Just Take A Minute: Sept 15-19

Boomer bytes

  Friday, Sept. 19

The football team is off to Lubbock flying a charter plane from the Barnes Airport this morning. The Minutemen will land in Texas in late afternoon as they prepare for their battle with the No. 10 FBS Red Raiders. Just Take A Minute has plenty of stories on the game. Also there is news on the Road Race for Jaclyn which involves several UMass teams.

UMass alum Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald has an article on Liam Coen, who is ready for the challenge of playing against the highest-ranked team in his time at UMass, No. 10 FBS Texas Tech.

Jeff Thomas of the Republican profiles UMass receiver Victor Cruz after his record-setting week against James Madison.

The Daily Toreador in Lubbock has a preview of the game. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has notebook looking at the Red Raiders.

The Double T Nation has an opinon on the UMass-Texas Tech taking a look at how UMass offers its streaming audio for free while Texas Tech charges.

The Boston Globe features the Associated Press preview of the UMass-Texas Tech game.

The Sports Network has its weekly look ahead to action in all of FCS.

An industry online magazine LS&i has a story on UMass' new sound system at McGuirk Stadium. ATC Audio in Springfield installed the setup.

The Bloomfield Journal in Connecticut has a snipnet on UMass starting defensive lineman Darnel DeLaire.

The Amherst Bulletin has a piece on the Friends of Jaclyn Road Race which takes place on Sunday. The race/walk is the brainchild of former UMass Field Hockey player, Erin O'Brien, who wanted the UMass sports team to collaborate with the Friends Foundation. The race is named after Jaclyn Murphy who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 11 in 2004. She began the organization to raise awareness of pediatric brain tumors.

The women's lacrosse team's adopted teammate Lexie Williams was featured in the SouthCoastToday.com. Lexie was adopted by the team in April of 2006 and has created a close friendship with the team's members, who consider her their good luck charm and source of inspiration.

The Daily Collegian has a feature on UMass' transfers Jackie Tait and Jill Powers.

Down in North Carolina, a UMass alum Jana Benscoter and now a coach, has helped start a field hockey program at Northwest Guilford Hight School.

The Collegian also has a preview of the women's soccer team's final non-conference game against Providence this weekend.

College Hoops.net is looking at each state in the union and ranking the college basketball teams within each state. Maryland was ranked today and Massachusetts is next on the list.

UMassAthletics.com Feature To Check Out: On Monday, a new more user-friendly video player and All-Access video platform will be unveiled on UMassAthletics.com. Be sure to check back on Monday

Don't miss this: Of course what else could it be? UMass at Texas Tech as the Minutemen look to pull of their first win over an FBS team since 1984. Remember the only way to catch the game is by listening on radio or the internet since their is not television or streaming video from Lubbock.

  Thursday, Sept. 18

UMass football's game at Texas Tech is just two days away as the Minutemen prepare to play before the largest crowd in athletics history. Today's Just Take A Minute has various stories on the gridders. Be sure to join us at the Hangar Bar & Grill on Thursday at 7 p.m. for the Bud Light UMass Football Show With Don Brown. You can ask Coach Brown all day long here on UMassAthletics.com. If you can't come to the Hangar, listen on 100.9 FM or UMassAthletics.com. On the hockey front, P.J. Fenton has been opening eyes in San Jose Sharks rookie camp.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has a feature on UMass' secondary and how the players including Sean Smalls are preparing to deal with the Red Raiders' vaunted receiver corps.

The Daily Toreador has a great feature story on UMass quarterback Liam Coen.

The Double T Nation takes a look at the Texas Tech Offense against the UMass Defense .

The Sports Network has released its preview of the UMass-Texas Tech game.

The Nashua Telegraph has a small blurb on UMass offensive lineman Rob Getek starting on the line this season.

In an NHL Rookie Game, UMass alum P.J. Fenton scored for the San Jose Sharks in a 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. It was the second night in a row Fenton scored for the Sharks, as they lost 2-1 to the Ducks the previous night. He is quoted in the story as well, saying: "I think the last three days were good for a lot of us. We all benefit from playing here in front of all the Sharks management and scouts. For those of us who are going to training camp, it is something that we can take with us. For the guys who aren't going to camp, it is still a great experience and should help their confidence whereever they may end up going to play." Fenton is wearing No. 56 for the teal.

The Republican has a snipet on UMass women's soccer's 2-1 win at Albany on Wednesday. "We're happy to get the win and have it under our belts," UMass coach Jim Rudy said. "It wasn't one of our better efforts, we really didn't play that well, but the other team had something to do with it."

Former UMass runner Gloucester native and triathlete Janda Ricci-Munn recently turned in his best performance since turning professional earlier this year. He finished fifth in an Ironman Triathlon.

UMassAthletics.com Feature To Check Out: Looking to support the football program? Visit the website of the UMass Friends Of Football.

Don't miss this: News on the 100th Season of UMass Basketball and the 2008-09 men's basketball schedule should be announced today.

  Wednesday, Sept. 17

Wednesday means its time for the Weekly Sports Luncheon. Be sure to join us at 12 Noon today as we honor UMass/Dinn Brothers Athletes of the Week Victor Cruz from the football team and Vanessa Patry from the women's soccer team. They will be recognized in Room 1009 of the Campus Center today. Football coach Don Brown and field hockey coach Justine Sowry will be the guest speakers. Patry will not be on hand as the Minutewomen will be on their way to Albany to face the Great Danes at 3 p.m. today.

Check out the UMass-Texas Tech game preview from the Associated Press.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Matt Vautour has a notebook where he touches on various topics.

Let's direct our attention to the southwest for the latest on Texas Tech. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal takes a look a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Daniel Charbonnet, who had three interceptions last week in Texas Tech's 43-7 win over SMU. The Houston Chronicle also has a feature on him. The Fort-Worth Star-Telegram has a notebook on Texas Tech including some feelings on Hurricane Ike.

The Collegian has two stories on the football team including a CAA notebook. The other focuses on UMass falling to No. 9 in the polls.

The Daily Collegian looks at the women's soccer team as the Minutewomen are beginning to gel. The paper also has a complete preview of the game at Albany today.

UMassAthletics.com Feature To Check Out: If you know anyone planning a visit to the UMass campus, tell them to check out the UMass Athletics Visitor's Guide.

Don't miss this: The Sports Luncheon takes place at 12 Noon in Room 1009 of the Campus Center. Football's Victor Cruz and soccer's Vanessa Patry share the Athlete of the Week honor. News on the 100th Season of UMass Basketball and the 2008-09 men's basketball schedule will be announced before the end of the week.

  Tuesday, Sept. 16

Tuesday is here and the Court Club Golf Outing was a big success out at the Ranch Golf Course in Southwick yesterday. Football's game at Texas Tech provides most of the news today. Saturday's game is a sellout in Lubbock which should bring a crowd of more than 52,000. That would set a record for most fans watching a UMass sporting event, all-time. The previous mark was set at NC State in 2002, when more then 51,000 watch the Minutemen football play the Wolfpack. The Daily Collegia also has stories on field hockey, men's soccer and cross country.

The latest Sports Network poll and FCS Coaches Poll each have UMass football ranked No. 9. The Sports Network also has a weekend wrap-up story which looks at the UMass-JMU game.

Texas Tech has updated their Gameday Central page. The game is sold out so a crowd of more than 52,000 is expected, which would set a record for largest crowd ever to watch a UMass sporting event in any sport.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has a notebook which has some interesting comments from several players about the Minutemen. Tech players' initial impression of Massachusetts is that the Minutemen will challenge them with all sorts of looks. "They line up in a bunch of different sets,'' defensive end Jake Ratliff said. "They probably run more sets than any team we've ever played. That's good. We're going to see that later on in the Big 12s, so we better get used to it now.''

Center Stephen Hamby said the UMass defense could present similar problems. "They're like a Missouri team. They twist and bring the blitz,'' Hamby said. "They do a lot of weird stuff. They're going to throw a lot of stuff we've never seen at us. This week is going to be real important just focusing on this game.''

From the Austin Statesman, Texas Tech's Mike Leach says he's not happy with the Red Raiders passing game, despite the team leading the nation in passing yards per game. The San Antonio Express News has a story on Texas Tech also.

The game will not be televised, but it will be carried by the UMass Sport Network across the state. For fans with Sirius Satellite radio, they can listen to the Texas Tech Broadcast on Channel 126.

The Daily Collegian has a story on the field hockey team's goalies Alesha Widdall and Sarah Williams.

The Collegian also takes a look at men's soccer and compares this season's start to last season when the Minutemen advanced to the College Cup.

Cross country gets some coverage with a recap of the teams' first meet of the season at the Dartmouth Invitational.

Check out the latest on UMass' paralympian Michael Prout, who competed in nine events in Beijing.

UMassAthletics.com Feature To Check Out: Visit the strength & conditioning webpage which looks at UMass' massive weight room.

Don't miss this: The NBA returns to the Mullins Center and limited tickets remain for the Celtics-76ers game on Oct. 8. To purchase seats, visit ticketmaster.com.

  Monday, Sept. 15

Hope your weekend was great. Today, we hope to see you at the Court Club Golf Outing at The Ranch Golf Course in Southwick, Mass. It is a full day of golf followed by dinner. Sunday was a day for overtime thrillers at UMass as both the field hockey team and women's soccer team pulled out golden-goal victories. The men's soccer team also went to extra time, but tied William & Mary down in Virginia. The football team suffered a 52-38 loss in its second shootout in as many weeks. The Minutemen will have their hands full in what looks to be another high-scoring affair at No. 10 (FBS) Texas Tech next Saturday.

Here are the stories on UMass' 52-38 loss to No. 3 James Madison in Harrisonburg on Saturday. The Minutemen are sure to fall from No. 3 in the Sports Network poll, which will be released around 2 p.m. on Monday. Check out coverage in the Springfield Republican, Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Worcester Telegram & Gazette and from the Daily-News Record, Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Staunton News-Leader in Virginia.

In starting our weekly look at the football team's opponent, Texas Tech has risen to No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Red Raiders were No. 12 in both polls last year. The Minutemen will be facing a team ranked this high for the first time since playing No. 7 Kansas State in 2003. Last year, Boston College was No. 12 at the time of UMass' 24-14 loss at Chestnut Hill.

The site of the UMass-Texas Tech game, Jones Stadium was flooded before the Red Raiders' 43-7 win over SMU on Saturday. Check out the pictures. Here's a story on the 300,000 gallons of water that was drained.

The Boston Herald has a follow-up to the weekend of high-scoring college games in New England.

Brandon London, who had his school-record (held with J.J. Moore) for catches in a game tied by Victor Cruz at JMU, was inactive for the Dolphins in their 31-10 loss at the Cardinals in Arizona on Sunday.

The Republican leads off its local college sports notebook with the UMass field hockey win in double-OT against Harvard as South Deerfield's Erin Parker scored the winner in the 3-2 victory.

The Harvard Crimson student paper has a story on the UMass 3-2 field hockey win.

From the UMass perspective, check out coverage in The Daily Collegian, which covered all of UMass games over the weekend.

Check out William & Mary's story on the men's soccer tie at the ODU/STIHL Soccer Classic. Zack Simmons and Ben Arikian were named to the All-Tournament Team.

UMassAthletics.com Feature To Check Out: Do you know about the "Super Scoreboard"? Well if you don't check it out. It features all the latest from UMassAthletics.com on one simple short screen.

Don't miss this: As mentioned above the Court Club Golf Outing takes place today. Also, look for an announcement with some news on the 100th season of UMass basketball this week.

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Look Back To The Week Of Aug. 18-22, 2008

University of Massachusets Athletics

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