The Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team leads Delaware, 10-4, at halftime. Here are some thoughts from the first two quarters of play.
Senior strength - In a must-win game on Senior Night to have a chance to keep the season and careers of eight players alive, UMass’ seniors came up big in the first half. The Minutemen have had arguably their best offensive half of the season much to the credit of their senior class, which has been responsible for eight of UMass’ goals so far. Kyle Smith has five goals for the Minutemen while Will Manny (two goals, two assists) and Colin Fleming have also found the scoreboard. UMass’ struggles this season, especially offensively, could be credited to a lack of cohesion with the ball after both Manny and Fleming missed significant time with injuries. But the Minutemen have looked more in sync offensively than they have all year and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Taking advantage - Delaware has played like a team with nothing to play for tonight, and UMass has taken advantage. Joe Calvello has dominated the faceoffs, and even assisted Smith for a goal right off the draw following a Blue Hens goal. Calvello even scored a goal of his own off a faceoff at 6:30 of the second quarter. On top of that, Delaware has struggled to keep possession as the Minutemen have made forcing turnovers look easy. It all started on UMass’ first goal of the game at 11:39 of the first quarter. The Minutemen were a man up and Blue Hens goalkeeper Conor Peaks failed to make a clear. Instead, Manny scooped up the groundball and got his team on the scoreboard. Delaware has struggled offensively as well. While the Blue Hens have found a way to beat UMass goalkeeper Zachary Oliveri at times, they’ve taken some poor shots that have gone way off target.
