Field Hockey: No. 17 Minutewomen bounce Siena, 5-1

The individual skills of numerous players were put on display this past Saturday as the No. 17 Massachusetts field hockey team routed Siena, 5-1.

Four different players scored for the No. 17 Minutewomen (8-3), including a two-goal effort from sophomore Jaime Bourazeris. The Saints (0-8) were outmatched in every statistic except saves (12), made by two different goalies.

Junior goalkeeper Sarah Williams made no saves while allowing one goal in the game. However, this shows nothing of both Williams' and the UMass defense's skill, which allowed just one shot-on-goal, which came off of a breakaway from Saints defender Jenn Reich, late in the second half.

"We wanted to get back to our passing game," UMass coach Justine Sowry said of the Maroon and White's tactics against Siena. "I thought we did that reasonably well today, passing rather than dribbling. It was a good opportunity to play [bench players]. Everyone got good time and Sarah [Williams] got an opportunity back there as well."

With this being the first game the Minutewomen were without starting goalkeeper Alesha Widdall and forward Cher King, other players minimized the personnel losses by making contributions of their own.

Senior captain Erin Parker scored the first goal of the game - fourth of the season, grabbing a rebound after a corner attempt and depositing the ball in for the score within the first two minutes of the game.

Parker was in on the next goal too, passing the ball in from a penalty corner to Mary Shea who faked the shot, leading to Bourazeris' first goal of the game. Parker's goal and two assists gave her the team lead in points with 14.

Bourazeris and Parker would hook up again on a corner as the first half ended, as Parker this time inserted the ball to Katelyn Orlando, who faked the shot and Bourazeris sent the ball past Saints goalkeeper Jennifer Tesak, who had eight stops for Siena.

"We went back to some of the basics that I think we stray from that I think we were working on earlier in the season," Parker said of the team's continuity. "We really concentrated on our passing game and getting a lot of communication from the team."

The Saints' inability to transfer the ball led to their downfall, as most of their scoring attempts were stopped in the midfield and immediately turned around for shots-on-goal.

UMass barraged Siena with 31 total shots, 21 of which came in the first half. By the end of the half, Siena coach and UMass alumnus Bill Davidson pulled Tesak in favor of fellow senior Renee Clavette, who gave up two goals and made four saves by game's end.

Another advantage that the Maroon and White had over the Saints was its seven penalty corners to Siena's two in the first half. The Saints wouldn't earn another penalty corner for the rest of the game.

The Minutewomen got a scare after Orlando scored her sixth goal of the season. In the play, Orlando took the feed from Novak and made a diving shot but stayed on the ground clutching her leg and sat out the rest of the game but she was seen walking around shortly after the game had ended.

Defender Jackie Tait finished the scoring for the Minutewomen, scoring on a 1-on-1 penalty stroke midway through the second half.

In the absence of King, Sowry inserted numerous players, including four freshmen, into the game to get them more playing time.

Coming off of a year in which she sat out due to a back injury, redshirt sophomore Amy Novak had an impressive showing of three shots-on-goal and an assist, her first point since 2006.

Mike Gillmeister can be reached at mgillmei@student.umass.edu.

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