University of Massachusets Athletics
#17 UMass Lacrosse Hosts Hartford In Home Opener
February 17, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
HARTFORD (0-0) AT #17 UMASS (1-0)
Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010 • 1 p.m.
Garber Field (5,000) • Amherst, Mass.
Live Video, Audio & Gametracker: UMassAthletics.com
The No. 17 UMass lacrosse team opens the 2010 home schedule on Saturday against Hartford at 1 p.m. The Minutemen come off a 15-12 win at Sacred Heart last Friday in the season opener. The Minutemen have had great success at Garber Field over the last decade and will look to continue that on Saturday. Senior Bobby Hayes had a career-game with four goals at SHU last Friday.
• The Minutemen are ranked 17th overall in the USILA Coaches Poll and 18th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, which was released on Monday. Last season, the Minutemen finished 9-6 overall and captured the ECAC Championship with a 6-1 league record. UMass fell to Princeton in the NCAA Tournament First Round, 10-7, in New Jersey.
• Head coach Greg Cannella is in his 16th season as head coach at his alma mater. Overall, the 1988 UMass grad has a 132-84 career record, winning more than 62 percent of the games he has coached. He ranks among the Top 15 among active coaches in the NCAA in career wins and win percentage.
• The Minutemen are beginning play in a new league in 2010, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). UMass made the move to the league after a national shuffle caused by the formation of the Big East Conference in lacrosse. The Minutemen joined the CAA along with former ECAC member Penn State and will compete in a six-team league along with longtime CAA members Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra and Towson.
The Opening Win At SHU
After seeing a five-goal halftime lead evaporate early in the fourth quarter, UMass scored four of the game's final five goals to knock off Sacred Heart, 15-12 in the season opener for both teams. Senior Bobby Hayes notched a career-high four goals as five different players had multi-goal efforts, all signifying career-bests. Sophomore Art Kell had his first hat trick and added an assist for four points. Juniors Ryan Hantverk and Ryan Liebel along with sophomore Anthony Biscardi all tallied a pair.
UMass outshot the Pioneers, 55-32 and outgroundballed them, 39-31. Both teams were aggressive as the game saw a combined 19 penalties and eight man-up goals (five by Sacred Heart). Hayes had all three of UMass man-up tallies,
With the game tied at 11, Kell scored his third goal of the game on a wraparound the left post to regain the lead for UMass at 12-11 with 8:50 left in the fourth and they would lead the rest of the way. Liebel notched the first of his UMass career to give the Minutemen a 13-11 advantage with 7:00 left in the fourth.
Ferrino tallied his third of the game with 5:58 left to cut the UMass lead to 13-12. Freshman Will Manny scored just inside the right post with 4:40 left to take a 14-12 lead then Liebel scored his second in a 3-minute span off a Manny feed for a 15-12 win.
The Series With Hartford
Season Outlook
• Coming into 2010, UMass will have plenty of new faces in key positions. The Minutemen graduated All-Conference players including ECAC Goalie of the Year and Second-Team All-American Doc Schneider (7.43 GAA and 65.3 Save Pct.) along with its two leading scorers in Tim Balise (31 goals, 5 assists for 36 points) and Jim Connolly (39-5=44). Also, graduated were the fourth and fifth leading scorers in Evan Blum (14-8-22) and Rory Pedrick (12-6=18). Overall, UMass returns just 41 goals of its 143 goals from last season, just 28.7 percent. The leading returning scorer is senior captain midfielder Bobby Hayes (12-14=26), who led the team in assists in 2009. Fellow senior captain attackman Ryan Smith is expected to pick up some of the load in his first season as a starter. Sophomore Art Kell was the top rookie scorer a year ago with 11 goals and three assists and will be back to start on attack.
• The goalie position will have a new face for the first time in four years as Schneider graduated as one of the all-time greats in UMass history. He finished second in career saves with 753 and is now serving as an assistant coach with the Minutemen. Redshirt sophomore Tim McCormack and freshman Steve Mahle have been competing for the starting role in preseason camp. McCormack redshirted last season to retain three years of eligibility while Mahle was starring at West Genesse High School in upstate New York.
