Wednesdays in the Crease

May 4, 2005

On Wednesday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m. ET, UMass Head Coach Greg Cannella visited "Wednesdays in the Crease", presented by CSTV.com and LaxPower.com. The Minuteman are currently ranked No. 8 in the country and have just captured their 20th New England Championship with a 8-5 win over Harvard.

Recognized as one of the nation's top lacrosse coaches, Greg Cannella begins his 11th year at the helm of the University of Massachusetts program. In his first ten years, Cannella has brought his Minutemen to four NCAA Tournaments, winning three tournament games since 1997, captured four New England championships, claimed the 2002 ECAC Lacrosse title after earning a share of the 2001 crown, while being named ECAC Coach of the Year on three seperate occasions in 2004, 2002, and 2001.

Cannella took the reigns of the UMass lacrosse program in the fall of 1994 with a great understanding of the program's storied history. He was a two-time letterwinner under the legendary Dick Garber in the mid-1980s and an assistant coach for two seasons with the Minutemen. Cannella is just the fourth head coach in the program's 49-year history.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: Hello, everyone and welcome to another edition of Wednesdays in the Crease. We have two great chats for you this afternoon. Starting things off is UMass Head Coach Greg Cannella.

Coach Cannella: It is great to be here today. I'm looking forward to answering your questions.

mike tulsa: How do you rank your top 5 teams that you have coached during your tenure at Umass?

Coach Cannella: That is difficult to do. We've had some really good teams here. If you want to look at success on the field, you look at the Tournament teams - 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003. But two of the better teams that we've had were in 1996 and 2001.

Stephen (Amherst): How does it feel to have your hard work in recruiting show up with great young players such as Brian Danvers, Sean Krygier, Paul Manesis, and Fred Federico?

Coach Cannella: Certainly those guys are all quality people along with being quality players. As much as they are playing or not playing as freshmen, they will be part of the future here at UMass lacrosse. They are all very hard working individuals who have made us better as a team every day.

Will (wilbraham): how has the play of Dan Whipple sured up your defensive outlook, especially with an eye on the post-season?

Coach Cannella: Dan's play has been very consistent throughout the season and through his hard work, he has gained a tremendous amount of confidence in himself, as well being there for his teammates. The coaching staff feels that, with the same approach that he brings every day, he will only get better.

Coach K Lax Elkridge MD: Coach It looked like Dane Collins had the best game of the year winning 18 out of 30 draws. Please comment how much of your practice time is spent practicing faceoffs, How important faceoffs are to winning, and do you specifically recruit kids just to be face off men. How much influence does a face off man have over a game.

Coach Cannella: Dane had a great day on Saturday and consistency is what counts for any of our players, so we hope that Dane can remain consistent like that through the rest of the season. He has worked very hard to become more consistent and both he and Jake Dean have pushed each other every single day. We work on faceoffs every day in practice. Chris Gabrielli does a great job preparing both Dane and Jake each week, along with our wing play. We do recruit guys who faceoff specifically, however, as in any of our recruits, we are looking for the best possible athlete. A big part of winning faceoffs is being a great athlete. I think faceoffs, depending on the game, are a big part of your success and the timing of when you win your faceoffs is even more important.

Tom Z. (Ellington, CT): Is it frustrating to see UMass consistently slighted in the polls? Currently, in the Geico/STX Coaches Poll you are rated behind Georgetown (which you beat), and are the lowest ranking team with only 2 losses (both by 1 goal).

Coach Cannella: We would rather focus on the task that is at hand, which is always the next game on our schedule. Rankings really do not mean much to me or our program. We'd rather concentrate on playing the highest level of lacrosse that we possibly can. At the end of every year, we can look back and say that we worked our hardest and we'll be very proud of that fact.

Dick: How great was it to beat Georgetown and Syracuse in back-to-back weekends?

Coach Cannella: Great. Both of those programs are traditional Top 5 programs, so when you consider that, there is a real sense of accomplishment.

Eric(Manhasset): Coach,Division I lacrosse is getting more and more cometitive every day, and all the teams look well coached. Who are some of the good coaches that we do not hear about?

Coach Cannella: Eric, you are right. There are a lot of great programs out there - more than ever in Division I. It is hard to say who some of the top coaches that we've never heard of are, though, because of much of the exposure our sport has been receiving recently.

Xavier, Syracuse,NY: Hey coach, What is the number one thing you look for while recruiting athletes for your squad?

Coach Cannella: Number one is a great teammate, a quality person. Most definitely, we are looking for the best athletes and best lacrosse players, however, we are extremely concerned with character. Lacrosse is a team sport in which many of the players will need to be selfless in filling very important roles for the success of the team. It is difficult when you recruit the top player from every high school team to come to a school like UMass because those guys expect to be what they were in high school - the top player. But many of those players will help round out our team and work hard for the betterment of the program.

Brian (Newark, DE): How important has the goalie play of Bill Schell been in your success, do you think you could be this far with another goalie?

Coach Cannella: As a senior and a four year starter, Bill's play has been essential to our success. He has been a tremendous leader on the defensive side, he has a settling effect on all our players and is great in the clearing game.

peter (queens): What do you think of of the success of teams like Stony Brook and Albany this season. Being from New York I would to know what you think of them.

Coach Cannella: This goes back to the question we had from Eric in Manhasset. Stony Brook and Albany are both fine programs and have made tremendous strides in the last four or five years to be as good as anybody in Division I lacrosse. Scott Marr and Lars Tiffany are both outstanding coaches who have made the most of their opportunities. Both schools have supported their lacrosse programs very well and their success will only continue because of that.

Peter (Ludlow): Is there any talk of you playing in the football stadium for big games so the people are not so cramped at Garber?

Coach Cannella: Peter, there is no other place that we would rather play than Garber Field. The name of Coach Garber, the tradition and the history of playing on his field, really energizes our players. We feel it is a tremendous advantage for us as a team.

greg kline...nyc: Coach, congrats on a great year....how do keep your players so focused on rutgers when the the tourney is looming right in front of them....go umass

Coach Cannella: That is a hard chore for any coach. It is a matter of letting them know how important winning the ECAC is for us and our program at this point in time. But also knowing how formidable an opponent like Rutgers is, if we go down there and don't prepare the right way, they will take it to us.

Matnum PI (Silver Spring, MD): Do you think Morris is the top middy in the country and should win the Tewaartan?

Coach Cannella: Sean has actually played attack most of the season, so I can't rate him as a midfielder. There are some great attack players out there right now and Sean is certainly in that group.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: That is all the time we have with Coach Cannella this afternoon.

Coach Cannella: Thank you for the great questions. I had a lot of fun.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: Join us at the top of the hour for the second half of today's Wednesday in the Crease doubleheader, when we are joined by army Head Coach Jack Emmer. Submit your questions now. See you shortly.

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