The redemption arc rolls on for the UMass field hockey team as the Minutewomen advanced to the NCAA Division I Final Four after beating UConn and Harvard during regional play last weekend – two teams they lost to during the regular season. 

Now, UMass (17-5) will take on Northwestern Friday afternoon in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the national semifinal — its first since 1992 – 82 days after losing 6-1 to the Wildcats in its second game of the season on Sept. 1.

The Minutewomen are two-for-two in rematch match-ups during the NCAA tournament so far. Can they make it three in a row against second-ranked Northwestern?

“We’ve had some tough losses by a one-goal margin and to be able to come back and have another chance at UConn, have another chance at Harvard, and come back a second time and win both of those games… the team is calling it the revenge tour,” UMass head coach Barb Weinberg said. “[Now we have] another chance at Northwestern for a third game that we lost during the season.”

Graduate student Claire Danahy scored UMass’ only goal in the victory over the Crimson. The Chelmsford native has arguably been the Minutewomen’s best player all season long as its leading point-getter with 29 points, and has highlighted their dynamic offensive capabilities as one of seven players on the team with 10 or more points.

“It’s been an incredible season, the team has been working so hard so it’s really cool to see it all paying off and getting this last opportunity in the Final Four,” Danahy said. 

Danahy was named to the 2024 National Field Hockey Coaches Association Senior Team on Thursday, as one of 38 recipients across Division I field hockey.

The Wildcats (21-1), whose only loss all season came to Michigan in the Big Ten final, will enter Friday’s battle with one of the most potent offenses in the country. Northwestern ranks second in both scoring average (3.63 goals) and scoring margin (2.95).

“Going into the Final Four, you obviously have to score a goal to be able to win a game, so there’s going to be periods of the game where we’re going to have to go after them,” Weinberg said. “But there’s going to need to be a balance of falling away a bit and having some patience and picking and choosing our times to go forward.”

UMass’ defense is nothing to slouch at though as the Minutewomen have the sixth-best team save percentage in the nation at .793, while also recording 10 shutouts.

“The spine of our team is really strong with our central midfielders and our two central defenders and Myrte [van Herwijnen] in goal,” Weinberg said. “We’ve allowed very few shots and very few goals this entire season. But the other thing that we do is run a really solid press and it’s tough for teams to break it and we’ve got a few options there of what we’re going to run defensively.”

van Herwijen, the Minutewomen’s junior goalkeeper, has started every game this season, totaling 81 saves and just 21 goals allowed in 22 games played. Despite allowing a season-high six goals against this Wildcats team in September, the Netherlands native is excited for another crack at it.

“I know we lost by a big margin at the beginning of the season,” van Herwijen said. “I do take that with a grain of salt because it was our second game of the season, we were still trying to get a feel for each other. We were only down 1-0 at halftime, after that we broke down a little bit and the margin got a little bit bigger, but it might actually be a good thing. We’re going into this game and people are going to look at the past scores and there’ll be no expectations for us and I love that so much. We’ll be able to play our game and do our thing.”

Northwestern is led by Ashley Sessa (23 goals, 63 points), Lauren Hunter (11 assists) and goalie Annabel Skubisz (.853 SV%).

Friday’s game is set to start at 3 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN-Plus. The winner will meet the victor of Friday’s other semifinal between No. 1 North Carolina and Saint Joseph’s in the national championship game on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.