AMHERST — A stretch of supremacy any longer than a handful of years, in any sport, is unheard of at the NCAA Division I level. It’s hard to win titles each season when a target is planted squarely on your back.

Yet somehow the UMass women’s lacrosse team has done so for a dozen years in a row, winning the last 12 Atlantic 10 regular season titles – including a 9-0 undefeated mark in 2024. The 2025 campaign comes with a different pressure however, because the Minutewomen will be competing in their final season in the A-10 – which begins on Saturday against Dartmouth at 1 p.m. in Amherst – before moving to the Mid-American Conference (MAC). 

It’s almost become normal for UMass to win the A-1o regular season, and it hasn’t lost a regular season conference tilt since 2018. The Minutewomen are a whopping 106-1 against league opponents in non-postseason games since 2012. Despite all of that dominance, UMass has only won the A-10 tournament once this decade (2021).

The players know what’s at stake this spring, as does third-year head coach Jana Drummond, and they all want to go out of the Atlantic 10 on top after falling just shy the past three seasons.

“I think it’s absolutely on the back of their minds,” Drummond said. “It used to be something that we kind of tried to shut down a little bit early [during fall practice]. But that’s not what this year is about. This year is going to be about trying to play as long as possible, whether that’s getting an at-large bid or getting that automatic bid.”

Drummond credited previous coach Angela McMahon-Serpone (who she worked under for five years) for establishing UMass as a top program in the country, and said that she’s simply tried to carry on the culture that was in place.

Every coach in the history of college athletics deals with roster turnover on a yearly basis, but because of the nature of the Minutewomen program, UMass never rebuilds.

It reloads.

“One of the main attributes of why our team is successful is that culture and atmosphere,” Drummond said. “That’s been here before I even came here. [McMahon-Serpone] did that even before I came in. I was just lucky to see it and be a part of it. That’s just something [UMass has] always had throughout the years.”

And that’ll be the case again after moving on from leading points scorer Fiona McGowan as well as Charlotte Wilmoth, who was second on the team in goals scored (55). That duo made up two of three Minutewoman players to score at least 75 points in 2024. The other is Kassidy Morris, who erupted for 63 goals (tied for 22nd in the entire country) and is primed for another stellar season as a junior in 2025.

Alongside Morris, an Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference team member, Drummond expects Ava Connaughton, Tessa Shields and Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw (transferred from Duquesne in 2023, was team’s leading scorer with 51 goals that year), to have huge years for the maroon and white.

“I know [Rodriguez-Shaw has] been putting work in,” Drummond said. “She plays for Team Puerto Rico, so just constant lacrosse for her. We’re excited to see her just blend right in. Tessa, Kass and [Rodriguez-Shaw] are all seniors for us. So they’ve really bonded off the field, which is showing out there on the field, too.”

Not only did UMass lead the Atlantic 10 in goals scored, it was also No. 1 in goals allowed – giving up the fewest goals in the conference. Senior defender Jordan Dean is coming off one of the best individual seasons in UMass lacrosse history, as she set the NCAA Division I single-season record for most draw controls won (261). Drummond hopes to see that same type of excellence from Dean, an Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference team member, and also said Dean has improved tremendously on defense.

Dean, Heather Clark and Lauren Tolve are a trio of returning players who have the expectation of leading the Minutewomen’s defense as well as transfer Lauren Carey.

The good news for UMass’ defense? Even if it has a breakdown, goalie Catrina Tobin holds down the cage behind them. Tobin made 122 saves in 18 starts in 2024, and posted a 13-5 record. She earned All-Conference Second Team last season and is a team captain this spring as a redshirt junior.

“It’s awesome, especially being a defensive coach, seeing how they're blending together and building that chemistry,” Drummond said. “Because it is a little bit new. So I would say [there] are some great voices out there. We have a lot of hard workers that are helping tie it all together.”

All signs points to yet another double-digit win season and Atlantic 10 regular season title, but UMass won’t be satisfied with just that.