University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen Lacrosse Featured In Inside Lacrosse Fallball Check-In
November 09, 2009 | Men's Lacrosse
Nov. 9, 2009
By David Brinch - Insidelacrosse.com
The Minutemen have a lot to replace this season as they lose All-America goalie Doc Schneider and seventy goals worth of offense. Now in a new conference, the Minutemen will look to get back to the NCAA tournament in 2010.
"It's a big concern, but guys are going to have to step it up," UMass coach Greg Cannella, the 2009 ECAC Coach of the Year said. "We have a lot of young guys in the program, and we're trying to get them up to speed with what we do and we need to replace some people."
The most important replacement will be Schneider in goal, the ECAC goalie of the year and a Tewaaraton Award finalist. With three scrimmages against LeMoyne College, Vermont and Colgate this off-season, Cannella was not impressed by how his team shot the ball.
"One thing we didn't do in the fall is shoot at a high percentage, we shot at a real low percentage, which is disappointing in our contests, and that's going to have to improve in order for us to be a good team," Cannella said.
Here is how the Minutemen are shaping up for the upcoming spring, in hopes of getting back to the NCAA tournament in 2010.
Starting this year, the Minutemen will join the highly competitive CAA after spending the past ten seasons in the ECAC. With the conference move, UMass will face Delaware, Hofstra, Towson and Drexel, while playing against another former conference opponent in Penn State.
"We play some new teams, so we have our work cut out for us, so to re-learn our opponents after a few years of being in the ECAC, we need to get a comfort zone of what these teams bring to the table," Cannella said. "Now there are some unknowns there, and we have to do a good job this time of year getting ready for that."
Another major difference in the conferences is that in the CAA, there is a post-season tournament while in the ECAC, the automatic qualifier goes to the league's regular season winner. "The CAA is a very professionally run group, and I think we don't lose any ferocity," Cannella said. "It's going to be a dogfight every game when you look at these teams that are involved in it. We've never had that playoff at the end of the year in the ECAC, so it's something else to look forward to."
Replacing Doc
With former goalie Mael Walkowiak moving to the midfield, the starting goalkeeper job is between red shirt sophomore Tim McCormack and freshman Steve Mahle, replacing arguably the best goalkeeper in program history. As a freshman in 2008, McCormack played in two games before red shirting last season in order to keep three years of eligibility.
"He was playing everyday in practice, and he did a fairly good job of getting himself ready this summer and now it's up to him to again, be consistent, and that's what you need from a goalie," Cannella said. "You need to be consistent in the goal, you need to be great out of the goal, but he also has to be a leader for this team and both of these guys need to step up their leadership for sure."
Mahle comes in as a heavily recruited net-minder out of West Genesse High School in New York. Regardless who is in net when the Minutemen open their 2009 schedule, they will have some pretty big shoes to fill.
Fresh Faces
The Minutemen roster has 12 freshmen, with Colin Fleming and Kyle Smith having the chance to crack the top six on the midfield unit. Replacing Evan Blum, who had his best season as a Minuteman with 14 goals and eight assists, will be a task that should be filled by a combination Ryan Hantverk, Ryan Marcus and Ryan Liebel, a transfer from Hobart in his second year with the program.
Senior captain Bobby Hayes adds versatility to the Minutemen, and will look to be a leader on the midfield line after leading the team in assists last season. Will Manny and Smith could see some minutes on an attack unit led by sophomore Art Kell, who started every game for UMass last year alongside Tim Balise and Jim Conolly. With redshirt senior Diogo Godoi anchoring the defense, having a strong unit in front of either McCormick or Mahle will be beneficial for a Minutemen defense that was tops in the ECAC.
"You want guys on both ends and you want guys in the midfield, and one of those goalies has to do it," Cannella said. "Diogo has to do it. Bobby Hayes in the midfield has to do it. Were asking a lot from our captains, but were asking a lot from our younger guys as well, and its essential to bring that together, we need the help of the younger guys."
Key Returners With such an inexperienced group, Cannella will rely on his three captains, defenseman Diogo Godoi, midfielder Bobby Hayes and Ryan Smith to lead by example. While Godoi and Hayes have seen significant time throughout their career, Smith has played in just seven games, but Cannella feels that he can contribute on and off the field in a leadership role.
"We're asking a lot from our captains, but were asking a lot from our younger guys as well, and its essential to bring that together, we need the help of the younger guys." Other key returnees include Kell, (leading rookie scorer, started every game on attack), sophomore defender Greg Anderson (14 ground balls, four turnovers), and long stick midfielder Casey Rahn (34 groundballs, 21 caused turnovers in 15 starts).
Tournament hopes
The Minutemen fell to No. 4 Princeton in the first round, 10-7 of last years NCAA Tournament. A second half five goal deficit put UMass down early, but the Minutemen came back in the second half. While the offensive production could be a little stagnant at times, if the goalkeeping position can be solidified, the Minutemen could make a run in the tournament after winning the CAA tournament.
Even with the influx of new talent, Cannella knows his team will have to step up and fill the roles left by Schneider, Balise and Connolly.
"We are a lot different now. We have some older guys with some experience, and we have a ton of younger guys that are going to play, so we hope those younger guys can grow up sooner rather than later."
