Homestand Continues April 24 vs. Vermont (AE.tv)

2021 UNH WOMEN'S LACROSSE

Vermont (4-5, 4-3 America East) at New Hampshire (3-5, 2-4 America East)
Saturday, April 24 | 6 PM
Wildcat Stadium | Durham, N.H.

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TORRES NAMED AE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Junior goalie Issy Torres was named Defensive Player of the Week by the America East conference on Monday.
Torres recorded 11 saves and game-high four ground balls to backbone UNH to a 12-8 victory at the University of Hartford on April 18. The four ground balls matched her career high and the 11 saves marked the fourth time in seven games this season she has recorded double-digit saves.
Torres made eight saves in the second half, two of which were in the opening five minutes and kept the Wildcats in front, 6-5. After Hartford scored to pull within 10-8, Torres made a save on a free position with 4:55 remaining to keep the margin at two goals.

THE MATCHUP | CLICK HERE for series history (2006-2021 seasons)

UNH has a 33-9 lifetime record against the University of Vermont, but the Catamounts were 13-4 victors earlier this season (March 13) at Virtue Field.
In that matchup, UVM scored three of the first four goals, then three of the next four goals to build a 6-2 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half. And then another 3-1 spurt extended UVM's lead to 9-3 at 22:17 of the second half. The Catamounts closed the game on a 4-0 run.
UNH recorded a 30-29 shot advantage in that game and had a 10-9 edge in draw controls. UVM finished with more ground balls (23-19).
Prior to this season, UNH had won four consecutive meetings.
UVM has a 6-4 edge in the past 10, as the Catamounts won five straight spanning the 2011-15 seasons.
Prior to 2020, when the teams did not play because of the COVID-abbreviated season, UNH and Vermont played 37 consecutive years spanning the 1983-2019 seasons.

COMPARISON SHOPPING

These teams are very similar in many statistics.
UNH ranks sixth in America East in scoring (11.13 goals per game) in comparison to Vermont at No. 5 (11.33).
At the other end of the field, the Wildcats are No. 5 in goals against average (12.80) and Vermont is No. 4 (12.67).
New Hampshire is No. 3 in ground balls per game (17.63); Vermont is No. 4 (16.78).
The Wildcats average the fourth fewest turnovers per game (14.38), whereas the Catamounts rank seventh at 16.11 turnovers per game.
UNH is averaging a league-low 10.50 draw controls per game; Vermont is just above at No. 7, with 11.11 per game.

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 3-5 overall record that includes 2-4 in conference games.
The Wildcats are 2-1 at home – with a split of 2-0 at Wildcat Stadium and 0-1 at Tucker Field -- and 1-4 on the road.
The 'Cats have alternated wins and losses the past five games following Wednesday's 13-10 home loss to Binghamton.
Because of COVID protocols, UNH did not play a game between March 27 (16-14 loss at UMass Lowell) and April 18 (12-8 win at Hartford).
Four Wildcats have started every game. That number was 11 prior to the March 27 game at UMass Lowell and was at seven prior to the April 18 game at Hartford.
Five more 'Cats have seven starts in seven games played.
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

UNH is scheduled to close the 2021 regular season with four consecutive home games.
The homestand began Wednesday, April 21 with a 13-10 loss to Binghamton (at Tucker Field), continues April 24 vs. Vermont at Wildcat Stadium, April 28 (Stony Brook) and May 1 (Hartford).

STAT CHECK

UNH is averaging 11.12 goals on 29.5 shots per game in comparison to the opponents' 13.00 goals and 30.5 shots per game.
The Wildcats fire 72.0 percent of their shots on goal and score on 37.7 percent of their shots. The opponents put 73.8 percent of shots on goal and score on 42.6 percent of their total shots.
New Hampshire has the edge in turnovers (115-132) and ground balls are virtually even (141-136 in favor of the Wildcats).
The opposition is averaging 4.9 more draw controls per game.
UNH is scoring at a higher percentage on free-position shots; the Wildcats are 18-for-34 (52.9%) in comparison to the opposition's 23 of 51 (45.1%).
New Hampshire's .854 clear percentage (135 of 158) is lower than the opponents' mark of .907 (127 of 140).
There was a significant disparity in back-to-back games vs. UMass Lowell and Hartford with UNH at 75.0% (36-for-48) and the opponents at 96.7% (29 of 30).
This past Wednesday, however, the Wildcats were a perfect 19-for-19 on clears and Binghamton was 16 of 18.

CONFERENCE CALL

Junior Meghan Doyle leads all America East players with 1.71 caused turnovers per game and is No. 5 in ground balls per game (2.57).
Neyland is ranked No. 2 in America East in shots per game (8.57), No. 5 in goals per game (3.00) and No. 4 in points per game (3.71).
Leonard enters the weekend No. 6 in the conference in assists per game (1.13).
Junior goalkeeper Issy Torres is No. 3 in saves per game (9.50).

ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER POINT

Leonard is the only Wildcat who has recorded a point in all eight games this season.
Leonard recorded a goal and an assist Wednesday vs. Binghatmon to extend her point streak to 24 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 44 goals and 31 assists for 75 points (3.13 points/game) during the 24-game point streak.
The next longest point streak of six games is held by sophomore Liv Dunn (10-3-13).

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 assists (31), points (84) and games played (41); she is No. 2 in goals (53).
Senior Julia Neyland scored her 50^th career goal with the last of her personal-best six goals March 20 vs. UMBC.
Neyland is UNH's active leader in goals (55); she also has 22 goals for a total of 77 points in 38 games.

NEYLAND'S NUMBERS

Julia Neyland is UNH's leader in both goals (21) and points (26), as well as shots (60), despite missing one game (March 27 at UMass Lowell).
Her 60 shots is almost equal to that of the next two on the list, who have a combined 63 shots.
Neyland scored a career-high six goals March 20 vs. UMBC for a personal best of six points.
She netted five goals on 10 shots last Saturday at Hartford.
Neyland matched her personal best of two assists Wednesday vs. Binghamton.
The senior attacker fired 11 shots in the March 6 overtime game at UAlbany and 10 twice -- at Hartford and at Vermont (March 13).

LAST TIME OUT | Box Score | Recap

With the score tied at 9, the teams were sent to the locker rooms for a lightning delay with 8:43 remaining in the second half. Binghamton stormed out of the break with four goals in as many minutes and won 13-10 Wednesday afternoon at UNH's Tucker Field.
There were four ties (at 2, 3, 8, and 9) and two lead changes.
Binghamton scored the first two goals of the game but UNH responded with three consecutive goals to take a 3-2 lead.
The Wildcats built its largest lead of the game, 7-4, when Rylee Leonard scored the opening goal of the second half.
Binghamton went on a 5-1 run to surge back in front, 9-8, at 14:16.
Elizabeth Blanding scored her second goal of the game to tie the game, 9-9, at 12:12.
Out of the weather delay, Rebecca Korn scored at 7:21 and then Paige Volkmann netted goals 14 seconds apart (at 5:46 and 5:32) to extend the advantage to 12-9.
The visitors struck again at 4:16 before Julia Neyland scored what proved to be the last goal of the game at 2:25.

'CAT NIPS

Freshman Mackenzie MacEachern recorded her first career points with two goals and an assist vs. Binghamton; the three points tied for the team high.
Senior Julia Neyland also tallied three points with a goal and two assists, which matched her personal best.
Senior Gabby Masseur scored her first goal of the season.
Junior Taylor Dudek recorded a team-high three caused turnovers.
Dudek and Neyland were two of the four Wildcats with a team-high two ground balls. The others were senior captain Tatum Benesh and junior Meghan Doyle.
Freshman Olivia O'Connor finished with a team-leading four draw controls.
Issy Torres was credited with eight saves.

UNH LEADERBOARD

As mentioned earlier, Julia Neyland is atop the UNH leaderboard in goals (21), points (26) and shots (60).
Grad student and captain Rylee Leonard has a team-high nine assists and has scored 11 goals to rank second in points with 20. Leonard's 11 goals ranks third, and she is also second in draw controls with 16.
Sophomore Liv Dunn is second on the squad in goals (15) and third in both assists (four), and points (19).
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 18 ground balls.
Doyle also tallied three caused turnovers against UMBC and two more vs. the River Hawks ; she has a team-leading total of 12.
Senior captain Tatum Benesh ranks second in caused turnovers (eight) and third in ground balls (13).
Junior goalie Issy Torres ranks second with 18 ground balls.
Junior Delaney Pratt is the top 'Cat with 19 draw controls. She also ranks fourth in goals with nine.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Junior goalie Issy Torres has played all 487 minutes, 30 seconds this season; she has a 3-5 record with a 12.80 GAA and .422 save percentage.
Torres was honored as America East Defensive Player of the Week this past Monday; she made 11 saves and had a game-high four ground balls in the 12-8 win at Hartford.
Torres has tallied double-digit saves four times this season, including the aforementioned 11 at Hartford and 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 10 times in 30 career games (29 starts).

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).

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Tatum Benesh

Elizabeth Blanding

Abby Cranney

Meghan Doyle

Taylor Dudek

Liv Dunn

Jesslyn Hounchell

Rylee Leonard

Mackenzie MacEachern

Gabby Masseur

Julia Neyland

Olivia O'Connor

Delaney Pratt

Issy Torres

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