• An area with experience heading into 2010 is the close defense, as UMass returns 2009 All-American and 2010 Preseason All-American Diogo Godoi as a senior captain. Godoi will team with returning sophomore Greg Anderson and junior Travis Tripucka. That duo shared starting duties last season along side Godoi and graduated Brennan Mack. Sophomore Tom Celentani is also in the mix for extended playing time on close defense. Junior long-pole Casey Rahn and junior short-stick Stephen Zorkers will also be key to the defense's success.
Godoi A Preseason Second-Team All-American
• Senior captain defenseman Diogo Godoi was named an Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Magazine Preseason All-American. He was an Honorable Mention USILA All-American last season. He will return for his senior year with numerous honors as has been also named an All-ECAC First Team defender and an All-New England pick. He anchored a UMass defense that finished the season 11th nationally in fewest goals allowed (7.93). He shut down the opponent's top scorer on numerous occasions, including in the NCAA Tournament contest at Princeton when he held the Tigers' top scorer Jack McBride (a Second-Team All-American) pointless. He started all 15 games while recording 28 groundballs and 21 caused turnovers, tied for most on team. He was twice named to Inside Lacrosse Team of the Week on March 23 and April 6.
UMass Picked Second In CAA; Trio Earn Honors
• UMass was picked to finish second in the CAA based on the preseason lacrosse coaches poll. Hofstra was selected to win the league in the coaches' vote. The Minutemen placed three players on the preseason All-CAA team in senior midfielder Bobby Hayes, junior long-stick midfielder Casey Rahn and senior defenseman Diogo Godoi. The three selections was the second most in the league behind Delaware's four picks. This is UMass' first year in the CAA after playing in the ECAC, a league UMass captured the crown in last season.
Big Winners Over Last 8 Years
• UMass has established itself as one of the top programs in the nation. Since 2001, UMass is tied for the seventh-most wins of any program in college lacrosse with 92 victories.
• The Minutemen have the ninth-best mark among all teams in the NCAA since 2001 with an 92-46 record for a 66.4 win percentage mark. That includes five seasons with 12 or more wins including a school record 13 wins in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. The Minutemen were second on the list coming into the 2007 season.
Lucky Number 11
• UMass has won 45 games in a row when scoring 11 or more goals including the 15-12 opening-win at Sacred Heart. Last season, UMass had four 11-plus efforts in 2009. UMass beat Rutgers 11-10 in overtime in the regular-season finale to go along with 12-6 wins over Fairfield (4/21) and St. John's (4/4) and a 18-6 win over Yale (2/28).
• The streak goes back over the last eight years in 2002 -- meaning the last four senior classes have never lost when scoring 11 or more goals. UMass' last loss when they had more than 11 came in the 2002 NCAA Quarterfinals, a 13-12 loss at Johns Hopkins.
• UMass is 34-1 in its last 35 games when scoring double-figures with a 5-1 mark last year. UMass had won 29 games in a row when scoring 10 or more goals, but that streak was snapped with a 11-10 loss to Hofstra on Feb. 21, 2009. The Minutemen were 29-0 when scoring 10 or more goals from 2004-09. Prior to the loss at Hofstra, the last loss when scoring 10 goals came on May 1, 2004, a 17-10 loss at Syracuse.
Man Down Defense Dominant
• The Minutemen ranked sixth in the NCAA in man-down defense, allowing just 12 goals on 58 chances for its opponents (79.3). UMass gave up just three man-up goals in its last four games (3-of-18) including holding national champion Syracuse to 0-of-2. The Orange came into the game first in the NCAA in man-up, scoring 48 percent of the time. UMass did not allow a goal in five chances at Fairfield (4/21). In seven games last season, UMass has not allowed a man-down goal.
• In 2008, UMass' man down defense was fifth in the country (.806).
