University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Towson
Massachusetts Vies For 2018 CAA Championship At Garber Field On Saturday
May 04, 2018 | Men's Lacrosse
No. 1 seeded Minutemen host No. 2 seed Towson at 1 p.m.
| University of Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse Game Notes & Information: CAA Championship Game | |
| Game 16 | #16/16 [1-Seed] Massachusetts (11-4 overall) vs. [2-Seed] Towson (7-7) |
| Date | Time | Saturday, May 5, 2018 | 1:00 p.m. |
| Location | Garber Field | Amherst, Mass. | Directions (Google Maps) |
| Live Statistics | StatBroadcast |
| Watch | Lax Sports Network |
| Series History | Towson leads, 9-5 Last: Massachusetts 8, Towson 4 • April 14, 2018 • Amherst, Mass. • Garber Field |
| Game Notes | Massachusetts | Towson | CAA |
| Team Information | Massachusetts | Towson | CAA |
| @UMassAthletics | @UMassMLacrosse | |
| UMass Men's Lacrosse | |
| Buy Tickets | 866-UMASS-TIX | Mullins Center Box Office | UMass Ticket Central | Ticket Pricing |
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 205-141 overall (59.2 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) play their rookie seasons
• Spacecraft Pathfinder lands on Mars (1997)
• 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)
• Tom Brady is drafted by the New England Patriots (2000)
• Major League Lacrosse plays its inaugural game (2001)
The only current coach with a longer tenure at one institution is Notre Dame's Kevin Corrigan (30th season).
Mount St. Mary's head coach Tom Gravante was hired before the 1995 season, but missed all of 2005 due to illness and the team's official records attributes the 2005 season head coaching record to interim program leader Nick DeFelice. Due to that, 2018 tallies as Gravante's 23rd year with the Mount.
The Grizzled Old Gorillas
UMass sports an eight-man senior class in 2018, including six true-seniors and a pair of redshirt juniors. The group is comprised of Buddy Carr, Mike Elcock, Jake Lisauskas, Jake Marino, Noah Rak, Shane Rinkus, Dom St. Laurent and Luc Valenza. Over the opening 15 games of the season, these eight Minutemen combined for 100 points via 63 goals and 37 assists alongside 220 groundballs and 44 caused turnovers.
Carr In The Driver's Seat
Senior attack Buddy Carr leads the team and ranks third in the CAA with 2.27 goals per game through 15 contests (34 total). Adding in his 1.53 assists per game (tied for fourth-most), Carr stands first in the league with 3.80 points per game.
Carr's 57 points already bests the Exeter, New Hampshire, native's scoring total from his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons combined (56).
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 12 games, Trainor owns 41 points via 20 goals and 21 assists. He is the top-scoring midfielder on the team in 2018 and second only to Buddy Carr (44-29-15) in points over the last 12 contests.
Spread The Love
UMass has 10 double-digit scorers entering the CAA Championship Game on Sat., May 5. It includes Buddy Carr (57), Jeff Trainor (46), Chris Connolly (41), Devin Spencer (19), Kevin Tobin (18), Jake Lisauskas (19), Jesse Leung (12), Ben Spencer (11), Isaac Paparo (10) and Billy Philpott (10). Noah Rak is the nearest Minuteman to joining the group (8).
Massachusetts is the only team in the league with 10 double-digit point scorers, ahead of Fairfield (8) and Towson (8). UMass also features three of only eight 40-point players in the league currently.
The Brick Wall Impersonation
UMass men's lacrosse junior goalie Sean Sconone made 20 saves in the 11-4 win at Fairfield on Sat., April 21. It marked the most saves by a Minuteman since current associate head coach Doc Schneider turned aside 21 attempts in a 7-6 overtime win at Hobart on April 11, 2009.
His saves total tied Sconone for fifth-most across NCAA Division I this season and it set the previous high-mark in the CAA, four more than the next goalie, before Hofstra's Jack Concannon had 22 in the CAA Championship Semifinal Round on May 3.
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, at Brown and at Fairfield, the eighth, ninth and 10th-such games of his career.
His defensive success in 2018 reflects a continuation of his sophomore year output, which included 46 groundballs and a program-record 33 caused turnovers. He enters the game against Hofstra with the most caused turnovers among active Minutemen (64) and the second-most groundballs (113), behind only faceoff specialist Noah Rak (255).
