannah Warpinski notched back-to-back goals to highlight the spurt.

The Minutewomen locked down on defense to prevent the Patriots from reaching double-figures. No team this season has reach the 10-goal mark against UMass this season.

Eileen McDonald and Hannah Murphy closed out the scoring with a pair of goals in the final five minutes to seal the win.

A-10 goal scoring leader Nicole Troost scored four on Friday giving her 14 tallies in the last three games. Eipp notched six points thanks to a pair of goals and four assists. Murphy finished with two goals, an assist and eight draw controls, while McDonald and Hannah Burnett each had a pair of goals. Holly Turner closed out the scoring with a goal and two assists.


Defensively, Sam Walters made three saves in the first half, including one just before the halftime buzzer, while Aileen Kelly made one save in the second half.

Mason received four goals from Chachi Kelehan to match Troost for game-high honors. Warpinski finished the night with three goals and an assist. UMass was able to hold Jacquelyn Spalding, one of the league's top attacks, to just a goal and an assist.

Elizabeth Benedetto made nine saves in goal taking the loss.

UMass held a 31-to-20 advantage in shots and a 19-to-11 edge in ground balls. The draw circle was key for the Minutewomen who won 19-of-24 opportunities thanks in part to the eight by Murphy.