University of Massachusets Athletics
Women’s Lacrosse Opens NCAA Tournament Against Princeton
May 11, 2016 | Women's Lacrosse
For the eighth straight year, the No. 16 UMass women’s lacrosse team will play in the NCAA Tournament as the Minutewomen square off with Princeton on Friday (4 p.m.) at Cornell’s Schoellkopf Field in the first round. The Minutewomen earned the Atlantic 10’s automatic berth after winning the league title last weekend.
UMass (18-1) and Princeton (11-5) will meet for the first time ever. The winner will take on the winner of Friday’s other first round game between No. 8 seed Cornell and Canisius in Sunday’s second round game.
The Minutewomen will be making their 11th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament. UMass won the first-ever NCAA-sponsored National Championship game in 1982 and followed that with semifinal appearances in 1983 and 1984.
In 2013 and 2015, UMass advanced to the NCAA Second Round with wins over Connecticut and Jacksonville. All-time, UMass is 7-11 in NCAA Tournament games.
Leading into the game against Princeton, the Minutewomen have won 14 consecutive games. That streak included UMass’ sixth straight perfect run through the Atlantic 10 regular season. UMass set an NCAA record this year with a 45-game active winning streak against league foes in regular-season play.
UMass is led offensively by senior attack Erika Eipp who has a career-best 86 points. She earned Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year honors and has 36 goals and 50 assists this season. Her 50 assists stand as both the UMass and Atlantic 10 single-season records.
Just behind Eipp in the scoring column is sophomore attack Holly Turner who has a career-best 67 points on a balanced 32 goals and 35 assists.
A bevy of Minutewomen have reached the 40-point plateau this year with senior attack Eileen McDonald (44 points), junior midfielder Hannah Murphy (44 points), junior attack Callie Santos (43 points), and Hannah Burnett (40 points).
Murphy has been a force in the midfield as she was named the Atlantic 10 Championship Most Outstanding Player and the A-10 Midfielder of the Year for the second straight year. She holds an school and A-10 record with 138 draw controls.
Defensively, the back four are anchored by a trio of seniors. Kate Farnham enters the weekend with 92 career caused turnovers which ranks second all-time. The Atlantic 10 Defender of the Year is joined by her twin sister Anne Farnham and Amber Tobin. Overall the Minutewomen rank No. 3 nationally in scoring defense allowing just 6.32 goals per game.
The senior leadership plays in front of a pair of goalies as Sam Walters and Aileen Kelly split time in goal. Walters has a 17-1 record on the year with a 6.74 goals-against-average and a .475 save percentage in the first half of every game this season. Kelly has played the role of closer in the second half with a 5.89 goals-against-average and a .509 save percentage. Walters was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team, while Kelly’s first career win came in last Sunday’s A-10 Championship title game where she made a career-high seven saves to earn All-Tournament Team honors.
Princeton is led by Olivia Hompe who has 56 points with a team-best 45 goals. Colby Chanenchuk is the team’s top playmaker with 21 assists and 27 points this year.
Ellie DeGarmo is the keeper of record for the Tigers with an 8.73 goals-against-average and a .550 save percentage.