Balanced Attack Leads Women's Lax In 25-11 Win Over Niagara

Recap, photo courtesy of UMass

Minutewomen tie school record for most goals in fourth-straight win.

DeLand, Fla. - Behind a balanced offensive attack, the UMass women's lacrosse team tied a single-game school record for goals scored en route to a 25-11 victory over Niagara on Wednesday afternoon at Stetson University's Athletic Training Center. The win marked the fourth straight for the Minutewomen (5-2) as they wrapped up a spring break trip to Florida with wins over Ohio State and the Purple Eagles.

The 25 goals marked the third time UMass has set the school mark with similar performances coming in wins over Duquesne and La Salle during the 2017 campaign.

Overall, 12 different players scored goals for the Minutewomen on Wednesday led by six from Kiley Anderson who also had an assist and a team-high nine draw controls. Hannah Palau recored four goals and an assist, while Emma Dotskias and Cassidy Doster each had two goals and an assist. Brinely Anderson, Julia Smith and Olivia Muscella each had two goals while five other players posted one each. Gina Carroll earned the win in cage making eight saves.

Niagara (3-4) was led by Rachel MacCheyne who had five goals and a game-high 15 draw controls. Caroline Crump and Alexis Morales each had two goals and an assist. Maren Geiger took the loss making 10 saves in 34 minutes of work, while Michelle Messenger made four saves in the final 26 minutes of action.

UMass tallied 52 shots which was just one off the school record, while holding Niagara to 27 total. Draw controls were fairly even, but the Minutewomen were able to force 24 turnovers while committing just 14 for the game.

The Minutewomen led 15-6 at halftime thanks to an eight-goal run which put UMass up 15-5 at the 3:55 mark with all eight goals being tallied by different players.

After scoring the final goal of the first half, Niagara responded with four more to start the second half cutting the deficit to 15-10 in the first six minutes of the stanza.

From there, it was all UMass after a nine goal burst put the Minutewomen up 24-10 as the defensive unit held Niagara scores for a 21 minute span. The Purple Eagles finally tallied a man-up goal with 2:50 remaining, but Smith scored just over a minute later for the school-record tying marker.

UMass will remain on the road this Sunday, March 17 with the non-conference finale at Dartmouth. The opening draw in Hanover, N.H., is set for 1 PM.