UMass Wins 2009 ECAC Championship
• UMass won its fourth ECAC Championship in its final season in the league, before moving to the CAA in 2010. The Minutemen won the league in thrilling fashion as Tim Balise scored the game-winning overtime goal, his fifth of the game for the 11-10 victory at Rutgers (5/2). Balise and classmate Jim Connolly (3) combined for eight goals in the win. Doc Schneider made 19 saves including one off the opening face-off win by the Rutgers.
• The Minutemen also captured the league crown in 2001, 2002 and 2005. In 2002 UMass also claimed the league's automatic qualifier. The Minutemen lost the tiebreaker to Georgetown in 2001 and in 2005, the league did not have an AQ.
• UMass ended in a tie with Loyola atop the ECAC at 6-1, but claimed the crown by virtue of its 8-6 win at Loyola on March 21.
UMass Claims Three 2009 ECAC Lacrosse Honors
• ECAC Lacrosse Champion UMass collected three of the top honors in the conference on Tuesday as Greg Cannella was named the Coach of the Year, senior attacker Jim Connolly was named the Offensive Player of the Year and senior Doc Schneider was named the Goalie of the Year. Connolly and Schneider were joined on the ECAC First-Team by senior attacker Tim Balise and junior defenseman Diogo Godoi. Junior midfielder Bobby Hayes was named to the second team.
UMass In The NCAA Tourney
• Last year was the Minutemen's 18th NCAA appearance, the ninth-most of any program in NCAA history.
• In 2006, with wins over No. 6 seed Cornell, No. 3 seed Hofstra, No. 2 seed Maryland UMass was the first unseeded to team to reach the NCAA Finals since the 1997 Maryland team -- and just the fourth team all-time to reach the final as an unseeded team.
• UMass has made the NCAA's five times in the 2000s (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009). UMass is 9-17 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. The Minutemen have won at least one game in five NCAA postseason appearances in a row winning first round games in 1997, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. In addition to the 2006 NCAA Finals run, the Minutemen advanced 11 times in their history.
• 2006 was the first time UMass won two games in an NCAA Tournament. Prior to 2006 UMass had been to the most NCAA Tournaments without a berth in the NCAA Semifinals. In addition to last year, the Minutemen reached the quarterfinals in 2002 after defeating Fairfield, 17-4 in the first round but lost to Johns Hopkins 13-12 in overtime. In 2003 after beating Hofstra, 9-6 in the first round, UMass fell to Maryland, 13-7 at Syracuse.
Attendance Record Setters
• With a UMass record 13,722 in attendance at McGuirk Stadium for the Syracuse game on April 25, 2009 the school moved to fifth in 2009 average attendance leaders. UMass averaged 2,930 fans per game in 2009 behind No. 1 Syracuse (6,287), Ohio State (5,762), Navy (5,263) and Johns Hopkins (3,706).
• The mark of 13,722 broke the former UMass record of 12,143 set in 1989, also against Syracuse. That crowd was the 25th-largest regular-season lacrosse crowd all-time in the NCAA and 19th-largest at an on-campus facility. In 2009, UMass' mark was the seventh-highest as Ohio State set a new regular-season record with 30,192, also on April 25.
• Most of the biggest crowds for UMass lacrosse have been against the Orange. The second-largest showing was on May 8, 1987 when 9,325 came out for SU at McGuirk. The largest crowd on record at Garber Field (called Boyden Field at the time) was 7,500 for an April 26, 1986 game against Army. That overflow crowd led to some games being moved to McGuirk in 1987.
• Prior to April 25th game, the most recent lacrosse game at McGuirk Stadium on May 4, 1997 drew 5,675. The previous game at McGuirk on May 6, 1991 brought in 5,631.
• The largest crowds ever to watch UMass play came in the 2006 NCAA Semifinal and Finals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The 2006 Final Four, where UMass beat Maryland, 8-5, drew 49,562 on May 27. For the final against Virginia, 47,062 came out to watch on Memorial Day May 29.
