UMass Dominates Yale in 5-1 Victory
AMHERST, Mass. – On a cool Thursday night at Rudd Field, Massachusetts didn’t just beat Yale. The Minutewomen tore through them.
A five-goal outburst – their biggest haul of the season and their most since putting five past Davidson on September 24, 2023 – powered UMass to a 5-1 win and pushed their record to 5-1-0. Yale dropped to 3-4-0.
Lightning start sets the tone
UMass came out flying and struck before Yale had settled.
At 6:04, Annie McCaffrey gave the hosts a 1-0 lead with a sharp finish. Peyton Costello collected the ball on the left just outside the box and lifted a teasing ball into the area. McCaffrey met it, got just enough of a touch, and drove it high into the top right corner.
The pressure didn’t ease. Less than three minutes later, the advantage doubled.
From midfield, Nia Hislop picked out Caroline Dickson with a forward pass. Dickson drove into the 18-yard box, held her nerve and slid the ball past the Yale goalkeeper at 9:01 to make it 2-0. UMass carried that cushion into halftime, fully in control.
Curry and Dickson slam the door
Any hope of a Yale comeback vanished early in the second half.
In the 52nd minute, Monica Curry sprinted onto a loose ball with a Bulldog defender on her shoulder. She won the race, forced the Yale keeper off her line and out of the box, then skipped around her. With the goal gaping, Curry finished calmly for 3-0 – her fifth of the season.
Two minutes later, Dickson struck again.
Chasing down a ball near the top of the box, she weaved past defenders and unleashed a powerful shot into the back of the net in the 54th minute. Her first brace of the season pushed the lead to 4-0 and effectively killed the contest.
Yale respond, but Terry has the final word
Yale finally found a way onto the scoresheet in the 72nd minute, converting a penalty at 71:29 to cut the deficit to 4-1.
UMass still had one more moment to savor.
With the clock ticking down, freshman forward Lexi Terry delivered a milestone strike. At 84:57, she took aim from inside the box and curled a shot around the goalkeeper into the top left corner. It was her first career goal and capped the 5-1 rout.
Numbers tell a tighter story than the score
On paper, Yale weren’t overwhelmed. The Bulldogs actually stayed close in most categories.
UMass held only a narrow edge in total shots, 13-12, and shots on target were level at seven each. Yale piled up seven corner kicks to the Minutewomen’s two, but couldn’t turn those set pieces into goals.
Curry led all players with four shots. Dickson and Sophie Skabeikis added two apiece, while Libby Fisher, McCaffrey, Aline Traber, Amanda Schultz and Terry each recorded one attempt. Dickson hit the target with both of her efforts; Fisher, Curry, McCaffrey, Traber and Terry each tested the keeper once.
In goal, junior Leah Nisenfeld put in a clean 62-minute shift, stopping four shots without conceding. Fellow junior Julia Rosenberg closed out the final 28 minutes, making two saves and allowing the lone Yale goal. At the other end, Yale goalkeeper Isabel Willems went the full 90, finishing with two saves while picking the ball out of her net five times.
Eyes on Boston
With non-conference play winding down, UMass now turns toward one last test before league action ramps up. The Minutewomen travel to Boston on Sunday, September 13, to face Northeastern at 1 p.m.
If this five-goal statement is any indication, they’ll arrive looking less like a team tuning up and more like one ready to dictate the rest of their season.
