Sunday felt like the longest day of their lives for the players on the UMass field hockey team.
After losing to Miami (Ohio) in overtime during the MAC Championship on Saturday, the Minutewomen spent the majority of the next day wondering whether they would receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“Every hour was taking longer than the next one just to wait until 10 p.m.,” senior captain Kristy Leonard said. “Just nervous all day, going through all the emotions, like we’re in, we’re not in. Being excited that there’s a possibility, but also being sad that there’s a possibility that our season could be ending. So yeah, a whirlwind of emotions.”
When the selection show announced UMass received an at-large bid to the tournament, the Minutewomen jumped for joy, knowing their season would continue. It is the second time in three years the team qualified for the national tournament.
”We talked about that before the MAC final, one of the things we were playing for is one more game,” UMass head coach Barb Weinberg said. “This time of year you’re fighting for that one more game, and then you get to that point, and then you’re preparing to win the next game.”
Despite the 2-1 loss, Weinberg believed it was one of the team’s best performances of the season. She saw untapped potential in the group that gave her confidence that they could compete in the national tournament.
“I felt after the Miami game that this team is just getting started,” Weinberg said. “We started to see some things from our team that we’ve been asking them to do this season, and they hadn’t quite done yet, and it started to happen in the game.”
UMass’ next opponent is Ivy League champions and No. 6-seed Yale. The two head to Cambridge and play each other Friday at Harvard’s field at 2:30 p.m. The Bulldogs earned their first-ever league title by beating higher-ranked 3-2 Princeton in a shootout.
Weinberg placed emphasis on the need to pick up an early goal or two as Bulldogs sophomore goalie Amelie Schwarzkopf allowed just 17 goals all season.
”They’ve had a couple of comeback wins this season where they’re down by a couple of goals, and they come back, and they end up winning it in a shootout,” Weinberg said. “Their goalkeeper is really talented, so we’re going to have to create a lot of chances for ourselves to be able to get the ball past her.”
Yale’s latest comeback was in the Ivy League Championship, wiping out a 2-0 fourth quarter deficit by scoring twice in the final nine minutes of regulation.
Leonard is among eight players that remain from UMass’ Final Four run in 2024. The Minutewomen lost 1-0 to eventual champs Northwestern. Having that experience not only prepares them for the high-pressure situation, but makes the returners hungry to make another run.
“I just think it’s realizing how big those games were and how you can be done at any point, so just going out there, giving it your all, really taking it to the opponent,” Leonard said. “And then just for us to explain how incredible the experience was to the younger girls or the grad students coming in, and how special the occasion was, and how we would love to get back to where we ended in 2024.”
Several of those newcomers turned out to play significant roles for the UMass this season, earning multiple conference honors.
Graduate student Niamh McKenzie won the MAC Offensive Player of the Year. The New Zealand product led UMass and the conference with 20 goals and 47 points. Right behind her in both categories was the MAC Freshman of the Year, Amber Fairon. The South Africa native scored 19 goals and tallied 42 points, both were second-most in the league.
Maine transfer Rozárie Mrázová took home the team’s third individual honor. The graduate student won Goalkeeper of the Year after a dominant campaign that saw her record a 0.73 goals against average in 15 games.
Junior Elani Sherwood was one of nine selected to the All-MAC Teams. She scored the team’s lone goal in the MAC Championship and has been the team’s anchor in the midfield, contributing on both sides of the ball.
“She is playing out of her mind with and without the ball, attacking-wise and defensively,” Weinberg said. “A catalyst to not only our attack going forward, but also being able to win the ball back defensively when we turn the ball over. I think she’s been the best player on the pitch for us this season.”
Weinberg won coach of the year for the third time in the past six seasons. With a new lifeline on their season, the Minutewomen are preparing as much as they can to extend it even longer.
If UMass makes it past the first round, it faces the winner of No. 3-seed Harvard and Big East champion Old Dominion on Sunday. The Minutewomen beat the Crimson 3-1 earlier this season. Meanwhile the Monarchs took down Connecticut, the only team to beat UMass in the regular season, in their conference title game.
