University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Fairfield
Men's Lacrosse Continues CAA Competition At Fairfield
April 19, 2018 | Men's Lacrosse
Massachusetts makes final regular season road trip for Saturday's 1 p.m. game
| University of Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse Game Notes & Information | |
| Game 13 | [--/18] Massachusetts (8-4 overall, 3-0 CAA) at Fairfield (4-9, 1-2) |
| Date | Time | Saturday, April 21, 2018 | 1 p.m. |
| Location | Rafferty Stadium | Fairfield, Conn. |
| Live Statistics | Statbroadcast |
| Watch | Lax Sports Network ($) |
| Series History | Massachusetts leads, 9-4 Last: Massachusetts 12, Fairfield 8 • Amherst, Mass. • April 15, 2017 |
| Game Notes | Massachusetts | Fairfield | CAA |
| Team Records | Massachusetts | Fairfield |
| @UMassAthletics | @UMassMLacrosse | |
| UMass Men's Lacrosse | |
| Tickets | Available through the Fairfield Athletics Ticket Office |
Staying Power
Head coach Greg Cannella reached career win No. 200 in the midst of his 24th season at the helm of the Minuteman program, one of the longest tenured coaches active in Division I men's lacrosse. He is the second-longest tenured head coach at one institution and fifth nationally in terms of total years spent as a Division I head coach. Cannella began his time as the leader of the team ahead of the 1995 season and, since then, won 10 or more games during seven campaigns. He guided the Minutemen to eight NCAA Tournament appearances and currently stands at 202-141 overall (58.9 win percentage).
When Cannella was hired, the following had not been invented yet...
• Nintendo 64 (1996)
• The DVD player (1996)
• Google (1998)
• The iPod (2001)
• MySpace (2003)
...and the following events were yet to happen:
• 2018 NFL Hall of Fame class members Brian Dawkins (1996), Ray Lewis (1996), Terrell Owens (1996), Randy Moss (1998) and Brian Urlacher (2000) debut in the league
• J.K. Rowling publishes the first Harry Potter book (1997)
• Tiger Woods wins his first major championship (1997)
• The International Space Station is launched (1998)
• SpongeBob Squarepants debuts on Nickelodeon (1999)
• George W. Bush is elected president, the first time (2000)
• Major League Lacrosse plays its inaugural game (2001)
We're Going Streaking
UMass is winners of its last seven contests with victories over Brown, Delaware, Drexel, Hartford, NJIT, Towson and UMass Lowell. The seven-game win streak is the second-longest active in NCAA Division I entering the game at Fairfield. It is the most consecutive wins since the Minutemen won 15 straight during the 2012 season.
1. Saint Joseph's, 8 games
2. Massachusetts, 7 games
3. Cornell, 6 games
4. Bucknell/Denver/Maryland, 5 games
Train-oring For This Moment
Sophomore midfielder Jeff Trainor earned promotion to the first-line midfield ahead of the contest against No. 11 Yale. Since then, over nine games, Trainor owns 31 points via 17 goals and 14 assists. He is the top-scoring midfielder on the team in 2018 and tied with Buddy Carr (31-20-11) in points over the last nine contests.
The Young Squire
Freshman attack Chris Connolly owns 32 points via 19 goals and 13 assists over his opening 12 appearances with the team. It is the 15th-most points by a freshman across NCAA Division I through games on Tues., April 10. He recorded at least one point in each of his 12 games played, including multiple in eight appearances. He is one of only two Minutemen with at least one point in each game (Jeff Trainor).
Scoring In Heaps & Bunches
UMass posted 17 goals against NJIT, the most by the program since the team downed Quinnipiac, 18-5, on March 10, 2015. The 14-goal margin of victory was also the largest for the program since a 17-3 win over Providence on March 16, 2010.
The win over NJIT started a scoring trend for the Minutemen, who no less than eight goals in any of the last seven games. The team averaged 12.7 goals per game over the last seven contests, all victories.
Through games on Tues., April 17, the Minutemen rank 18th in the nation for points per game with 18.42 per contest thanks to 11.42 goals per game (tied-19th nationally) and 7.00 assists (tied-15th).
Paparo For The Course
Isaac Paparo recorded five groundballs and three caused turnovers at No. 16 Army. It was his third career game with five or more groundballs and his seventh with three or more caused turnovers. Paparo also recorded three caused turnovers each against Harvard and at Brown, the eighth and ninth-such games of his career. His defensive success against the Black Knights reflected a continuation of his sophomore year output, which included 46 groundballs and a program-record 33 caused turnovers. He enters the game at Fairfield with the most caused turnovers among active Minutemen (60) and the second-most groundballs (105), behind only faceoff specialist Noah Rak (242).
Dominate The Dot
Noah Rak won 104 of his 146 faceoffs and scooped up 81 groundballs during the last seven games, including wins over NJIT, UMass Lowell, Hartford, Brown, Drexel, Delaware and Towson. It equates to an average of 14.9 wins in 20.9 faceoffs each game (.712) with 11.6 groundballs scooped up.
Rak set his single-game faceoff win percentage best with victory in 90.5 percent of the faceoffs he took at UMass Lowell (19-of-21). He followed with a career-best 17 groundballs against Hartford (21-of-27), which equaled the number scooped up by the entire Hartford team over the course of the game.
Major League Gorilla
The Major League Lacrosse Charlotte Hounds franchise selected senior faceoff specialist Noah Rak in the fourth round with the 30th overall pick of the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft. Rak was one of only two CAA student-athletes picked and he was joined by Hofstra goalie Jack Concannon (Florida Launch, fourth round, 34th overall). Rak is the 27th Minuteman selected in the MLL draft all-time.
