COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A three-goal spurt for the UMass women's lacrosse team in the final 76 seconds of the first half paved the way for a 13-8 win over Jacksonville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon. Junior attack Erika Eipp had a game-high five goals, while sophomore midfielder Hannah Murphy added three goals and 10 draw controls.
The Minutewomen (19-1) will next face No. 1 seed and top-ranked Maryland on Sunday at Noon at the Maryland Field Hockey And Lacrosse Complex.
Murphy's 10 draw controls tied the UMass single-season record with 110 for the season and now ranks 3rd all-time in career draw controls with 155. She needs one more to crack the NCAA top-15 list for a single season as well.
In addition to her three goals, Murphy added two assists on the offensive side. UMass also received goals fromHolly Turner (2), Katie Ott (1), Nicole Troost (1), and Amy Tiernan. Ott Murphy and Eileen McDonald each had two assists as well. Rachel Vallarelli made six saves for the win in net.
Dani Dellarocca had three goals and an assist to lead Jacksonville (17-3) while Brittney Orashen had two goals and an assist. Asia Moore made seven saves in goal taking the loss.
The game started out with each team trading goals over the first 27 minutes of play. After Eipp put UMass up 3-2 at the 10:48 mark, Orashen tied the game for third time in the first half with 2:42 until halftime.
The Minutewomen won the ensuing draw control which led to a Eipp's third goal of the day. Murphy won the next draw control for UMass as well which set up a goal for Turner with 16 seconds left in the first half. Murphy again won the next draw control and hit a streaking Eipp who sprinted along towards the cage for a goal with 8 seconds until halftime extending the Minutewomen's lead to 6-3.
Troost scored just over two minutes into the start of halftime making it 7-3, but back-to-back goals from Jacksonville pulled the Dolphins back within two with 22:24 to go.
The teams traded the next four goals before the Minutewomen scored three straight from Turner, Ott and Murphy to go up 12-7 with 7:02 remaining.
After an Orashen goal at the 5:48 mark, Murphy added her third of the day to close out the scoring.
UMass won 17-of-23 draw controls in a game that was mostly even statistically. Jacksonville held a slight 24-to-22 edge in shots, while committing one more turnover (14-to-13) than the Minutewomen.
The win is the second time the Minutewomen have advanced to the NCAA Second Round since defeating UConn in the 2013 NCAA First Round. It also marked the 91st win for Angela McMahon in her fifth year as head coach at UMass. That ties her as the all-time winningest coach in program history with Pam Hixon who had 91 from 1979-87. The 19 wins are also the second most in program history while UMass enters Sunday's game with a 12-game win streak in hand.