AMHERST – The UMass field hockey team was hoping for some redemption against Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic-10 Conference championship game on Saturday afternoon. The two teams had clashed once in the regular season a month earlier, and the Hawks emerged victorious with a 3-0 win.
Unfortunately for UMass, it was much of the same on Saturday. Top-seeded St. Joe’s secured another 3-0 victory against the No. 2 Minutewomen to earn the A-10 title at Gladchuk Field.
“We had trouble connecting really any passes together today. I think St. Joe’s stepped up defensively really strong,” UMass head coach Barb Weinberg said. “Every single pass that we made was under a ton of pressure, and we weren’t able to ever get into a flow in the game.”
From the very start, the Minutewomen’s defense was thrust into the spotlight. St. Joseph’s came out aggressively, controlling the pace of play and hold the ball mostly in its own offensive zone. The Minutewomen were able to keep the game close despite the Hawks’ ferocity, keeping the visitors off the board entirely in the first quarter.
“Especially the first quarter, our defense had a fantastic game. Organization and individual defense is the strongest it has been all season,” Weinberg said. “For them to come out of that the first two quarters with the score line that we had, it was phenomenal.”
Sol Borensztein scored the first goal of the contest five minutes into the second quarter, picking up a rebound on a corner attempt that got past freshman goalkeeper Myrte Van Herwijnen. All three of St. Joe’s goals came off corners, which was a key part of the Hawks’ success; in contrast, UMass did not earn a corner all game, nor were they able to put a shot on net.
The second St. Joe’s goal came off an electric corner play, where Freke Van Tilburg unleashed a rocket of a pass to Lily Santi. Van Tilburg also scored the Hawks’ third goal of the game in the fourth quarter to secure the championship.
Though the outcome wasn’t what UMass hoped for, there are a lot of positives the team will take from this season. It was the squad’s first time back in the A-10 championship game since 2017, which was Weinberg’s first year as head coach. They’ll also return nearly all of their players next season.
“I think the future is incredibly bright. Our seniors, as I just said to them, they’ve done a phenomenal job building this program. This has been five years in the making,” Weinberg said. “We have most of them returning other than Bella Ianni. Obviously with talented newcomers in the program, I think the future is very bright.”