 "Photo: Cristian Gomez/Collegian")
In a season that has seen the Massachusetts men's lacrosse team struggle to put the ball in the net, it was indeed refreshing for the Minutemen to put up a monster number against Hobart on Saturday.
Eleven different UMass players scored in a 17-12 victory over Hobart on the road. The Minutemen moved to an even 5-5, the first time they have hit the .500 mark since before the season started.
The Minutemen's defense allowed a season-high 12 goals, but the offense countered with its best performance of the season to get the 'W.' Sophomore attack Jim Connolly tied a career-high with five goals in the game - matching his five-goal performance at Harvard earlier this season - and joined 10 other teammates who scored in the win.
UMass moved to 3-1 in the ECAC, the perfect prequel to its matchup with conference rival Georgetown this weekend.
The Minutemen took control of this weekend's game in the third quarter. UMass had a 9-7 halftime lead but dominated in the third quarter, scoring five straight goals to push the UMass lead to 14-7 at the end of the third quarter.
Hobart shortened the lead to 14-9 but seniors Sam Moody and Fred Federico scored their first goals of the season - Moody's came at 8:15 left in the game and Federico's followed at the 6:48 mark - to give the Minutemen the lead for good.
It was a big day for Federico, who cracked the scoreboard for the first time this season after missing his first 10 shots.
The offense began things well Saturday with its highest first-quarter scoring total of the season. The Minutemen scored four goals in the first. Freshman Bobby Hayes netted the first UMass goal at the 9:29 mark after the Minutemen went down 2-0.
Senior captain Brett Garber posted the second UMass goal just 34 seconds after Hayes' to even the score at 2-all. Connolly scored the other two goals of the first frame, sandwiching a Hobart goal by Mike Suits and preceding a Hobart man-up goal.
Connolly started the second with a goal at the 13:15 mark off an assist from attack Denis Whelan.
Connolly and Garber are now leading the Minutemen in scoring with 20 goals apiece. Connolly has seven assists and Garber has four, so Connolly edges the midfielder in total points for the year with 27 to Garber's 24.
Tim Balise, who scored one goal on Saturday at the 12:44 mark of the third quarter, is third on the team in scoring with 13 goals on the season paired with seven assists.
Midfielder Rory Pedrick leads UMass in assists with 12 followed by Brian Jacovina with 11.
Moody and Federico are the 11th and 12th UMass players to crack the scoring chart this season. Moody has taken just one shot on the season, which resulted in the goal on Saturday. Federico has just 11 shots on the season.
Rob Greenfield can be reached at rgreenfi@student.umass.edu. Log onto the Daily Collegian's sports blog at dailycollegiansports.blogspot.com.
Be the first to comment on this article!