Minutewomen Set Season High in Goals, Dominating La Salle 23-11

AMHERST, MASS. -- Massachusetts women's lacrosse (8-3, 6-0 A-10) earned their sixth consecutive win, dominating La Salle (1-10, 0-5) 23-11 on Saturday afternoon at Garber Field. Massachusetts set a new season high, scoring 23 goals on 43 shots.

The Minutewomen controlled the action from the jump, claiming a 5-0 lead just 1:42 into the first quarter. Massachusetts owned a significant possession advantage, holding the upper hand in draw controls (21-12) and ground balls (21-1).

Kassidy Morris continued to be a force offensively, totaling seven points on five goals and a pair of assists. The performance marks the seventh game this season that Morris has led the Minutewomen in goals and eighth time she has recorded four or more in a single game.

Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw also tallied seven points, recording four goals and three assists. Tessa Shields notched her ninth straight multi-goal game, totaling four tallies on the afternoon. The Longmeadow, Massachusetts native recorded a hat trick in the first 80 seconds of game action.

Ava Connaughton was a jack of all trades on the day, recording a goal to go along with three assists, two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Catrina Tobin made a trio of saves allowing just seven goals on 45 minutes in net.

The Explorers were led by Katie Johnson who recorded seven points on five goals and two assists.

Breaking Down The Action

The Minutewomen opened the game on a 5-0 scoring run over the first 1:42 of game action.
La Salle notched its first score of the game on a goal from Katie Johnson with 11:07 remaining in the opening quarter.
Bridget Valentine responded with her first goal of the season, making the score 6-1 with 8:19 on the clock.
Sam Klein scored the Explorers third goal, cutting the Minutewomen lead to 8-3 with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter.
Tessa Shields scored with Massachusetts' 10th goal of the game, sending the Minutewomen into second quarter with a seven goal advantage.
Kassidy Morris opened the second quarter with her thid goal of the game, extending the Massachusetts lead to 11-3.
Tessa Shields struck with a woman-up goal to give the Minutewomen a 10-goal lead with 10:33 remaining in the first half.
Mia Riccitelli capped a 2-0 scoring run for La Salle, cutting the Massachusetts advantage back to 13-5.
The Minutewomen responded with a 3-0 run of their own as Shields pushed the UMass advantage back to 16-5 just under under two minutes left in the second quarter.
Molly Maloney finished the first half with an Explorer goal, sending both programs into the break with the score 16-6.
Kassidy Morris scored her fourth and fifth goal of the day to open the third quarter and extend the Massachusetts advantage to 18-7
Isabella Fisher notched her first goal of the day to complete the third quarter, UMass leading 21-7.
Jeilinne Bonilla scored her third goal of the season, Massachusetts holding a 22-8 advantage with 10:11 remaining in regulation.
Fisher scored the final goal of the game, recording her first multi-goal effort of the season to finish a 23-11 win for the Minutewomen.

Notable Numbers

5: Massachusetts scored five goals in the first 1:42 of game action.
8: Rodriguez-Shaw recorded her eighth multi-goal game of the season.
9: Shields tallied her ninth consecutive multi-goal game of the season.
13: The Minutewomen went a perfect 13-of-13 on clear attempts in the matchup.
15: Jordan Dean tallied 15 draw controls in the afternoon.
23: Massachusetts scored a season-high 23 goals.
43: The Minutewomen recorded 43 shots, 35 of which were on goal.
51: Massachusetts has now won 10 consecutive A-10 regular season games.

Series History

Saturday's matchup marked the 28th meeting between the two programs with Massachusetts holding a 27-1 record all-time in the series.
The Minutewomen have now won 16 straight games against the Explorers going back to 2010.
Massachusetts has won 51 consecutive A-10 regular season matchups, last falling 17-16 in overtime to VCU on Sunday, April 22, 2018 at Cary Street Field.

Up Next

The Minutewomen continue their homestand, hosting Richmond Saturday, April 5 at 11 a.m. in Amherst, Mass. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and can be followed live on umassathletics.com or UMassLacrosse on Twitter.

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