For the No. 17 Massachusetts field hockey team, Saturday's matchup against No. 3 Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA tournament was all that stood between them and their status as one of the most elite teams in the nation.
But for UMass coach Justine Sowry and her players, the Minutewomen came one goal short of achieving that in a season-ending 3-2 loss.
UMass (17-5) heads into the offseason at the same point it did a year ago - getting ousted in the first round of the tournament. In the process, the team collected the program's 11th Atlantic 10 title and 21st NCAA tournament appearance. Making it to that point, however, is a success for Sowry and the Minutewomen.
"Our goal was to make the NCAA tournament, and we achieved that," Sowry said. "We won the A-10 title again and won a very tough play-in game and going against the No. 3 team in the country. Our goal was to leave it all out on the field and I'm proud of how our girls fought."
All season long, the Minutewomen have been on the cusp of beating some of the best teams in the country, including No. 5 Connecticut and then-No. 2 Syracuse earlier this season. However, UMass beat top-ranked teams in No. 19 Kent State and No. 20 Albany.
The Minutewomen stormed back from a 4-0 halftime deficit but fell just short of a win in a 5-4 loss in their first matchup against the Orange (21-1), only to come one goal short of ousting them once again in their second game.
"We certainly had our chances and we just kept persisting, which is true to our form all year," Sowry said.
It took UMass until the second half of its first game against Syracuse to get on the scoreboard. But in Saturday's contest, it only took the Minutewomen 3 minutes, 25 seconds to get one in the back of the net.
Junior forward Cher King scored for UMass off of a rebound on a penalty corner. Sophomore defender Jackie Tait's shot was initially saved by Syracuse goalkeeper Heather Hess, but was collected by King for the score. The play produced the only save for Hess in the game.
"We came out hard and jumped on them from the very first minute," Sowry said. "Our goal was to put 70 minutes of hockey with the first five minutes taking it to them and we did that; we scored early."
The initial goal didn't rattle Syracuse. The Orange scored about three and a half minutes later to tie the score with a goal from freshman midfielder Martina Loncaria. Syracuse added to its lead when senior midfielder Shannon Taylor scored off of a penalty corner to put the Orange up 2-1.
The Minutewomen tied the game before the half when a turnover by the Syracuse defense led to a UMass goal with under four minutes left in the half.
Sophomore forward Katie Kelly made a steal deep inside the Syracuse zone and faced a slide tackle from Hess as she charged from goal. Kelly lofted the ball over the goalkeeper to forward Katelyn Orlando who was waiting in front of the goal. The senior and A-10 Player of the Year's score tied up the game as the teams went into halftime.
"I thought the first half was relatively even," Sowry said. "Both teams had their opportunities and they scored two to go one ahead. But our second goal gave us a great rush and gave us a lot of confidence going into halftime."
The UMass confidence took a huge hit when Taylor struck again off of another penalty corner midway through the second half to put the Orange up 3-2.
Penalty corners by Syracuse would eventually doom UMass as the Orange held a 14-4 advantage. The edge was only amplified when Taylor, the nation's leading scorer with 31 goals, was thrown into the equation.
"[Shannon Taylor] is absolutely lethal on penalty corners, she is a weapon," Sowry said. "I think we defended the corners well. But if Shannon Taylor gets a hit off, nine times out of 10 it's a very hard, difficult shot to stop."
Taylor's second goal proved to be the final score of the game as the Minutewomen failed to produce much offense in the second half. UMass mustered only two corners and three shots, none of which were on goal.
The loss ended the season for the Minutewomen, but after two NCAA tournament births in her first two years with the program, Sowry believes that the team is moving in the right direction to get to the next level.
"We're a much more skillful team and a much more knowledgeable team. But we need to learn how to beat the big fish but we were a heck of a lot closer this year," Sowry said. "We know what it takes to get here now, we just have to overcome that last hurdle."
Nick O'Malley can be reached at nomalley@student.umass.edu.
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