Minutewomen Open A-10 Play With 18-12 Victory Over VCU

RICHMOND, VA. -- Massachusetts women's lacrosse (3-3, 1-0 A-10) claimed an 18-12 win over VCU (2-5, 0-1) in the Atlantic 10 opener on Saturday afternoon at Cary Street Field.

Kassidy Morris led the charge for the Minutewomen totaling a career-high 10 points on seven goals and three assists. Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw recorded her fourth hat trick of the season, recording three goals and two assists in the matchup. Lil Hancock and Tessa Shields followed closely behind, each scoring two goals on the afternoon.

Morris, Rodriguez-Shaw and Shields combined for six of Massachusetts' seven goals in the fourth quarter to ice the conference opening victory.

Five Minutewomen recorded at least three ground balls with Norah Prizze securing a team-high five. Catrina Tobin made 10 saves while reeling in a pair of ground balls in net.

The Rams were led by Ashley Karn who totaled five points on two goals and three assists.

Breaking Down The Action

Massachusetts opened up a 2-0 lead through 15 minutes of play thanks to goals from Lil Hancock and Kassidy Morris.
Brigid Welch buried a free position goal to push the Minutwomen lead to 4-0 with 11:54 to play in the second quarter.
VCU cut the deficit back to 4-2 thanks to a pair of free position goals from Sam Palmer and Ashley Karn.
Ava Connaughton finished a free position goal of her own to push the Massachusetts lead back to 6-2 with 3:08 remaining in the first half.
Mason Whitmore capped a 3-0 VCU run to cut the Massachusetts' lead to 6-5 at the end of the first half.
Norah Prizzi and Delaney Rodriguez scored a pair of goal 10 seconds apart to extend the Minutewomen lead back to 8-5 with 13:32 to play in the third quarter.
Kenson Epperly scored a pair of goal to key a 3-1 VCU run and cut the Ram deficit back to one goal, 9-8.
Prizzi and VCU's Sophia Bombardieri traded goals in the final 36 seconds of the quarter to send both teams into the final 15 minutes with the score 11-9 in favor of Massachusetts.
Sarah Jones and Whitmore opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 11-11 for the Rams.
Morris, Rodriguez-Shaw and Tessa Shields combined for six of Massachusetts' seven fourth quarter goals to ice the game and give the Minutewomen an 18-12 victory.

Notable Numbers

4: Rodriguez-Shaw recorded her fourth hat trick of the season.
7: Massachusetts scored seven goals in the fourth quarter, with Morris, Rodriguez-Shaw and Shields scoring two apiece.
10: Morris recorded a career-high 10 points on seven goals and three assists.
12: Morris tallied a team-high 12 shots on the day.
36: The Minutewomen recorded 36 shots, 24 of which were on goal.
46: Massachusetts has now won 46 consecutive A-10 regular season games.

Series History

With the win, Massachusetts now holds an 7-1 record all-time in the series.
The two opponents last faced each other on April 13, 2024 with UMass claiming a 16-8 win at Garber Field.
Massachusetts has now won 46 consecutive A-10 regular season matchups, last falling 17-16 in overtime to VCU on Sunday, April 11 at Cary Street Field.

Up Next

The Minutewomen return home to face Rhode Island for the first time since 1982 on Wednesday, March 12 at 3:00 p.m. on Garber Field. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and can be followed live on umassathletics.com or UMassLacrosse on Twitter.

Scoreboard

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Team Stats

Kassidy Morris

Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw

Lil Hancock

Norah Prizzi

Players Mentioned

Ava Connaughton

Lil Hancock

Kassidy Morris

Norah Prizzi

Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw

Tessa Shields

Catrina Tobin

Brigid Welch

Players Mentioned

Ava Connaughton

Lil Hancock

Kassidy Morris

Norah Prizzi

Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw

Tessa Shields

Catrina Tobin

Brigid Welch

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics