Two days after UMass cruised past Colorado by dominating possession in the second half, Navy turned the tables on the Minutewomen.

In the second round of the NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament in Philadelphia, the Midshipmen pulled away in the second half and finished UMass’ season with a 23-11 loss.

The Minutewomen (17-4) fell behind 8-1 and never really threatened. They got within three at 10-7 with just under 8 minutes left in the first half, but Navy scored the last two goals of the first half and the first six of the second to make it 18-7.

“We didn’t have the ball enough,” UMass coach Angela McMahon said. “It was ground balls and turnovers. Navy is a great team. Any opportunity they got, they capitalized on. We just weren’t able to get make a run or sustain any momentum. Unfortunately, they beat us on all fronts. Hats off to them, they certainly beat us today.”

UMass has relied on draw control dominance all year, but it was beaten in the middle 20-14, including 11-4 in the second half.

Kaitlyn Cerasi led the Minutewomen with three goals and an assist, while Callie Santos also had three goals. Navy limited Hannah Murphy (one assist, two draw controls), Hannah Burnett (one assist) and Holly Turner (one goal, two assists) to a combined one goal and two assists.

McMahon saluted her graduating seniors. “They’re such good kids, really good people, who work really hard,” McMahon said. “It’s not easy being a senior. It’s a lot of responsibility, and they really embraced that. Our team really wanted to lay it all out there for them.”

Murphy finished her career with 522 draw controls, the third most in Division I history. McMahon singled her out.

“She’s probably the hardest-working player I’ve ever coached in my career. She’s earned every ounce of success that she’s had and the team has benefited from that. Seeing how hard she work makes everyone want to work that much harder.”

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage