Just Take A Minute: Sept. 28-Oct. 2, 2009

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   Friday, Oct. 2

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Another big weekend is on tap for UMass teams and its fans. The hockey season gets underway with a preseason game against New Brunswick on Saturday at the Practice Rink. Earlier in the day, the men's soccer team hosts Fordham at 1 p.m. The #9 field hockey team plays at #6 Syracuse on Saturday before returning home to play Yale, Sunday. On Sunday, many teams will participate in the Friends of Jaclyn Walk at Amherst College.

If you pick up the Sporting News NHL Preview magazine, there is a six-page spread on college hockey that ranks UMass as No. 20 in its preseason poll. Also, James Marcou is listed as a Preseason Second Team All-American.

College Hockey News has a "New Season Primer" with a look at some players to watch. Included in the category "Keep An Eye On Him" is Justin Braun. UMass alum Joe Meloni writes: Even with James Marcou's breakout season, there was little doubt who the MVP was for the Minutemen in 2008-09. Braun averaged nearly 30 minutes of ice time for UMass coach Toot Cahoon and featured on the top defensive pairing and first power-play unit on his way to being named a second-team all-American.

The Sports Network has its Around FCS Update with a look at the tough CAA including UMass.

The Examiner in Virginia has a poll of teams Virginia Tech fans wish the Hokies would play in football. Interestingly in addition to powers such as Penn State, Florida and Ohio State, UMass received several votes. No doubt a connection to a pair of Blacksburg natives on the Minuteman roster in Tyler Holmes and Caleb Violette.

The Greenville Daily Reflector has a story on Davidson releasing its 2009-10 men's basketball schedule which includes a visit from UMass on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.

After a slow start, the women's soccer team is undefeated in its last five games under the leadership of Angela Napoli. The Daily Collegian has a preview of its two tough road matches at Saint Louis and Charlotte. The Minutewomen (2-0-) are undefeated in the Atlantic 10 conference going into this weekend. UMass is one of four soccer teams tied for the conference lead in wins going into this weekend.

The Daily Collegian also has a nice piece on Sydney Stoll and Therese Smith stepping up on offense recently.

The tennis team began its dual-match competition on Thursday with a 7-0 win at Holy Cross. The Daily Collegian and Daily Hampshire Gazette have complete coverage as the doubles teams propelled UMass to the sweep.

The Daily Collegian has a preview of men's and women's cross country teams as they head to the Paul Short Invitational this Saturday in Bethelem, Pa. Five other Atlantic 10 teams accompany UMass this weekend.

Yale's student newspaper Daily News previews the Bulldogs games this weekend at Cornell and at UMass, on Sunday. When the Elis travel to Amherst, it will be the first time the Bulldogs and Minutewomen have shared the turf since 1997.

More off-campus field hockey news as the UConn Daily Campus cites the UMass-UConn game next week as one of the biggest of the season next Friday.

Check This Out On UMassAthletics.com: The UMass Photo Store is offering a FREE 9X12 print as part of a special promotion, check it out and get your favorite UMass image today.

Don't Miss This: Big weekend on tap. The most crucial game is the field hockey team's matchup in Top 10 powers as the No. 9 Minutewomen travel to No. 6 Syracuse on Saturday for a clash. The ice hockey team hosts its only preseason game on Saturday at 6 p.m. against New Brunswick. On Sunday, many UMass teams headed by women's lacrosse will take part in the Friends Of Jaclyn Walk at Amherst College.

   Thursday, Oct. 1

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Happy October! The 10th month of the year has arrives as we enter the home stretch of 2009. Wednesday was a big day in the hockey world as Hockey East held its media day in Boston. There are stories in JTAM on the event from the TD Garden as well as news from the football team, field hockey, men's soccer and tennis team, which is in action on Thursday at Holy Cross.

Here are stories on Hockey East media day where defending NCAA Champion Boston University was picked to win the league: ESPN.com, New England Hockey Journal, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Boston Metro, Seacoast Online in New Hampshire, Concord Monitor, Bangor Daily News and Union-Leader (N.H.).

Looking ahead to the hockey team's regular-season opener, the Troy Record has a look at the RPI Engineers, who open the college hockey season at UMass on Oct. 8.

The Daily Collegian has a football notebook during the bye week focusing on CAA Rookie of the Week Perry McIntyre.

The Providence Journal looks at the Baltimore Ravens' connections to New England including defensive line coach Clarence Brooks attended New Bedford HS and played at UMass, while his son Jason, a Baltimore offensive assistant, was born in Amherst, Mass.

Tony Gaffney has officially been added to the Lakers online roster, but his profile has not been activated. He is wearing No. 23 in the gold and purple, listed just above No. 24 Kobe Bryant.

The No. 9 field hockey team's Top 10 battle with No. 6 Syracuse is previewed in the Daily Collegian. The paper also has a story on the field hockey team's success in road games.

The Daily Collegian has a preview of the men's soccer A-10 opener against Fordham set for this Saturday at Rudd Field. The paper also has a new look at Sam Koch winning his 200th game as a head coach at UMass.

The tennis team which had a great weekend at the Eastern Invitational heads to Holy Cross on Thursday. The Daily Collegian has a preview.

Check This Out On UMassAthletics.com: Get scores and headlines sent straight to your cell phone of PDA with UMass Wireless.

Don't Miss This: The women's tennis team has a match on Thursday at Holy Cross, starting at 4 p.m.

   Wednesday, Sept. 30

Wednesday is Hockey East Media Day at the TD Garden in Boston. Be sure to check back for updates from Toot Cahoon in Boston. The UMass Sports Luncheon will be held at 12:15 p.m., the Campus Center Cape Cod Room with football coach Kevin Morris and cross country/track and field coach Ken O'Brien as the featured guest speakers. Also NBA teams held their media days with Marcus Camby and Tony Gaffney in L.A.

Men's soccer head coach Sam Koch earned his 200th career coaching win at UMass on Tuesday with a 3-0 win over Colgate as the Minutemen moved to 3-1-3 overall. The Daily Collegian and Daily Hampshire Gazette have coverage.

The Daily Collegian also has a sidebar on Dominic Skrajewski, who scored his first goal -- the game-winner -- to beat Colgate.

In the Springfield Republican, Ron Chimelis has a nice feature on junior Anthony Gurley, who will be counted in several roles this season.

On Masslive.com, Ron Chimelis has a notebook touching on freshman Raphiael Putney, who will be a key component to the men's basketball season.

Marcus Camby (second from left) with Blake Griffin, Baron Davis and Chris Kaman.

The Los Angeles Clippers held their media day on Tuesday. Check out photos from the event featuring UMass legend Marcus Camby, in his second season with the Clips.

UMass senior kicker Armando Cuko leads the NCAA in made field goals per game with 3.0, making three in each of his three games.

The Albany Times Union has a college notebook which leads off with Capital District native Jeremy Horne, who had 124 receiving yards last Saturday. The paper had a nice photo of Horne.

With the New England Patriots hosting the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, there are several connections to UMass as the Ravens come to the Bay State. Patriots.com mentions three Ravens returning to Massachusetts: Ravens defensive line coach Clarence Brooks attended New Bedford (MA) HS and was a guard at the University of Massachusetts from 1970-72 and a team captain in his final season. Brooks earned All-Conference and All-East honors on the O-Line; Baltimore offensive assistant Jason Brooks (son of Clarence Brooks) was born in Amherst, Mass. and served as UMass' assistant defensive backs coach in the spring of 2007; Ravens RB Matt Lawrence grew up in Bloomfield, Conn. and played his collegiate ball at UConn before transferring to UMass and earning his degree in 2007.

The arochak-sweep-a-10-weekly-awards/">Daily Collegian has a story on UMass field hockey as Katie Kelly earned the A-10 Player of the Week while Kara Charochak earned Rookie of the Week.

Speaking of the field hockey team, the new NFHCA Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday and the Minutewomen moved up a spot to #9 in the country! It is UMass' highest ranking since the 2000 season. Justine Sowry's squad takes on #6 Syracuse and Yale this weekend.

Former UMass field hockey player Philippa Scott is featured in the Hartford Courant as she has coaches the South Windsor High School field hockey team to a perfect 5-0 record.

