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• UMass welcomes long-time soccer rival New Hampshire to Western Mass. on Sunday in the third game of a four-game homestand. The Minutemen, who will kick-off Atlantic 10 play against Saint Joseph's next Saturday at home at 3 p.m., are playing host to UNH for the first time since the 2010 season.
ABOUT UMASS
• UMass is 1-6 and, despite the lopsided record, has produced its two best performances in the last two games. Two weeks ago the Minutemen broke through with a 2-1, come-from-behind win in overtime against Fairfield. And on Friday, got out to a 2-goal lead on a perrenially strong Harvard team before falling 3-2 in overtime after playing the final 40 minutes a man down.
• The Minutemen are posting 10.5 shots per game, while allowing 14.8 to their opponents. Senior captain Matt Keys, Mark Morris and Josh Schwartz have scored the six goals for UMass thus far. Schwartz and Morris had both tallies against the Crimson
• Keys is one of six players to start every game and leads the team with 606 minutes played (out of 635 possible).
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST UNH
• UMass leads the all-time series 27-17-5 but hasn't claimed a victory since the 2011 season.
• UNH won last year's game 1-0 at the Winjammer Classic on Vermont's campus. The year prior, the teams played to a 1-1 tie as a result of a Brett Canepa goal with four seconds remaining in regulation.
• Despit leading the series by a plus-10 margin, UMass has not claimed a win streak over UNH since back-to-back triumphs in 2003 and 2004. From 2005-2013, the Wildcats have a 6-1-2 lead.
ABOUT UNH
• New Hampshire enters the game with a 3-4-1 record following a 1-1 tie at home against Marist on Friday. The Wildcats are 2-3 away from Durham, N.H. and 1-1 in games at Bremner Field.
• The Wildcats were picked to finish third in the America East Conference, behind UMBC and Hartford.
• Senior David Schlatter leads the team in goals (2), points (5) and shots (14). He also has two of their game-winning goals.
• In goal, senior Travis Worra has a 1.24 goas against average and has played all but 90 minutes this season. He has 26 saves and a 74.3% save percentage.
UMASS ROSTER BREAKDOWN
• The Minutemen roster features 13 returnees and 12 newcomers this season. The starting lineup in the season-opener at Utah Valley featured 10 returnees in the field and a redshirt freshman in goal. All eight substitutes used were newcomers to the program.
• A total of 21 players have appeared in a game thus far, with 15 seeing the field in at least five of the six.
2014 MARKS THE FIRST SEASON WITHOUT LONGTIME COACH Sam Koch
• After a two-year battle with sinus cancer, longtime head coach Sam Koch passed away on July 20 at his home in Hadley, Mass. Koch, 59, compiled a 222-182-45 record in 23 seasons at UMass, advancing to the NCAA postseason three times (2001, 2007 and 2008), including the 2007 NCAA College Cup Semifinals. He also coached six seasons at Stanford University from 1984-89 and went 58-53-16. His 280 career victories entering the fall placed him 21st among active Division I head coaches and 50th all-time in Division I history.
• In addition to the NCAA tourney success, the Minutemen won four regular-season Atlantic 10 titles, two Atlantic 10 Tournament titles. During his tenure in Amherst, the 29-year head coaching veteran produced two All-Americans in Jeff Deren (2001-02) and Zack Simmons (2007), three Academic All-Americans, one Academic All-American of the Year, a two-time Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year, an Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, an Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year, two Atlantic 10 Rookies of the year, two Atlantic 10 Tournament MVPs, 27 All-Region selections, 62 All-Atlantic 10 players, 29 Academic All-Atlantic 10 honorees, two players to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Teams, a two-time Atlantic 10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and 23 Atlantic 10 All-Tournament picks.
• Koch recorded 13 winning seasons with five-straight from 1999-2003, the most since UMass had six straight from 1969-74. Koch's teams notched 13 10-win seasons in Amherst, while the program had only managed that feat three times in the school's history prior to his arrival.
Devin O'Neill NAMED INTERIM HEAD COACH
• Veteran coach and current staff member Devin O'Neill has been named the Interim Head Coach of the Massachusetts men's soccer program.
• O'Neill, who was the Minutemen's top assistant under Sam Koch the past two years, has a 92-90 college head coaching record over 11 seasons. The 2014 campaign will be his 21st at the college level.
• The West Springfield, Mass. native had previous head coaching stops at East Carolina (1999-2002) and Gettysburg College (2003-09). He came to UMass following a two-year stint at Bradley in which the Braves participated in the NCAA Tournament each season.
• O'Neill graduated from Middlebury in 1991 and received his master's degree from Springfield College in 1993.
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN SCHWARTZ ACTIVE SCORING LEADER ON TEAM
• Senior MF Josh Schwartz enters the season with 13 goals and six assists for 32 points in his career. He also has three game-winning goals. All of those figures are currently tops among the active players on the roster.
• Schwartz was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team and Jewish Sports Review First Team All-America last season. He carries a 3.957 GPA in Biology/Pre Med and was named the UMass Fall Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
UMASS PICKED 11TH IN A-10 PRESEASON POLL
• UMass was picked to finish 11th out of 13 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason coaches poll. Defending regular-season champ Saint Louis was picked first, followed by last year's tournament winner George Mason. Last season, the Minutemen were picked seventh before finishing in a tie for seventh.
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