.png&type=webp){kind=icon}
.png&type=webp)
University of Massachusets Athletics
Men's Soccer Feature: Winning On A Thread
September 29, 2006 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 29, 2006
AMHERST, Mass. - By playing carefully and conservatively, these Minutemen live on the edge.
In men's soccer, that is not a contradiction.
"Goals have been hard to come by, and it puts a little pressure on myself, and on the team in general," said University of Massachusetts goalkeeper Zack Simmons, whose team opens Atlantic 10 Conference play today at George Washington. "But I'm happy we're a defense-minded team."
"We've tightened up our defense, and the ball has been bouncing our way," UMass coach Sam Koch said. "But I think you make your own luck, too, and if you don't give up goals, you don't lose."
With a young offense averaging less than one goal per game, UMass is still 6-2-2. The Minutemen have allowed only three goals, the result of a diligent back line led by junior center halfback Kenny Cook and Simmons, a sophomore with a 0.29 goals-against average.
"I can't say enough about Zack," Koch said. "He saved us against Charlotte (a 0-0 tie last week), and he's done it day in and day out."
After arriving at UMass in 2004, Simmons played on the UMass club soccer team. As a redshirt freshman on the varsity last year, he allowed 1.43 goals per game, with a 78.3 save percentage that turned this walk-on from Durham, N.H., into the team's Rookie of the Year.
This year, his save percentage is an otherworldly 94, with 47 saves on 50 shots. He ranks scond in the nation in goals-against average and save percentage, fourth in shutout percentage (70.0), and 29th in saves per game (4.7).
Last Saturday's scoreless tie against Charlotte was the Minutemen's first 0-0 game of the season. But the way UMass plays, it was inevitable.
"We obviously strive to give up as few goals as possible," said Cook, who is from Fairport, N.Y. "That puts the focus on patience, because we're not going to blow anybody out."
This style is Koch's preference for this team, but it means he must be patient, too, as his team constantly straddles the fine line between 1-0 victories and 1-0 losses.
The Minutemen won four straight 1-0 contests, rising to a No. 22 NCAA Division I ranking at one point, before losing 1-0 games to Vermont and New Hampshire.
Every game has been nerve-wracking, and that probably won't change.
"We're starting one or two freshmen up front, and a couple of sophomores in the middle," Koch said. "We're getting our offensive patterns down, but it may be awhile before the ball starts going into the back of the net."
Freshman Bryan Hogan leads the offense with three goals. The midfield includes the team's only local player, sophomore Michael Connolly of Amherst, who has played in four games.
The two losses, followed by the tie against Charlotte, have somewhat slowed a 5-0-1 start, the team's best start since 1931. Defensively, though, the Minutemen remain phenomenal.
From Sept. 1-15, they won five straight games by shutout. The stretch of 566 minutes, 55 seconds of shutout play - more than nine hours - is the longest in school history.
It's a history with three regular season Atlantic 10 titles, one A-10 tournament crown and, in 2001, its only NCAA tournament appearance. From 1999-2003, the Minutemen enjoyed five straight winning seasons for the first time in 30 years.
Yet men's soccer has flown under the radar at UMass, overshadowed by a premier football program, a sometimes splashy men's basketball team, a national force in men's lacrosse and success in other sports. These Minutemen hope a strong defense and a goal here and there can put them on the map, too.
"We're beginning to get noticed, and that's very gratifying," Simmons said. "A lot of our other teams have been getting recognition. It's been nice for us to have some success, too."