April 29, 2012

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Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. - Top-seeded Massachusetts defeated Richmond, 14-9, to capture its fourth-straight Atlantic 10 Women's Lacrosse Championship title Sunday afternoon at Robbins Stadium on the University of Richmond's campus.  The title is the fifth for Massachusetts, tying Temple for the most titles in the A-10.

With the win, Massachusetts will host Canisius, the Champion of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, on Sunday, May 5^th, in an NCAA play-in game to determine the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

"It was a battle for both teams today that came down to hustle plays and minimizing mistakes," said UMass head coach Angela McMahon. "I thought we did a good job of managing the time of possession which was a key goal of ours today.  Richmond is a great team that we knew was capable of making a comeback. Luckily we were able to make key defensive stops in the final moments to secure the win."

The tournament's Most Outstanding Performer, Massachusetts' Cori Murray, led all scorers in the final game with five goals and an assist, totaling six points.

The game remained scoreless for 6:25 before Massachusetts found the back of the net on an unassisted goal by Murray.  Temmate Tanner Guarino netted a goal 20 seconds later to give the Minutewomen the 2-0 advantage. 

Richmond's Emily Doyle would get the Spider's on the board, scoring an unassisted goal at the 21:23 mark, but the Minutewomen answered with three unanswered goals over the next nine minutes from senior Jesse O'Donnell, Murray, and sophomore Katie Ferris.  Ferris' two points today places her at 95 points on the season, breaking the Atlantic 10 record for single-season point total.

Massachusetts outshot the Spiders, 16-7, in the first half, but Richmond kept the game within striking distance thanks to an outstanding effort by goalie Victoria Roebuck and entered the half down 8-3.

UMass netted the first two goals following the break, but Richmond battled back time and time again, trading goals with the Minutewomen in the second half and narrowing the score to 13-9 with 5:30 to play with a Caitlin Fifield goal assisted by senior Mary Flowers.

With

Massachusetts will now face Canisius, the winner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, in a play-in game to gain an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The play-in game will be played on the campus of the University of Massachusetts on Sunday, May 5 at a time yet to be announced.

2012 Atlantic 10 Women's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team

Megan Seidman, George Washington

Amanda Kidder, Duquesne

Sam Stevenson, Richmond

Mary Flowers, Richmond

Caitlin Fifield, Richmond

Victoria Roebuck, Richmond

Kelsey McGovern, Massachusetts

Riley Perry, Massachusetts

Lauren Terracciano, Massachusetts

Nina Sarcona, Massachusetts

Cori Murray, Massachusetts

Katie Ferris, Massachusetts

Most Outstanding Performer

Cori Murray, Massachusetts