Senior Day vs. Hartford Closes 2021 Season (May 1; AE.tv)

2021 UNH WOMEN'S LACROSSE

SENIOR DAY
Hartford (0-8, 0-8 America East) at New Hampshire (3-7, 2-6 AE)
Saturday, May 1 | 11 AM
Wildcat Stadium | Durham, N.H.

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SENIOR DAY

New Hampshire will hold its Senior Day ceremony following Saturday's regular-season finale.
This year's class is comprised of Tatum Benesh, Elizabeth Blanding, Sabrina Grovom, Gabby Masseur, Julia Neyland, and grad student Rylee Leonard.

THE MATCHUP | CLICK HERE for complete series history

UNH has won all three previous matchups against Hartford. Earlier this year, the Wildcats were 12-8 victors at Al-Marzook Field. (April 18)
In that game, Rylee Leonard recorded four first-half points and Julia Neyland scored five second-half goals to lead the attack, while Issy Torres made 11 saves.
New Hampshire prevailed 16-6 the last time these teams played at Wildcat Stadium. (March 30, 2019)
In the first ever meeting, UNH won 17-0 in West Hartford. (March 31, 2018).

COMPARISON SHOPPING

New Hampshire and Hartford are the two lowest-scoring teams in America East. UNH is #7 at 10.20 goals per game and Hartford is at 7.88.
These two teams also rank 7-8 in draw controls per game; Hartford averages 11.25 draws per game and UNH is at 10.30.
Defensively, the Wildcats are No. 5 (13.73 goals-against-average) and Hartford is No. 8 (19.13).
The Hawks rank slightly higher in both ground balls per game (#3 at 17.13 to #5 UNH at 16.80) and caused turnovers per game (#6 at 7.00 in comparison to #7 UNH at 6.30).
Hartford is averaging a league-high 22.38 turnovers per game; the Wildcats rank third with just 14.10 turnovers 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 3-7 overall record that includes 2-6 in conference games.
The Wildcats are 2-3 at home – with a split of 2-2 at Wildcat Stadium and 0-1 at Tucker Field -- and 1-4 on the road.
UNH alternated wins and losses a five-game span from March 13 to April 21.
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).
The 'Cats have lost three games since that road win against 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 nine starts in nine games played, and two others have eight starts in nine 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 closes out a four-game homestand and the 2021 season Saturday against Hartford at Wildcat Stadium.
The homestand began Wednesday, April 21 with a 13-10 loss to Binghamton (at Tucker Field), continued April 24 vs. Vermont with a 13-9 loss at Wildcat Stadium, and April 28 with a 22-4 loss to Stony Brook at the stadium.

STAT CHECK

UNH is averaging 10.20 goals on 27.4 shots per game in comparison to the opponents' 13.90 goals and 30.9 shots per game.
The Wildcats fire 72.6 percent of their shots on goal and score on 37.2 percent of their shots. The opponents put 73.5 percent of shots on goal and score on 45.0 percent of their total shots.
New Hampshire has the edge in turnovers (141-159) and ground balls are virtually even (168-165 in favor of the Wildcats).
The opposition is averaging 5.1 more draw controls per game.
UNH is scoring at a higher percentage on free-position shots; the Wildcats are 20-for-39 (51.3%) in comparison to the opposition's 28 of 59 (47.5%).
New Hampshire's .863 clear percentage (164 of 190) is lower than the opponents' mark of .892 (157 of 176).
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).
However, the Wildcats narrowed that gap in two games last week. UNH was 41 of 42 (97.6%) on clear attempts in comparison to the opposition's 35-for-42 (83.3%).
In Wednesday's game vs. #6 Stony Brook, the Seawolves were 11 of 12 and the 'Cats were 7-for-9.

CONFERENCE CALL

Junior Meghan Doyle is ranked No. 3 in America East in both caused turnovers per game (1.67) and ground balls per game (2.44).
Neyland is ranked No. 4 in America East in shots per game (7.44), No. 9 in goals per game (2.67) and No. 10 in points per game (3.44).
Leonard enters the weekend No. 6 in the conference in assists per game (1.00).
Junior goalkeeper Issy Torres is No. 3 in saves per game (8.80).
Senior captain Tatum Benesh is No. 5 in caused turnovers per game at 1.33.

ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER POINT

Leonard is the only Wildcat who has recorded a point in all 10 games this season.
Leonard recorded one assist Wednesday against #6 Stony Brook to extend her point streak to 26 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 45 goals and 32 assists for 77 points (2.97 points/game) during the 26-game point streak.
The next longest point streak of seven games is held by Neyland (21g, 5a, 26 points).

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 (33), points (88) and games played (44); she is No. 2 in goals (55).
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 (59); she also has 26 assists for a total of 85 points in 41 games.

NEYLAND'S NUMBERS

Julia Neyland is UNH's leader in both goals (24) and points (31), as well as shots (67), despite missing one game (March 27 at UMass Lowell).
Her 67 shots are almost equal to that of the next two on the list, who have a combined 72 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 April 18 at Hartford.
Neyland matched her personal best of two assists in both games last week against Binghamton and Vermont.
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 | Video Highlights

Sixth-ranked Stony Brook ended the first half on a 10-0 run and opened the second half on a 5-0 spurt en route to Wednesday's 22-4 win at Wildcat Stadium.
SBU struck first at 27:23 and Gabby Masseur tied the score 1-1 at 26:50.
The Seawolves scored four consecutive goals in a five minute span to build a 5-1 lead.
Masseur scored off her own rebound at 19:54, but that's when the visitors went on the decisive 15-0 run.

'CAT NIPS

Masseur tied her career high of two goals Wednesday vs. Stony Brook.
Neyland scored both of UNH's second-half goals to extend her goal streak to seven games.
Tatum Benesh recorded all four of UNH's caused turnovers, and that total marked a career high for the senior captain.
Benesh tied Rylee Leonard and Issy Torres with a team-high two ground balls.
Junior Delaney Pratt finished with a team-high four draw controls.

UNH LEADERBOARD

As mentioned earlier, Julia Neyland is atop the UNH leaderboard in goals (24), points (31) and shots (67).
Grad student and captain Rylee Leonard has a team-high 10 assists and has scored 12 goals to rank second in points with 22. Leonard's 12 goals ranks third, and she is also second in draw controls with 18.
Sophomore Liv Dunn is second on the squad in goals (16) and third in both assists (four), and points (20).
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 22 ground balls.
Doyle also tallied three caused turnovers against UMBC and two more vs. the River Hawks; she has a team-leading total of 15.
Senior captain Tatum Benesh ranks second in caused turnovers (12) and third in ground balls (17).
Junior Taylor Dudek is third in caused turnovers (nine) and fourth in ground balls (15).
Junior goalie Issy Torres ranks second with 18 ground balls.
Junior Delaney Pratt is the top 'Cat with 28 draw controls. She also ranks fourth in goals with nine.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Junior goalie Issy Torres has played all 607 minutes, 30 seconds this season; she has a 3-7 record with a 13.73 GAA and .388 save percentage.
Torres was honored as America East Defensive Player of the Week on April 19; she made 11 saves and had a game-high four ground balls in the 12-8 win at Hartford (April 18).
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 32 career games (31 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 Izzy 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).

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 April 19.
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.

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Players Mentioned

Izzy Aiello

Tatum Benesh

Elizabeth Blanding

Abby Cranney

Meghan Doyle

Taylor Dudek

Liv Dunn

Sabrina Grovom

Jesslyn Hounchell

Rylee Leonard

Mackenzie MacEachern

Gabby Masseur

Julia Neyland

Delaney Pratt

Issy Torres

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