Women's Lacrosse tops UNH, stays undefeated

The UConn women’s lacrosse team beat University of New Hampshire 11-9 Wednesday afternoon in their home opener. The Huskies battled through the wind, rain and snow to remain undefeated so far this season.

UConn’s Lauren Kahn scored the first goal of the game on a free position shot giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead within five minutes of the first half. After UConn’s first goal, UNH aggressively came back scoring two goals giving them a 2-1 advantage. UConn’s Carly Palmucci, Kacey Pippitt, Catherine Gross and Morgan O’Reilly each scored goals to give UConn a 5-2 lead with 10 minutes left. However, by the end of the first half, UNH scored two more goals making it a 6-4 Husky lead.

The second half UConn came out on top, scoring two goals within minutes of each other. Morgan O’Reilly and Jordan Christopher each scored goals to help UConn lead 8-4. The Bobcats made it clear from the start that they were not giving up without a fight. Toward the end of the second half, New Hampshire’s Jenny Simpson scored three consecutive goals in a row along with Laura McHoul’s one goal to bring the score up to 10-9. Although UConn was still ahead by one, there was 10 minutes left on the clock, giving the opposing team ample time to tie or even win the game. The Huskies managed to hold off the Bobcats for the remaining time, while Ally Fazio scored one last goal for the Huskies ending the game at 11-9.

“Our weaknesses were that we didn’t really support the ball the way we could have,” head coach Katie Woods said. “We turned the ball over a lot and it was a lot of forced turnovers so it was just kind of awareness and taking care of the ball ..But strengths I think we did pretty well on the draw. We had a couple times where it got a little dicey but for the most part we won the draws... and at the end of the game when it mattered we did handle the pressure.”
With the win over New Hampshire, UConn remains undefeated with a 4-0 record this season. In order to keep the momentum up the coaches are trying to keep the players grounded and focused for the games ahead.

“I think we need to stay focused on the little things, you know,” Woods said. Taking care of the ball, making sure our shots follow, things like that, and continuing to really focus on our defense and getting better in those areas as opposed to getting caught up in the excitement of an undefeated situation.”
UConn will be put to the test in their next game against Fairfield on March 9.