No. 3 Minutewomen Fall to No. 7 UConn, 2-1, in Eighth Round of a Shootout

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final F
Massachusetts	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
UConn	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2

Massachusetts

UConn

STORRS, Conn. – The No. 3 University of Massachusetts field hockey team fought back from a 1-0 deficit to even the score, but eventually fell just short to seventh-ranked UConn, 2-1 on Sunday afternoon. After overtime and the five-round shootout, it took three rounds of sudden-victory shootouts for the Huskies to hand the Minutewomen their first loss of the season.

With the loss, UMass falls to 11-1 while UConn improves to 9-1.

"I thought it was a really great matchup today," said head coach Barb Weinberg. "It was very even, back and forth. It's a talented UConn team; it's a talented UMass team. Both teams had opportunities to win it in regulation. We had one penalty corner off the post. We had a couple more chances from the field, and UConn was the same. They had some cross balls that went right across the cage that could have gone in."

The first quarter saw four combined shots, two from each team. Rozárie Mrázová made the only save of the quarter, coming at the 5:51 mark, while UMass had the only penalty corner of the stanza.

The second quarter saw tremendous defense on both sides, without a shot or penalty corner, with the game remaining scoreless after 30 minutes of play.

The Minutewomen held a 5-2 edge in third-quarter shots, but it was the Huskies who got on the board first. Taking their first penalty corner of the game, Olivia McKenna put it home on a tip play in front at the 34:32 mark.

Just under two minutes later, Amber Fairon had a rocket off a penalty corner that ricocheted off the post. But just over three minutes after that, UMass came through as Emily Barrett fired a direct shot off a penalty corner past Natalie McKenna to make it 1-1 with 5:04 left in the third.

Take a look at Emily Barrett's game-tying goal today at UConn!#Flagship ?? pic.twitter.com/lVkyei8sIz
— UMass Field Hockey (@UMassFH) October 4, 2026

The Huskies had the only two shots of the fourth, both off target, while there were no penalty corners for either side. Overtime was similar, with neither team being able to break through the opponent's defense, sending the game to a shootout.

In the five-round shootout, UMass had goals from Niamh McKenzie and Barrett. Neva Eisenga converted in the sudden-victory sixth round, but UConn's Lucy Zich answered right back. Eventually, McKenna won it for the Huskies in round eight.

WHERE DID SHE COME FROM?! ?? Rozárie Mrázová with the ?????????????????? shootout save today ?? #Flagship ?? | #SCTop10 | @ESPNAssignDesk https://t.co/66dbn1WXVc
— UMass Field Hockey (@UMassFH) October 5, 2026

"At the end of the day, when you're in your third round of sudden victory shootouts, one team's going to win and one's going to lose," said Weinberg. "I'm proud of the team's performance today. I think we played much better than Friday and we're going to continue to build on this."

Final shots were 9-8 in favor of UConn, with the Minutewomen holding a 4-1 edge in penalty corners. Mrázová made one save through overtime, then several more strong saves in the shootout, including one highlight reel stop when she came flying out of nowhere to make the stop.

UMass now turns its attention to Friday when the Minutewomen return home to host Appalachian State at 4 p.m.

Scoreboard