UMass Minutewomen Dominate Yale 5-1 at Rudd Field
AMHERST, Mass. – UMass didn’t just beat Yale on Thursday night. The Minutewomen overwhelmed them.
On a cool evening at Rudd Field, Massachusetts ripped through the Bulldogs 5-1, their most explosive outing of the season and their biggest haul since putting five past Davidson on September 24, 2023. The win pushes UMass to 5-1-0, while Yale slips to 3-4-0.
Lightning start at Rudd Field
The tone was set early.
Just over six minutes in, Annie McCaffrey struck. Peyton Costello gathered the ball on the left edge of the box, lifted a teasing ball into traffic, and McCaffrey met it, lifting her finish high into the top-right corner. One chance, one ruthless finish, 1-0 UMass at 6:04.
Yale barely had time to reset.
Less than three minutes later, the lead doubled. From midfield, Nia Hislop picked her pass perfectly, sliding Caroline Dickson into space. Dickson drove toward the 18, slipped inside, and slid her shot past the Yale goalkeeper at 9:01. Two attacks with conviction, two goals, and the Minutewomen were in command before the game had even settled.
UMass carried that 2-0 cushion into halftime, the early burst still defining the night.
Curry and Dickson slam the door
Any hope of a Yale comeback vanished after the break.
In the 52nd minute, Monica Curry simply refused to be beaten to a loose ball. Sprinting shoulder-to-shoulder with a Bulldog defender, she got there first, forced the keeper to rush out of the box, then coolly skipped around her. With the goal gaping, Curry rolled home her fifth of the season for 3-0.
Two minutes later, Dickson made it a brace.
Chasing down another ball in the attacking third, she weaved through defenders to the top of the box and unleashed a driven shot that tore into the back of the net in the 54th minute. Her second of the night pushed the lead to 4-0 and underlined the gulf in cutting edge.
Yale respond, but Terry has the final word
Yale finally found a foothold from the penalty spot, converting at 71:29 to trim the deficit to 4-1. It was a brief interruption rather than a shift in the story.
With just over five minutes left, UMass hit back again.
At 84:57, freshman defender Lexi Terry stepped into the box and took her chance. Her shot curled around the goalkeeper and into the top-left corner, sealing a 5-1 scoreline and delivering her first career goal in emphatic fashion.
Numbers tell a different story
On paper, the match looked tighter than the scoreboard.
UMass held only a slight edge in total shots, 13-12, and the teams were level with seven shots on target each. Yale even owned a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks. But where the Bulldogs hesitated, the Minutewomen punished.
Curry led all players with four shots. Dickson and Sophie Skabeikis each added two, while Libby Fisher, McCaffrey, Aline Traber, Amanda Schultz and Terry all registered one attempt. Dickson put both of her shots on frame; Fisher, Curry, McCaffrey, Traber and Terry each tested the keeper once.
In goal, junior Leah Nisenfeld anchored the first 62 minutes, turning away four shots without conceding. Fellow junior Julia Rosenberg closed out the final 28 minutes, making two saves and yielding only the penalty.
For Yale, goalkeeper Isabel Willems went the full 90, finishing with two saves while picking the ball out of her net five times.
One more test before league play
UMass now heads to Boston with momentum surging and the attack humming. The Minutewomen close out their non-conference slate against Northeastern on Sunday, September 13, at 1 p.m.
With five goals just posted and confidence rising, the question is simple: how far can this group push once the games start to really count?
