When Sydney Watson lined up for UConn against UMass in March 2020, she found there wasn’t much she could do.

Watson was face-guarded from the start, and it took until the final minute of the first half for her to find the back of the net. She’d end the day with two goals and one assist, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to lead the Huskies to a win.

Ahead of the rematch between the two teams last weekend, UConn spent its pregame practices prepping different plays and situations to create space so Watson — the team’s leading scorer for each of the last three seasons — could beat whatever the defense sent her.

The plan worked.

Watson’s season-high six goals, including the overtime winner, and 13 draw controls in the Huskies’ 12-11 win over the Minutewomen earned her US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Player of the Week honors. It was the program’s first win over UMass since 2004. UMass entered the game ranked 16th in the Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20.

“We haven’t beaten them in a very long time, so we wanted to walk in with a chip on our shoulders knowing it was more possible than ever now,” the senior midfielder said. “We were able to pick apart their defense and work through our plays, which was really great.”

After dropping this year’s season opener to Hofstra on Feb. 20, the Huskies rolled off three straight wins and were ready to pounce for another.

Watson scored the game’s first goal less than a minute in — an early sign that she had plans to beat any attempts at keeping her quiet — but she didn’t fully take over until the end of the first half. The Huskies were down 8-4 nearing the end of the frame, but Watson put one on the board to cut the lead to three at halftime.

When the teams returned from the locker room, she came out of the gate with two goals in less than two minutes, enough to keep inching UConn closer and closer to the Minutewomen lead. The sides went back-and-forth through the end of regulation, but Watson zoomed in again with some late-game heroics in overtime to seal it.

She lost the first draw control of extra time, but a big-time save by junior goalie Landyn White gave the ball back to the Huskies off the clear. Throughout the game, UConn’s coaching staff had seen open chances on the fast break, but for the most part, the players on the field had held off. Until then.

“I figured, why not try for the fast-break opportunity, right when it mattered most?” Watson said. “And luckily, I was able to put it away for my team.”

The Maryland native has been a centerpiece of UConn’s offense since her arrival in Storrs in 2018. As a freshman, she set a program single-season record for draws (83), only to break it again with 92 as a sophomore. She owns the team’s all-time bests in goals (eight) and draws (14) in a single game and has earned all-conference honors in both the Big East and the AAC.

With the Huskies back in the Big East, and now with a win over a rival they hadn’t topped in 17 years, Watson and her teammates have eyes on a conference title.

“We’re aiming for that Big East championship and however much farther we can get,” she said. “We’re taking it one game at a time, knowing that we can be as good, if not better, than every team we play.”

Before their conference schedule opens up against Marquette on March 19, they’ll have to face UMass again this Saturday in a quirk of the pandemic-season schedule. The Minutewomen will likely come out with a chip-on-the-shoulder of their own, but Watson said UConn’s approach hasn’t changed.

“We’re picking apart everything we did well and could’ve improved upon to bring into the game again,” she said. “Hopefully, (we’ll) have UMass on their toes again and come out with the win — that doesn’t necessarily have to go into overtime this time.”