UMass Blasts West Chester, 4-0, In A-10 Opener

Oct. 5, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - The ever-important Atlantic 10 Conference opening weekend got off to a big start for the University of Massachusetts field hockey team, as the Minutewomen (6-6, 1-0 A-10) shutout West Chester (3-8, 0-1) by a score of 4-0, on Friday afternoon at Garber Field. Lauren Gillespie (Casco, Maine), Jaime Bourazeris (New Hyde Park, N.Y.), Cher King (Christ Church, Barbados), and Kara Murphy (Dedham, Mass.) all scored for UMass. Senior goalkeeper Becky Letourneau (Greenfield, Mass.) made four saves while recording the shutout. The Minutewomen outshot the Golden Rams, 14-7.

With the win, Letourneau improves her record to 2-5. Joelle Zarefoss made four saves for WCU. Her record fell to 3-8.

UMass controlled the game from the outset, as play stayed in the WCU zone for much of the early going.

The scoring started off with 11:49 left in the opening half. It was then that Mary Shea (Foxboro, Mass.) brought the ball into the high-right side of the circle and threaded a pass to Gillespie at the left doorstep to put UMass on top 1-0. It was Gillespie's third goal of the season, all coming in the last four games. Shea logged her team-leading third assist on the play.

With just over five minutes left in the half, UMass drew a penalty corner. Senior Nicole Phelan (North Andover, Mass.) entered on the corner to the stopper, Murphy, and Bourazeris blasted a hard shot into the left corner of the goal, upping the lead to 2-0 with 5:39 left. It was the freshman's second goal of the season, while Murphy and Phelan picked up their first and second assists, respectively, on the season.

After the half, the offensive kept on rolling. King scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season on a play in which she weaved her way up the left end-line through Ram defenders before firing a shot home, making it 3-0 with 27:21 left. With the goal the sophomore matched her scoring total from a season ago.

Just under a minute later, Murphy knocked in the rebound off a Katelyn Orlando (Manchester, Mass.) shot with 26:22 remaining to make it 4-0. It was the senior's first goal of the season, as she became the eighth Minutewoman to find the back of the net in 2007.

Conference play continues for UMass on Sunday, as the Minutewomen host La Salle (8-6, 1-0) in a noon game at Garber Field. The Explorers enter the matchup 1-0 in A-10 play as well, as they defeated Rhode Island on Friday, 3-0.

Game Notes:

With the win UMass matches their win total of a season ago (6).

Six different Minutewomen registered shots, with Orlando leading the way with three.

Marisa Holzman led WCU with three shots. The UMass defense held Sara Conrad, who entered the game with seven goals, without a shot.

Brittney Harding played the final 21:50 in goal for the Golden Rams.

UMass outshot West Chester, 14-7, and had more shots on goal, 10-4. The Golden Rams won the battle of penalty corners, 5-3.

It was UMass' first conference shutout since October 13 of last year, when they defeated Saint Louis, 1-0. The last time the Minutewomen scored four or more goals in a shutout in-conference was October 16, 2005. That was the last time West Chester visited Garber Field and the score was the same as Friday's, 4-0.

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Team Stats

Kara Murphy

Jaime Bourazeris

Cher King

Lauren Gillespie

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics