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For the first time since 2016, the UMass field hockey team is going dancing. The Minutewomen earned at at-large bid into this year’s NCAA Tournament as one of the 18 best teams in the country. UMass drew a familiar foe in its first tournament game in eight years as the Minutewomen will battle No.
3 overall seed UConn on Friday in Storrs, Conn. “UConn is always a big rival so it's good, it's gonna be a great game,” UMass graduate student Claire Danahy said. UMass finished the regular season with a 15-5 overall record, three of those wins coming against nationally-ranked teams.
Combined with its perfect 7-0 record in the A-10, the Minutewomen’s strength of schedule earned them a spot in the bracket. “The mathematical criteria is pretty clear going into the selection,” UMass head coach Barb Weinberg said. “I knew that we were doing pretty good as far as that stands.
There's obviously subjective conversation that goes on as well. I had a pretty good idea that things had played out in our favor, but I wasn't 100 percent positive until it was announced.” For the third year in a row, UMass fell in the Atlantic-10 final to Saint Joseph’s in a 2-1 loss on Nov.
9. However, unlike the prior two seasons, the Minutewomen’s season continues on with their selection into the NCAA tournament. “Just super excited,” UMass senior Hannah de Gast said.
“I had a good feeling about it but actually hearing it on the news is obviously super nice. I felt like it wasn't right for us, for the season to be over yet, so I'm really glad we have another chance to keep playing. Article continues after.
.. Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess “I felt like our game [against Saint Joseph’s], it was so good,” de Gast said.
“It's unfortunate that it didn't go our way. I feel like now we have something to prove to ourselves and the rest of the world out there." Danahy and de Gast are two of UMass’ 13 upperclassmen on this year’s roster and have been key in guiding the Minutewomen to their most successful season during Weinberg’s tenure.
Danahy leads the team in assists (13) and points (27) while de Gast isn’t far behind in the point department with 19. “I think it's been critical for our team this year,” Weinberg said. “There's always things that go on, adversity that we need to overcome on the field and off the field every season, and I think our leaders have done a phenomenal job of filtering what they need to, addressing what they need to and keeping a really clear focus on what the team's focus is.
" Weinberg’s been at the helm for the Minutewomen since 2017. Back on Oct. 20, UMass lost to the Huskies, 1-0, which counted as its only defeat in the month of October.
UConn won the Big East to earn an automatic seed into the NCAA tournament, and its 17-3 record was bested by only Northwestern (19-1) and North Carolina (18-0) among Division 1 teams. “I think it's always fun to play a team twice in the season because when you look back at that game and really break down what went well and what we needed to improve on, it becomes pretty clear what we need to focus on coming into this game,” Weinberg said. Julia Bressler was the Huskies’ goalscorer in the last meeting between the two teams, while Paula Lorenzini led the Minutewomen with two shots on goal.
“I think if we come in with confidence, we know how we play, we know how we can play, just playing to our best ability and I think that just comes with confidence,” Danahy said. “Everyone can play and everyone is at this level where we're able to compete with these top teams so I think that's the best thing I would say to everyone, is just play with confidence, play as you know and if we play as a team how we did against St. Joe's we'll be good.
” Friday’s matchup is scheduled for 12 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN-Plus.
The winner advances to play the winner of Syracuse and Harvard in the quarterfinals on Sunday at 1 p.m..
