Season-Opening Weekend Continues Feb. 28 at UConn

New Hampshire (1-0, 0-0 America East) at Connecticut (1-1, 0-0 Big East)
Sunday, February 28 | 3 PM
Joseph J. Morrone Stadium | Storrs, Conn.

WATCH ONLINE | Live Stats

UNH Women's Lacrosse Home Page
UConn Women's Lacrosse Home Page

THE MATCHUP | CLICK HERE for series history

UNH has a 7-10 lifetime record against UConn that includes 3-7 the past 10 meetings (since 2009).
Last year, UConn closed the first half on a 5-0 run to build a seven-goal halftime lead and the Huskies went on to a 21-8 win at UNH's Tucker Field.
The Wildcats were 13-12 victors in the most recent matchup at Storrs, Conn. (Feb. 24, 2019). UNH took a 13-9 with 10:34 remaining and fended off the hosts as goalie Issy Torres made the last of her 13 saves with 66 seconds remaining to secure the win.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

UNH is led by ninth-year head coach Sarah Albrecht, who was named America East Coach of the Year in 2019, when the Wildcats finished 10-7 overall and 5-2 in America East.
New Hampshire is 1-0 following Friday's 20-9 win vs. Merrimack College at Wildcat Stadium.
The last time UNH started a season with back-to-back wins was 2010.
The 2021 Wildcats are captained by grad student Rylee Leonard and senior Tatum Benesh. Leonard was an America East All-Conference Second Team honoree in 2019 and redshirted the '20 season.
The 27-player roster has a breakdown of one grad student, five seniors, nine juniors, five sophomores and seven freshmen.
The 2020 Wildcats were 1-4 when the remainder of the season was canceled the second week of March because of COVID-19.

SEASON OPENERS

New Hampshire has a 27-18 all-time record in season openers and that includes Friday's 20-9 win vs. Merrimack at Wildcat Stadium.
The home team has won seven of the last nine season openers; the two exceptions were when Harvard won at Wildcat Stadium in '17 and '19.
UNH has won five of the last seven games in which the season opener was at home.

UNH ROLLS PAST MERRIMACK

The Wildcats scored the first seven goals of the game to build a 7-0 lead midway through the first half, led 9-4 at halftime and pulled away for a 20-9 victory in Friday's season opener vs. Merrimack College at Wildcat Stadium.
In the second half, UNH pushed the lead to nine goals (14-5), then the Warriors went on a 3-1 spurt to close within 15-8 at 6:51. The 'Cats answered with three consecutive goals, however, to build a double-digit advantage, 18-8, with 4:33 remaining.
UNH recorded the advantage in shots (40-21), shots on goal (35-17), ground balls (22-13), draw controls (17-13) and turnovers (9-13).
Both teams excelled on clear attempts. UNH was 16 of 17 (94,1%) and MC went 13-for-14 (92.9%).
The Wildcats scored on 5 of 8 free-position shots. Merrimack went 2-for-5.

NEW HAMPSHIRE NOTABLES

The 20 goals vs. Merrimack marked UNH's highest total since April 20, 2019 (20-14 win at Vermont).
It was also the highest goal output in a season opener since March 19, 1994, when the Wildcats were 21-3 victors at St. Joseph's.
The 40 shots is the highest total since March 31, 2018, when the 'Cats tallied 44 shots in a 17-0 win at Hartford.

WILDCAT LEADERBOARD

Sophomore Liv Dunn led the attack with six points. Dunn, who did not record a point in her abbreviated 2020 rookie season, finished with five goals and an assist.
Senior Julia Neyland recorded three goals and two assists to match her career highs in both assists and points.
Six other Wildcats tallied multiple points, including grad student Rylee Leonard with one goal and two assists.
Junior Abby Cranney, senior Sabrina Grovom, freshman Olivia O'Connor, junior Delaney Pratt and sophomore Ava Schroeder each scored two goals.
Junior goalkeeper Issy Torres (Elmhurst, Ill.) was credited with eight saves.
Pratt recorded a team-high six draw controls.
Leonard and O'Connor tied for the team lead in ground balls with three.
The shot leaders were Neyland (nine), Dunn (seven) and Cranney (seven).
Four Wildcats were credited with one caused turnover: junior Taylor Dudek, sophomore Jessie Hounchell, Schroeder and O'Connor.

MADE OF GRANITE

There are six Wildcats who hail from the Granite State; they are senior midfielder Gabby Masseur (Nashua), junior midfielder Abby Cranney (Amherst), junior defender Taylor Dudek (Amherst), sophomore midfielder Jessie Hounchell (Manchester), freshman midfielder Mackenzie MacEachern (Bedford), and freshman defender Lizzy Aiello (Mont Vernon).

AT THE POLLS

UNH was selected third in the 2021 America East Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll that was released Feb. 9.
Stony Brook received all seven possible first-place votes and 49 points to sit atop the poll. UAlbany received the other first-place vote and 43 points.
UNH was next with 34 points, followed by UMBC (30), Vermont (26), Binghamton (21), UMass Lowell (15) and Hartford (7).

FOLLOW THE UNH WOMEN'S LACROSSE TEAM
Twitter:     @UNHWomensLax      Twitter: @UNHWildcats
Instagram:  @unhwomenslax      Instagram: @UNHWildcats
Facebook: UNH Wildcats
Get UNH Women's Lacrosse Emails                    Get UNH Athletics Emails

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Players Mentioned

Tatum Benesh

Abby Cranney

Taylor Dudek

Liv Dunn

Sabrina Grovom

Jesslyn Hounchell

Rylee Leonard

Mackenzie MacEachern

Gabby Masseur

Julia Neyland

Olivia O'Connor

Delaney Pratt

Ava Schroeder

Issy Torres