UMass Picks Up Eighth Straight Victory, Defeats VCU 16-8

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts women's lacrosse team recorded its eighth consecutive victory in a 16-8 win over VCU on Saturday at Garber Field. Kassidy Morris led the Minutewomen (9-4 Overall, 7-0 Atlantic 10) with a career-high seven goals while Jordan Dean finished with a career-best 20 draw controls in the win.

Dean's 20 draw controls paced a UMass squad that finished with a 22 to six advantage on the draw as the junior moved to 378 for her career. Dean needs just 17 draw controls to pass Caitlyn Petro's 394 for most all-time by a Minutewoman.

Morris' seven-goal day moved the attacker to a team-leading 47 goals on the season to go along with 14 assists for 61 points. The redshirt sophomore opened the game's scoring just under 90 seconds in as Lauren Tolve found Morris with the assist to make it 1-0. Fiona McGowan and Charlotte Wilmoth added consecutive goals for UMass before VCU put one home to make it a 3-2 game after 15 minutes of play.

Wilmoth finished with three goals for her sixth straight hat trick, adding her second early in the second quarter to give the Minutewomen a two-goal lead. Goals from Morris and Charlotte Clavelli brought the count to 6-4 in favor of UMass while VCU followed with two consecutive goals to knot things up at 6-6 at the halftime break.

UMass outscored VCU 6-0 in the third quarter behind a four-goal stanza for Morris. Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw scored twice in the frame, grabbing the first goal of the second half with 12:16 to go in the third before her 14^th of the season made it 9-6 with 7:34 to play in the third. Morris' second goal of the quarter and first of three consecutive pushed the UMass advantage to four before two more goals made it a six-goal game at 12-6 heading into the final frame.

Tessa Shields opened the scoring on a McGowan assist less than 30 seconds into the fourth to give UMass' its then largest lead of the day at seven. Shields and McGowan each finished the day with a goal and a pair of assists for three points. Skylar Simmonds scored from a free position attempt with 6:35 to go after VCU got back within five before Wilmoth and Morris each scored with under a minute to go to bring it to a 16-8 final.

Audra Tosone led the UMass defensive unit with three caused turnovers for a squad that finished with 10 on the day. Lauren Tolve and Layton Nass finished with three and two ground balls, respectively, while Catrina Tobin posted seven saves as she picked up her ninth win of the season in goal for the Minutewomen.

UMass continues its three-game homestand with a Wednesday matchup against UConn at Garber Field at 6 p.m. The Minutewomen return to Atlantic 10 play with a Saturday contest against George Washington for Senior Day at 3 p.m.

Scoreboard

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Team Stats

Kassidy Morris

Charlotte Wilmoth

Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw

Fiona McGowan

Players Mentioned

Charlotte Clavelli

Jordan Dean

Fiona McGowan

Kassidy Morris

Layton Nass

Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw

Tessa Shields

Skylar Simmonds

Catrina Tobin

Lauren Tolve

Audra Tosone

Charlotte Wilmoth

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics