AMHERST — The UMass women’s lacrosse team said it doesn’t need to play a perfect game to reach the Final Four, but it does need to beat a team in the midst of a perfect season.
The Minutewomen will face undefeated Maryland, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Sunday at noon in College Park. The winner earns a spot in next weekend’s Final Four in Philadelphia.
“I don’t think this game is about being perfect. Mistakes are going to happen on both sides. No one is perfect. We just have to play UMass lacrosse and do our thing,” said senior Hannah Murphy, the Atlantic 10’s midfielder of the year. “We can’t be too focused on their ranking. We just have to go out there and play lacrosse.”
UMass coach Angela McMahon said Maryland’s pedigree puts more pressure on the favorites and allows the Minutewomen to come in unburdened.
“I don’t think they get rattled by that. I think they get excited by that. I think it allows us to play maybe a little more free,” she said. “We’re going to go out and try to stick to our game plan and execute what we need to do and hopefully win the game.”
The Minutewomen are in the midst of their deepest postseason run since 1984. Like this year, that run began with an overtime win over an Ivy League school (Yale) followed by another one-goal conquest of an Ancient Eight program (Harvard).
The bad news for UMass is that season ended with a loss to Maryland.
The Terrapins have played the grim reaper to several postseason runs for the Minutewomen. In addition to 1984, UMass has lost to Maryland in two of the last five NCAA Tournaments, 15-12 in 2012 and 19-8 last year. The Minutewomen haven’t been alone. Maryland has bounced a lot of teams from postseason. The two-time defending champions have won 12 titles, more than anyone else in the sport.
Murphy was eager for the chance to write a new chapter.
“We haven’t been in this position for a long time. It’s our time. It’s definitely about making history for ourselves and for our school,” she said. “This is what sports is all about. It’s an exciting opportunity to face the best team in the country. To be the best you have to beat the best. We have a great team this year. As a program, we’re getting better every single year. This is our year to go at them and show them what we’re all about.”
The upside for UMass is the familiarity factor. The Minutewomen know how well they’ll have to play to pull off an upset and what didn’t work before.
“They have some different key personnel but their systems don’t really change,” McMahon said. “They’re similar in terms of their style of play.”
Draw controls, which have been key to UMass’ success, will be a challenge. Murphy is third in the nation winning 7.1 per game. Maryland’s Taylor Cummings, a candidate for national player of the year, is fourth with 6.4.
“I love that. I think it’s something I work hard at,” Murphy said. “We’ve put a lot of work into it. I like the challenge.”
Maryland has carried it’s top rank since the start of the season. Only three times has an opponent stayed within two goals.
Cummings leads the Terps with 70 points (53 goals, 17 assists), while Megan Whittle is their top goal scorer with 65 to go with three assists.
Goalie Megan Taylor has a 6.50 goals against average and a 47.6 save percentage.
“They’ll be the best team we’ve played all year. There’s no question about that. Their record speaks for itself,” McMahon said. “They’re the defending national champions until a new one is crowned next weekend. They’re a great team and they’re tough on both ends of the field. We’re going to really have to step up.”
HONORS, TV — UMass’ Erika Eipp and Murphy were named to the IWLCA All-America team Wednesday.
Eipp is on the second team and Murphy the third team.
The game will be carried live on the Big Ten Network at noon.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage