For the last two games, the Massachusetts women's soccer team wondered how it would replace the offensive firepower of forwards Britt Canfield and Sydney Stoll.
If the first half is any indication for how the Minutewomen (0-1-2) will answer that question, they may have just found that answer in Vanessa Patry. The senior forward scored both goals in Thursday's 2-2 tie against New Hampshire.
"We had great balls through from the midfield so I just did what I have to do," Patry said after the game.
Patry wasted no time putting UMass on the board, 1-0, after converting on a first career assist from defender Katie Ruggles. Patry received the deep pass before shooting the ball in the upper right-hand corner 6 minutes, 51 seconds into the game.
Patry scored her second goal 31:17 into the first half on a pass from freshman Meghan Collins inside the left post. The last time Patry scored two goals was almost two years to the day on September 3, 2006 when she scored two goals in UMass' win against Iona.
"I was just so happy that we were getting chances at goals," UMass coach Jim Rudy said. "I didn't really realize it until later, and she got two nice goals in there."
Patry is currently three goals away from reaching her career high for single-season goals. She scored four goals in each of the last two seasons.
But even when Patry wasn't scoring, she seemed to have her hand in almost every play, allowing the Minutewomen to stay aggressive. UMass took more shots (24) in the game than its first two games combined (12).
17 of the shots came in the first half.
"I think it's time," Rudy said, referring to the scoring chances. "We're maturing and I think we are going to be pretty good, but these things take time."
UMass has worked on implementing a more aggressive strategy this week and put what it worked on in practice during the game.
"We've really been concentrating on finding the through ball in practice so I really think we're bringing what we do in practice to the games," Patry said.
The Minutewomen put plenty of pressure on the Wildcats, bringing the entire team up to make the game go faster. The strategy did not go without some consequence, allowing New Hampshire forward Julie O'Shaughnessy to take a break-away towards the net and score in the lower part of the goal.
It did, however, keep UNH on its toes the entire game as it spent most of the first half trying to bring the ball past midfield.
"We got a lot of people forward, but that's a double-edged sword," Rudy said. "You go forward so far as often as we do, you can fatigue yourself out and we didn't get the result we were looking for."
Rudy would like to see Patry's senior year go out on a career year, but is hoping she doesn't become the go-to player that Canfield and Stoll became.
"I'm hoping we're going to get a whole bunch of [scorers on offense]," Rudy said.
Game notes
The last time a UMass player scored two goals in a game was Stoll, who tallied two against Hartford on Sept. 16, 2007. Canfield also scored twice in the second half against Xavier on Oct. 7 last year. … Goalkeeper Lauren Luckey suffered an ankle injury with 1:25 left in the second overtime, but stayed in the game. … The junior had a controversial save late in the game that could have otherwise dealt UMass its second loss of the season. Luckey dove for a loose ball as a UNH player went towards the ball for a shot-on-goal, however, the goalkeeper got her hands on it and was ruled a clean save.
Adam Miller can be reached at ajmil0@student.umass.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!