Check This Out On UMassAthletics.com: With hockey season just days away from starting, relive the best seasons of the Mass Attack with a newly revised hockey archieve page.

Don't Miss This: Hockey East Media Day takes place on Wednesday morning in Boston and UMass Sports Luncheon takes place at 12:15 p.m. at the Campus Center.

   Tuesday, Sept. 29

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The men's soccer team plays its first regular-season home game in nearly a month this afternoon as the Minutemen host Colgate at 3:30 p.m. Today's Just Take A Minute has stories on the football team which is up to No. 14 in the Sports Network media poll. Some more news on football alums Marcel Shipp, Keron Williams, Anton McKenzie and Shannon James. Also hits on Tony Gaffney and the Mass Attack hockey team.

The 3-1 UMass football team is up to No. 14 in the Sports Network media poll after a week a No. 15. Contrastingly, in the FCS Coaches Poll, the Minutemen dropped to No. 16 after being 15th last week.

Marcel Shipp kicks off his UFL season on Oct. 8.

The Boston Herald has a college football notebook with a few notes on UMass' win over Stony Brook. Hernandez, a sophomore from Leominster, became the first UMass back to have three rushing TDs in a game since Matt Lawrence against Fordham in the 2007 NCAA playoffs. Fullback Chris Zardas of Wakefield added two more to give UMass five rushing TDs for the first time since 2006.

All-time leading rusher Marcel Shipp is featured in the Las Vegas Sun as he gets ready for the UFL season with the Las Vegas Locomotives. Shipp will likely be the Locomotives' top running back when they open the season against the California Redwoods Oct. 8 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

In the CFL, UMass alums faced off as Shannon James and his Calgary Stampeders downed the BC Lions and Anton McKenzie, 27-18. James had five tackles while McKenzie made three stops.

Keron Williams is sixth in the CFL in sacks.

With the Montreal Alouettes, Keron Williams had two sacks as the Als beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 42-8. Williams is sixth in the CFL in sacks with seven.

Tony Gaffney was officially signed to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. The L.A. Times also has a story on the signing.

The 2009-10 Preseason USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll has been released. UMass takes on No. 3 Boston University, No. 10 UMass Lowell, No. 11 Yale, No. 12 Boston College and No. 15 Vermont.

The UMass hockey team plays one of the first men's Division I college hockey games in the country next Thursday, Oct. 8 when the Minutemen take on Rensselaer. The other game that day is Quinnipiac at Ohio State.

The Naples News has a college notebook which has a section on UMass hockey player David Boehm. The paper says: UMass, which features former Junior Everblade forward David Boehm of Naples, will host the University of New Brunswick in a preseason game on Oct. 3 in Amherst, Mass. UMass will open its regular season on Oct. 8 against RPI. Boehm, a redshirt freshman, played in the first two games last season for the Minutemen before suffering an injury. He received a medical redshirt for the season.

Check This Out On UMassAthletics.com: Sign up for the UMass B-Line, an awesome new feature. Its a FREE software program that provides a higher level of interaction with the team website. "Cliff Notes" version of the team website with links back to the official site for the full story. Pop up alerts notify you of breaking team news, new media releases and special offers. This streamlined program will not slow down your computer's speed or hinder performance.

Don't Miss This: The auctions for several items including a basketball autographed by Julius Erving, John Calipari and Al Skinner ends at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Also on Tuesday, the latest field hockey poll will be released.

   Monday, Sept. 28

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Another great weekend for the UMass teams. The Maroon & White combined for perfect 6-0 record in football (44-17 over Stony Brook), field hockey (2-1 at Vermont and 7-1 at Quinnipiac), men's soccer (2-0 over Siena) and women's soccer (2-1 over St. Joe's and 1-0 at Duquesne). Just Take A Minute has stories on all the teams as well as a look at UMass' NFL players including Matt Lawrence seeing extended time with the Ravens.

Coverage of Saturday's football win over Stony Brook before 16,122 at McGuirk Stadium comes from the: Springfield Republican,Daily Hampshire Gazette, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Daily Collegian and Associated Press.

One last look at the old McGuirk Stadium scoreboard.

Saturday's game was the final for the scoreboard in the South end zone of McGuirk Stadium. It was installed in 1995. Pieces of the scoreboard will be auctioned on UMassAthletics.com in the coming weeks.

In a few sidebars on the football game. The Springfield Republican focuses on Tony Nelson missing the game with an injury. The Daily Collegian looks at Jonathan Hernandez and his increased role on Saturday. The racuse-has-his-best-receiving-game-season">Daily Hampshire Gazette has a notebook leading with Jeremy Horne's big day.

Looking ahead to the Delaware Blue Hens, the Minutemen's next opponent, here is a story from the Delaware News Journal focusing on UD's remaining games including the Oct. 10 clash with UMass in Newark.

The website DraftCountdown lists Vladimir Ducasse (No. 3) and Jeromy Miles (No. 27) on a list of top "Sleepers" for the 2010 NFL Draft. The site also lists Ducasse as the No. 3 overall prospect at offensive guard, although he plays tackle at UMass.

Matt Lawrence rushed four times for the Ravens on Sunday.

In NFL action of UMass alums, Matt Lawrence saw his first regular-season action at tailback for the Baltimore Ravens in a 34-3 win over the Cleveland Browns. He had four carries for zero yards and a catch for four years along with a special teams tackle.

Jeremy Cain snapped eight times for the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 31-24 win at the Houston Texans. He also made a special teams tackle.

The New York Jets moved to 3-0 with James Ihedigbo playing a key role on special teams as the Jets beat the Tennessee Titans, 24-17.

In the Springfield Republican, Ron Chimelis has a feature on senior Ricky Harris, who knows it's his time to be the UMass basketball team's on-court leader.

Chimelis also had a story over the weekend about what may be called UMass' Fab Five Frosh the quintet of Sampson Carter, Javorn Farrell, Raphiael Putney, Freddie Riley and Terrell Vinson.

In the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Matt Vautour reports the Minutemen are considering bringing back Trey Lang, who played for UMass in 2007-08.

In other basketball news, Chimelis of the Springfield Republican has a column on why the city of Springfield deserves to host the Tip-Off Classic again.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a feature on former UMass All-American goalie Jon Quick, who is set to be the L.A. Kings starting goalie. This story has this interesting bit: After getting married on Aug. 23, Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick postponed his honeymoon so he could work out with his teammates. "They were voluntary (workouts), but I knew a lot of guys would be out here and I didn't want to give them the wrong impression," Quick said. "My wife completely understood I had to start getting ready for the season.

Late last week, former UMass hockey star Greg Mauldin was sent to Bridgeport by the New York Islanders to start the 2009-10 season.

The women's soccer team's first 2-0 start in A-10 play since 2005 is covered in the Daily Collegian. The Daily Hampshire Gazette has a snipet on the women's soccer A-10 opening 2-1 win over Saint Joseph's last Friday.

The emergence of women's soccer midfielder Therese Smith is chronicled in the Daily Collegian.

The Daily Collegian has a story on the men's soccer team winning its second game in a row. The Troy Record has a blurb on UMass men's soccer's 2-0 win at Siena on Saturday.

The Daily Collegian has full coverage of the field hockey team's pair of wins over the weekend. The field hockey team's dominating 7-1 win at Quinnipiac is covered on the Bobcats website. Also, Saturday's 2-1 win at Vermont is covered in the Burlington Free-Press.

In track and field, UMass alum Linda St. Laurent won the women's division of the Eliot Festival 5K in Maine, which is covered in the SeaCoastOnline. St. Laurent was a standout runner for UMass and had competed locally and nationally in a number of races throughout her career.

The Boston Globe has a nice profile of longtime Northeastern Sports Information Director Jack Grinold, who will receive the ECAC Commissioner's Award for meritorious service Oct. 6 at the organization's fall convention in Hyannis.

Check This Out On UMassAthletics.com: The Photo Gallery page is updated with some great shots from this weekend's football win over Stony Brook. It includes some nice shots of McGuirk Stadium, which you can purchase.

Don't Miss This: Look for the announcement of weekly players of the week as well as new polls for football, where UMass could move up.

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