University of New Hampshire Athletics
The Wildcats open America East play against UMass Lowell on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.
Photo by: Jess Speechley
3/25/2022 1:30:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse, UNH Insider
'Cats Seek Another Win Streak as Conference Schedule Opens Saturday at Home
DURHAM, N.H. – Senior midfielder Delaney Pratt and her teammates on the University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team take the confidence borne of a winning record in non-conference play into their America East opener Saturday against UMass Lowell in Wildcat Stadium at 1 p.m.
"I'm expecting us to come out even better than we're playing right now," Pratt said after a 13-12 overtime win over Bryant University in UNH's last home game on March 16. "I think we have a good foundation right now and we can absolutely build off this."
Pratt's goal 2:54 into overtime was her third of the game and came off a set play after first-year Wildcat coach Kacie Lewis called time out with just 20 seconds left in the first three-minute segment of OT.
"There was a lot of energy in the stadium and Kacie did a real good job of keeping us calm and then putting us into a scoring play," Pratt said. "The first option didn't work, but then the second did and we executed it."
Sophomore attack Kelsey MacCallum had an assist on the winner, her third of the game to go with a goal. Sophomore midfielder Mackenzie MacEachern scored five goals in the game.
The victory over Bryant was UNH's fourth in a row, matching a win streak in 2019 and the team's second of that length since 2010.
The run was snapped on Saturday with an 18-11 loss at Iona, which stretched its own win streak to seven games.
It's all America East from here on out for the Wildcats, who will look to do some league damage, led in part by a balanced scoring attack.
MacEachern leads the team in scoring with 18 goals and six assists for 24 points and is one of four Wildcats with 20 or more points.
MacCallum is right behind at 10-13-23, junior attack Liv Dunn is at 12-10-22 and Pratt leads in goals at 19-1-20. Senior Emily Curtis is the fifth player in double figures in goals at 10-1-11. Freshman Allie Connerty is at 8-11-19 and had two goals and four assists in the games against Bryant and Iona to earn the league's Rookie of the Week honors.
"We have a lot of different offensive threats," Lewis said. "You take one away, we're going to focus on another. In a lot of our sets we're able to highlight different players and they all have very specific things they're good at."
Lewis and her assistant, Kelsey Fee, get a kick out of utilizing the depth and setting up their lineups.
"We're always joking that it's impossible to scout us because our lineup changes every game," Lewis said. "We don't know who we're going to start either. We just go through different options at practice the day before."
Senior Issy Torres and freshman Maria Hagan have split time in net. Torres has a 2-2 record and Hagan is 3-2.
Lewis and Pratt and the rest of the Wildcats are looking forward to getting into the America East portion of the schedule.
"We want to get into the league tournament, but obviously the championship game is a goal as well," Lewis said. "With Stony Brook out, it's anyone's game right now."
Stony Brook is leaving America East after this season for the Colonial Athletic Association in all sports and is not eligible for the league tournament or to grab the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
"It's going to be a battle," Lewis said. "Everyone is very competitive right now."
Stony Brook has dominated the league for a decade. The Seawolves have won the tournament title each year dating back to 2013. They beat UAlbany, 16-9, in the championship game last season.
Vermont beat UMass Lowell, 18-8, last Saturday in the only conference game that has been played.
The Catamounts are 8-1 overall, UMBC is 6-3, Binghamton 4-4, Albany 2-5 and UMass Lowell 2-7.
UNH last advanced to the league's championship game in 2009 and won the tournament title in 2004 with an 11-9 victory over Boston University.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· Saturday's contest against UMass-Lowell is the first of three America East home games for the Wildcats.
· The league games will be on www.AE.TV.
· UNH plays UAlbany at home Wednesday, April 6 at 2 p.m. and Vermont at home Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
· The Wildcats are at Stony Brook on Saturday, April 9 at 3 p.m.
· They play at Binghamton on Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. and close out the regular season with a game at UMBC on Saturday, April 30 at noon.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
"I'm expecting us to come out even better than we're playing right now," Pratt said after a 13-12 overtime win over Bryant University in UNH's last home game on March 16. "I think we have a good foundation right now and we can absolutely build off this."
Pratt's goal 2:54 into overtime was her third of the game and came off a set play after first-year Wildcat coach Kacie Lewis called time out with just 20 seconds left in the first three-minute segment of OT.
"There was a lot of energy in the stadium and Kacie did a real good job of keeping us calm and then putting us into a scoring play," Pratt said. "The first option didn't work, but then the second did and we executed it."
Sophomore attack Kelsey MacCallum had an assist on the winner, her third of the game to go with a goal. Sophomore midfielder Mackenzie MacEachern scored five goals in the game.
The victory over Bryant was UNH's fourth in a row, matching a win streak in 2019 and the team's second of that length since 2010.
The run was snapped on Saturday with an 18-11 loss at Iona, which stretched its own win streak to seven games.
It's all America East from here on out for the Wildcats, who will look to do some league damage, led in part by a balanced scoring attack.
MacEachern leads the team in scoring with 18 goals and six assists for 24 points and is one of four Wildcats with 20 or more points.
MacCallum is right behind at 10-13-23, junior attack Liv Dunn is at 12-10-22 and Pratt leads in goals at 19-1-20. Senior Emily Curtis is the fifth player in double figures in goals at 10-1-11. Freshman Allie Connerty is at 8-11-19 and had two goals and four assists in the games against Bryant and Iona to earn the league's Rookie of the Week honors.
"We have a lot of different offensive threats," Lewis said. "You take one away, we're going to focus on another. In a lot of our sets we're able to highlight different players and they all have very specific things they're good at."
Lewis and her assistant, Kelsey Fee, get a kick out of utilizing the depth and setting up their lineups.
"We're always joking that it's impossible to scout us because our lineup changes every game," Lewis said. "We don't know who we're going to start either. We just go through different options at practice the day before."
Senior Issy Torres and freshman Maria Hagan have split time in net. Torres has a 2-2 record and Hagan is 3-2.
Lewis and Pratt and the rest of the Wildcats are looking forward to getting into the America East portion of the schedule.
"We want to get into the league tournament, but obviously the championship game is a goal as well," Lewis said. "With Stony Brook out, it's anyone's game right now."
Stony Brook is leaving America East after this season for the Colonial Athletic Association in all sports and is not eligible for the league tournament or to grab the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
"It's going to be a battle," Lewis said. "Everyone is very competitive right now."
Stony Brook has dominated the league for a decade. The Seawolves have won the tournament title each year dating back to 2013. They beat UAlbany, 16-9, in the championship game last season.
Vermont beat UMass Lowell, 18-8, last Saturday in the only conference game that has been played.
The Catamounts are 8-1 overall, UMBC is 6-3, Binghamton 4-4, Albany 2-5 and UMass Lowell 2-7.
UNH last advanced to the league's championship game in 2009 and won the tournament title in 2004 with an 11-9 victory over Boston University.
THE ROAD AHEAD
· Saturday's contest against UMass-Lowell is the first of three America East home games for the Wildcats.
· The league games will be on www.AE.TV.
· UNH plays UAlbany at home Wednesday, April 6 at 2 p.m. and Vermont at home Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
· The Wildcats are at Stony Brook on Saturday, April 9 at 3 p.m.
· They play at Binghamton on Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. and close out the regular season with a game at UMBC on Saturday, April 30 at noon.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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/ Women's Lacrosse
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/ Women's Lacrosse
GK
/ Women's LacrosseTuesday, April 07
Saturday, March 28
Saturday, April 19
Monday, March 31