DeSantis Brothers Reunite At Rudd Field

Sept. 7, 2006

DeSantis brothers reunite at Rudd Field By Danny Picard, Collegian Staff

It's not very often you come across two brothers who played on the same high school and college team, but for Mike and Mark DeSantis, there's nothing unusual about it.

The duo for Stoneham played soccer together for three years at Stoneham High School. Each won a pair of state titles.

Starting in 2006, freshman Mark DeSantis joins his older brother, sophomore Mike DeSantis, in the UMass midfield for what hopes to be a promising season for the Minutemen.

"I'm excited," Mike says on playing with his brother for three more years. "We've always been close, good friends. He deserves to play here. He makes us a better team, and he can definitely help our team win."

"The soccer program at UMass is great," Mark says. "I love it. I love the coaches and the players, but the school is just amazing. And the team, when I was on my visit, I loved these guys. A lot of brothers can't say that they played high school and college soccer together. Hopefully we can continue to play well together, and help our team win."

Mike played in all 20 games as a freshman in 2005. He tallied one goal and one assist last year, and looks to be an even bigger threat as he heads into his sophomore season.

"Mike is a workhorse," UMass coach Sam Koch says. "He's steady. He gives us great defense, helps win balls and just keeps the midfield focused on their defensive responsibilities. He's also very good going forward. He's very good in transition. He helps a lot of people up, and gets himself into good scoring situations. He's going to score some goals for us this year, there's no question. He's just a good two-way player.

"He [Mike] can do things on both sides of the ball. Whether he's attacking or whether he's defending. He can pretty much play from six-yard box to six-yard box. So he's certainly well-rounded."

Mike will play center-midfield in 2006, and Mark will be rotating from forward and left-outside midfield.

"Mark is similar, but is better on the attacking end than the defensive end," Koch says. "Mike is better on the defensive end than the attacking end. So, in a funny way, they sort of complement each other.

"Mark being left-sided gives us a definite threat on the left side of the field. He has the ability to finish, and he's got a great shot. He's going to score some nice goals for us, but again, how soon can we get him into that mix is the only question."

The DeSantis brothers look to answer that question right away. Mark comes into UMass as the all-time leading scorer at Stoneham High School with 130 points on 83 goals and 47 assists. Those numbers made him one of the best public high school players in Massachusetts. With a little help from his big brother, Mark shouldn't have a tough time getting settled.

"He'll give us an offensive spark," Mike says about Mark's role with the team as a freshman. "He's really good offensively. He has good skills and a good shot, so hopefully he'll score a lot of goals this year, which was one of our problems last spring."

"I just want to help these guys win," Mark says. "This is a great team, and I just want to win games. That is our goal, and hopefully I can help them out.

"I'll play whatever the coach wants me to play. That's all I can say. Whatever the coach wants me to do, I'll do it."

While the story seems like one out of a Disney movie, there were a few bumps along the road before these two reunited with each other on the field.

During Mark's college selection process, the duo's father had second thoughts about sending his youngest son to the same school as Mike. While Boston College, Boston University, Syracuse, and Northeastern were all options, Mr. and Mrs. DeSantis realized that UMass was where he belonged.

"At first, my dad really wanted [Mark] to go somewhere else," Mike says. "But he realized that having me there wasn't going to cause any problems, it was going to help him, if anything. They know that we'll both be fine together.

"He always got that feeling that if he ended up with his brother. It wouldn't work out at first. He wanted Mark to do his own thing, but in the end, he kind of persuaded him back into coming here."

"He wanted me to look at other schools," Mark says on his father's initial reaction. "But this is the place where I wanted to be."

Both Mike and Mark have high expectations for this upcoming season. With the goal of returning to the Atlantic 10 tournament on their minds, the Minutemen will certainly benefit from this duo for the remainder of their stay in Amherst.

"Whenever we have to call their house, we only have to call it once," Koch says jokingly on the advantages of having two brothers on the team. "They come from a great family that gives a lot of support to both of them. And I think it's probably a big benefit to their family because they can come here and see both of the kids play.

"As far as advantages for us, they're two good kids, and whether they come from two families or one, the team benefits from having both of them. The fact that they have come from one household, and one set of parents that have done a great job raising them, I feel very fortunate that we have them in our family now.

"They're two different players and two different people. The fact that they're brothers certainly helps. They are two of the better players out of Massachusetts, in my mind, and I think anybody in their right mind would want them in their program."

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics

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