UMass heads to CAA men's lacrosse tournament after defeating Blue Hens
1
2
3
4
5
6
AMHERST - In stark contrast to its performance a week ago, the 19th-ranked University of Massachusetts men's lacrosse team beat Delaware 11-5 Friday in front of 2,002 in the first night game at Garber Field since 2004.
In comparison to its one-sided 14-5 loss last weekend against Hofstra, the Minutemen turned the tables on the Blue Hens, outscoring Delaware 6-2 in the third quarter to take control of the game.
"With college students, they're like vampires ... when they're not going to class on Sundays, they're sleeping until 1 or 2 o'clock," UMass coach Greg Cannella said. "Maybe the night game gave them a little bit more edge."
Once the sun set on senior day, it was freshman Connor Mooney who lit up the turf, scoring a career-high five goals to pace the Minutemen offense after what was a low-scoring start to the game.
UMass will play at Penn State Wednesday in the semifinal round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The Minutemen (9-4, 4-2 CAA) will be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed after tiebreakers. Seeds for the tournament will be finalized after Penn State plays Hofstra Saturday.
"It feels good to come out with a win. We've got to get on a roll going into the playoffs, so it's always nice to get a win, especially after last week," UMass junior midfielder Anthony Toresco said. "It shows that we can play our worst game and then come out and play one of our best games."
The Minutemen didn't score until two minutes, 23 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game at 1-1. That began a streak of four unanswered goals heading into the third quarter.
Then, after the two teams traded goals to begin the third frame, Mooney scored back-to-back tallies 33 seconds apart, the latter of which came on a feed from Mike Fetterly (two assists) as he was diving toward the net, to give UMass a 6-2 lead.
Delaware responded with a goal by Nick Elsmo with 6:57 left before Art Kell (one goal, two assists) fed Kyle Smith (one goal) to push the UMass lead back to 7-3 with about five minutes to play in the third.
Then, Mooney struck again with 1:13 remaining, taking a Will Manny (one goal, three assists) pass from behind the net and beating goalie Noah Fossner (10 saves) for an 8-3 lead.
"I was getting behind my guy's head, but Will Manny and Mike Fetterly were giving me great feeds, so I had the easy part," Mooney said.
On the ensuing faceoff, Toresco won possession and raced down the field on a breakaway to score his first goal this season and give UMass a 9-3 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Mooney capped his career night with 9:57 left to play in the game on a fancy move. He received a Manny pass just to the right of the net, took a jab step to freeze a defender, then turned and zipped a shot in the top-left corner of the net.
Mooney's five goals are the most by a UMass player since Art Kell scored five against Providence on March 16, 2010. Coming into this game, Mooney hadn't scored since March 8 at Albany and had eight goals on the season.
"Connor Mooney played great," Toresco said. "I think four or five goals out of a freshman, you can't ask for more. He played like a senior tonight."
Prior to the game, eight seniors were honored: captains Ryan Hantverk and Casey Rahn, Ryan Liebel, Travis Tripucka, Mael Walkowiak, Mike Wilus, Stephen Zorkers and Brett Newgaard.
UMass lost to Penn State 8-7 on March 19 at Garber Field as Hantverk had a last-second shot attempt ring off the post. Penn State goalie Austin Kaut had 25 saves, keying its victory.
"We have to shoot better. ... (Kaut) was excellent in that game," Cannella said. "They've become a much better shooting team. I think their coaches have developed a much better chemistry within their team. You just kind of have to put out that type of effort we put out tonight. ... If we can do that on Wednesday night, we'll be successful."
