University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Lacrosse Players Living Dream
January 21, 2003 | Men's Lacrosse
Jan. 21, 2003
It is a sterling day at Harbor Yard. The sun casts its warmth on the field and a steady gust off the Connecticut River keeps the temp at an agreeable level. This is the type of afternoon Sal LoCascio would usually revel in.
The corpulent Italian and rookie coach of Major League Lacrosse's Bridgeport Barrage has spent enough man-hours behind a goalie mask and pads to know the idyllic conditions for practice.
So instead of using his position as en excuse to hold down the sidelines during one of Bridgeport's preseason scrimmages, LoCascio has taken to the crease to tutor his green squad from up close.
But as his team is running through a basic shooting drill, LoCascio looks uncomfortable. A midfielder beats him on a deep shot that he'd usually scoff at. Then a rookie handcuffs his coach on a skip shot from the wing.
Here he is, arguably the game's greatest goaltender. The man who is undefeated in International Competition, who once made 29 saves in an NCAA Tournament game against Johns Hopkins, who was named an All-American four times. And he looks out of place playing net against a roster full of twenty-somethings.
Sure, say he's out of shape, too old, past his prime. But this guy came back from a major back injury and, a few pasta dinners over his playing weight, was nearly unbeatable for Long Island in an MLL Championship win.
It's got to be something else. After practice ends, he delivers an unusually brief speech and sends his squad to the showers. LoCascio though, black hair soaked with the sweat that graces his practice gear, grabs his cell phone and heads for the nearest quiet corner.
"What's the score?" he says through winded lungs. The reaction on LoCascio's face reads: close game.
The man on the other end of the phone is Mark Millon. Millon, an attackman, and LoCascio share some common ground. They're both widely considered to be the best to ever play they're position. And both are proud alums of the University of Massachusetts.
"Having played at UMass is a commond bond," LoCascio says. "It made us instant friends."
Millon is at Homewood Field in Baltimore watching his alma mater erase a six-goal halftime deficit to take Johns Hopkins to overtime in an NCAA quarterfinal.
The pair spends the next 10 minutes on the phone, and in between Millon's crack play-by-play, they wax on about the past.
They talk about the up-tempo style that present coach Greg Cannella has used to bring his Minutemen back into the game against Hopkins. The same strategy they used during their playing days in Amherst.
"That's the way the game should be played," LoCascio says.
That style, implemented by legendary coach Dick Garber, is what LoCascio says made his professional career so successful.
"I learned an awful lot by playing at UMass," he says. "That style of play, the high tempo, it helped prepare me for the professional game. You watch the outdoor league with the shot clock and you look at us when we played in college and you'd think we had a shot clock, too. We had no interest in holding the ball for too long."
Millon would have to agree. Garber's style made his transition to the pro game almost seamless. Just one year post-graduation, Millon was already the game's top attackman. He was the best of the best at the '94 World Games and in two seasons of Major League Lacrosse he has two MVP awards.
Cannella started his coaching tenure eight years ago with a scheme very much the antithesis of Garber's. He played a deliberate offensive strategy designed to keep the game close and the ball away from more explosive teams.
But after the first two consecutive losing seasons in the program's history, Cannella decided to open it up. Since then five UMass players have been drafted, including four this past year.
None have yet demonstrated the blue chip talents of a LoCascio or Millon, but it was playing at UMass that gave them the tools to make it in the pro game.
"We play a wide open style," Cannella says. "It allows people to be creative and make decisions on their own. It allows them to make their own plays and it makes them more versatile."
One of the four draftees, Dan Paccione, didn't come to Amherst with the fanfair of a top recruit. In fact he had only seven points in his first two seasons, but now he's played his way into a role with New York of the indoor league.
Why?
Because playing under Cannella "gave me confidence," he says.
"We give them the ball," Cannella says. "We allow them to make plays and gain confidence. Confidence is huge. Look at all those guys that have played here and they have a tremendous amount of confidence in their own ability"
LoCascio agrees.
"I felt like if my team played even with the other team," he says. "We were going to win because I was confident that I was going to play better than the other guy."
Scott Hiller, a four-time All-American, is such a pupil of the Garber school of lacrosse that he implemented it with MLL's Boston franchise.
"The reason you see guys succeed is because they aren't constrained," Hiller says. "You're given a window to freelance and if you make a mistake you know you're not going to get benched. Lacrosse is supposed to be fun. And playing at UMass made it that way."
That's why, in a league like MLL, that teams with Syracuse and Princeton alums, UMass is considered a factory.
"If I had a few more picks I would've picked a couple more UMass guys," LoCascio says of last season's MLL college draft. "Because I know what they've been through and that they have the dedication and mindset to play the game the way it's supposed to be played."
"You could definitely say we play a pro style," Paccione says. "But as far as the hard work we did, I can tell you guys from other schools have no idea what we went through. We are definitely one of the hardest working team in college.
"You know that UMass guys don't play just on the weekends."
So hard work, confidence and an up-tempo style - sounds like a pretty good formula.
"But most schools don't play the fast paced game," Hiller says. "Guys at other places are real worried about being benched. I let guys play, just like Dick Garber did and Greg Cannella is doing now. Guys aren't afraid to take chances with them."
If last year's Minutemen were afraid to take chances, that tournament game against Hopkins might never have been close. Down 8-2 at halftime, the offense finally clicked and 10 second half goals beckoned overtime.
Unfortunately, a somber Millon would have to relay news of a Blue Jay gamewinner to his pal in Bridgeport. But the somber mood was brief, and the pair were soon back to chatting about old times.
After all, lacrosse is supposed to be fun.
