Season Resumes April 18 at Hartford (ESPN3)

2021 UNH WOMEN'S LACROSSE
New Hampshire (2-4, 1-3 America East) at Hartford (0-6, 0-6 America East)
Sunday, April 18 | 12 PM
Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium | West Hartford, Conn.

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THE MATCHUP | CLICK HERE for complete series history

UNH has won both previous matchups against Hartford.
The Wildcats prevailed 16-6 in the most recent meeting. (March 30, 2019 at Wildcat Stadium)
In the first ever meeting, UNH won 17-0 in West Hartford. (March 31, 2018)

COMPARISON SHOPPING

UNH ranks seventh in America East in scoring (11.17 goals per game) in comparison to Hartford at No. 8 (7.50).
At the other end of the field, the Wildcats are No. 5 in goals against average (13.55) and Hartford is No. 8 (20.50).
New Hampshire is No. 3 in ground balls per game (18.17); Hartford is No. 6 (15.67).
The 'Cats average the third fewest turnovers per game (13.83), whereas the Hawks commit the highest number of turnovers per game (22.33).
These are the bottom two teams in draw controls. The Hawks average 11.50 per game in comparison to UNH's 10.67.

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 has a 2-4 overall record that includes 1-3 in conference games.
The Wildcats are 2-0 at home and 0-4 on the road.
The 'Cats have alternated wins and losses the past three games. Most recent was a 16-14 loss at UMass Lowell on Saturday, March 27.
Since then, UNH has postponed games against Stony Brook, UMass and Binghamton (twice).
Seven Wildcats have started every game. That number dropped from 11 following the most recent game at UMass Lowell; Julia Neyland, Tatum Benesh and Adena Rothbard did not play, whereas Meghan Doyle came off the bench for the first time this season.
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.

FOUR-GAME HOMESTAND

Following Sunday's game at Hartford, the Wildcats are scheduled to close the 2021 regular season with four consecutive home games.
The homestand begins Wednesday, April 21 vs. Stony Brook, continues April 24 (vs. Vermont), April 28 (Binghamton) and May 1 (Hartford).

STAT CHECK

UNH is averaging 11.17 goals on 28.2 shots per game in comparison to the opponents' 13.83 goals and 30.7 shots per game.
The Wildcats fire 74.6 percent of their shots on goal and score on 39.6 percent of their shots. The opponents put 76.1 percent of shots on goal and score on 45.1 percent of their total shots.
New Hampshire has a slight edge in turnovers (83-95) and ground balls are virtually even (109-107 in favor of the Wildcats).
The opposition is averaging 5.7 more draw controls per game.
UNH is scoring at a higher percentage on free-position shots; the Wildcats are 15-for-26 (57.7%) in comparison to the opposition's 18 of 38 (47.4%).
New Hampshire's .856 clear percentage (95 of 111) is lower than the opponents' mark of .904 (94 of 104).
That percentage was significantly closer prior to the UMass Lowell game, where UNH was 15-for-20 (75%) and the River Hawks were a perfect 12 of 12.

CONFERENCE CALL

Junior Meghan Doyle leads all America East players with 2.00 caused turnovers per game and is No. 6 in ground balls per game (2.67).
Neyland is ranked No. 2 in America East in shots per game (8.20), No. 4 in goals per game (3.00) and No. 7 in points per game (3.60).
Leonard enters the weekend No. 5 in the conference in assists per game (1.00).
Junior goalkeeper Issy Torres is No. 3 in saves per game (9.50).
Senior Elizabeth Blanding is No. 10 in shots per game (5.00).

50 GOAL MILESTONE

Grad student Rylee Leonard scored her 50^th career goal with the second of her three tallies March 27 at UMass Lowell.
Leonard is UNH's active leader in career goals (51), assists (29), points (80) and games played (40).
Senior Julia Neyland scored her 50^th career goal with the last of her personal-best six goals March 20 vs. UMBC. Neyland enters the weekend with 50 goals and 22 assists for 72 points in 37 games.

ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER POINT

Leonard is the only Wildcat who has recorded a point in all six games this season.
Leonard scored a season-high three goals March 27 at UMass Lowell to extend her point streak to 22 consecutive games; she redshirted last season and finished the 2019 season with a point each of the last 16 games; the last game played in which Leonard did not record a point was Feb. 16, 2019 vs. Harvard.
Leonard has tallied 41 goals and 28 assists for 69 points (3.14 points/game) during the 22-game point streak.
The next longest point streak of four games is shared by Delaney Pratt (7-0-7) and Liv Dunn (6-2-8).

NEYLAND'S NUMBERS

Julia Neyland is UNH's leader in both goals (15) and points (18), as well as shots (41), despite missing one game (March 27 at UMass Lowell).
Neyland scored a career-high six goals March 20 vs. UMBC for a personal best of six points.
The senior attacker fired 11 shots in the March 6 overtime game at UAlbany and 10 at Vermont (March 13), as well as nine against UMBC.

UNH LEADERBOARD

As mentioned earlier, Julia Neyland is atop the UNH leaderboard in goals (15), points (18) and shots (41).
Grad student and captain Rylee Leonard has a team-high six assists and has also scored eight goals to tie for second in points with 14. Leonard is also second in draw controls with 14.
Sophomore Liv Dunn is second on the squad in goals (11) and is tied for second in both points (14) and assists (three).
Junior Meghan Doyle, who recorded a career-high five ground balls vs. UMBC and followed that with four at UMass Lowell, leads the Wildcats with 16 ground balls.
Doyle also tallied three caused turnovers against UMBC and two more vs. the River Hawks to increase her team-leading total to 12.
Senior captain Tatum Benesh ranks second in caused turnovers (six) and third in ground balls (11).
Junior goalie Issy Torres is the other 'Cat who has reached double digits in ground balls with 12.
Junior Delaney Pratt is the top 'Cat with 17 draw controls. She also ranks third in goals with nine.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Junior goalie Issy Torres has played all 367 minutes, 30 seconds this season; she has a 2-4 record with a 13.55 GAA and .407 save percentage.
Torres has tallied double-digit saves three times this season, including a high of 13 in the March 20 overtime win against UMBC. She finished with 11 saves at Vermont (March 13) and 10 at UConn (Feb. 28).
She has made 10+ saves nine times in 28 career games (27 starts).

LAST TIME OUT | Box Score | Recap

UMass Lowell broke a 10-10 tie with five consecutive goals and held on for a 16-14 win against UNH in a March 27 matchup at Cushing Field (Lowell, Mass.).
The Wildcats answered that 5-0 run by scoring four of the next five goals to close within 16-14 with 5:44 remaining.
There were seven ties (at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10) and one lead change. After UMass Lowell struck first at 28:53, the Wildcats scored back-to-back goals at 27:06 and 26:06 to take their only lead of the game, 2-1.
UML finished with the edge in shots (36-28), draw controls (25-7) and turnovers (13-17). UNH had an 18-13 advantage in ground balls.

'CAT NIPS

Junior Delaney Pratt scored a career-high for goals at UMass Lowell. The four points also marked a personal best.
Rylee Leonard and Liv Dunn scored three goals apiece.
Senior Elizabeth Blanding also tallied three points with two goals and an assist; she tallied UNH's only assist on 14 goals.
Freshman Kailee Woods recorded her first career point with a goal; she also had a career-high two caused turnovers.
Woods and classmates Julia Lucey, Kelsey MacCallum, Olivia O'Connor all made their first career starts.
Junior Emily Curtis scored her first goal of the season.

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).

PLAYING OVERTIME

New Hampshire is 1-1 in overtime this season with a 13-12 loss at UAlbany (March 6) and 14-13 win vs. UMBC (March 20).
The previous time the Wildcats won in overtime was April 2, 2016 (9-8 at Binghamton).
The last time UNH played two overtime games in a single season was 2017.

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).

UNH ATHLETICS COVID-19 SPECTATOR POLICY | CLICK HERE to read more

UNH Athletics is currently permitting a limited number of undergraduate student spectators to the March 2021 UNH athletics events at Wildcat Stadium.
Attendance at Wildcat Stadium is strictly limited to UNH-Durham undergraduate student spectators.
Members of the general public are not permitted to attend any UNH Athletics events for the safety of all UNH students, student-athletes, and essential staff working events.
There are no tickets available for visiting teams or families of UNH student-athletes for events at Wildcat Stadium.
Students interested in attending events at Wildcat Stadium must set up a student ticket account in order to claim an electronic ticket for a specific event and assigned seat in advance.

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Players Mentioned

Tatum Benesh

Elizabeth Blanding

Abby Cranney

Emily Curtis

Meghan Doyle

Taylor Dudek

Liv Dunn

Jesslyn Hounchell

Rylee Leonard

Julia Lucey

Kelsey MacCallum

Mackenzie MacEachern

Gabby Masseur

Julia Neyland

Olivia O'Connor

Delaney Pratt

Adena Rothbard

Issy Torres

Kailee Woods

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