University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
#9 Towson
Men's Lacrosse Heads Southbound To Towson
April 12, 2019 | Men's Lacrosse
Minutemen face the Tigers at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Saturday at Noon
| University of Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse Game Notes & Information | |
| Game 12 | [RV]/#19 Massachusetts (7-4, 1-1 CAA) at #9/11 Towson (7-3, 2-0 CAA) |
| Date | Time | Saturday, April 13, 2019 | Noon |
| Location | Johnny Unitas Stadium | Towson, Md. |
| Live Statistics | StatBroadcast |
| Watch | Lax Sports Network (free) |
| Series History | Towson leads, 9-6 Last: #16 Massachusetts 12, Towson 8 CAA Tournament Championship Game • Amherst, Mass. • May 5, 2018 |
| Game Notes | Massachusetts | Towson | CAA |
| @UMassAthletics | @UMassMLacrosse | |
| UMass Men's Lacrosse | |
| Buy Tickets | Towson Ticket Central |
Staying Power
Head coach Greg Cannella reached career win No. 200 in the midst of his 25th 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 213-146 overall (59.3 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 (31st 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.
Connolly's Continuous Production
Sophomore attack Chris Connolly has at least one point in all 27 games of his career with 96 total via 45 goals and 51 assists. It ranks Connolly 17th in the country among active players and third among CAA players behind Drexel's Matt Varian (12th; 31 games; 101 points) and Delaware's Charlie Kitchen (t-15th; 28 games; 103 points).
When The Train Is On The Tracks...
Jeff Trainor reached the 100-point mark with his goal at Hofstra. Trainor sports 100 career points via 54 goals and 46 assists in 41 career games playing on the first- or second-line midfields.
He became the 41st member of the UMass Men's Lacrosse 100-Point Club, following previously-most-recently-added Buddy Carr, who eclipsed triple digits during the 2018 season.
Trainor is the first midfielder to reach 100 career points since Chris Fiore did so during the 2003 season. Trainor is also the first to get to triple digits in three or fewer seasons since Will Manny achieved the feat in the midst of his junior campaign in 2012.
Sophomore attack Chris Connolly is the next-closest Minuteman to the 100-point plateau (96).
The Percentage Game
Tom Meyers won at least 64.0 percent of his draws in eight of 11 games this season, and more than 70 percent in five of those outings. That includes against Army (21-25; .840), at Harvard (16-25; .640), at UAlbany (19-26; .731), at NJIT (13-16; .813), against UMass Lowell (15-19; .789), vs. Utah (14-17; .824) and Hofstra (16-23; .696).
On the year, Meyers in 156-for-241, a 64.7 percent win rate. He has already reset his single-season career highs for faceoffs won, faceoffs taken and groundballs (92).
The Rock
Senior goalie Sean Sconone leads the CAA and all of NCAA Division I in goals-against average (7.91) and save percentage (.616) and is second across the CAA with 12.60 saves per game (18th in NCAA). Sconone posted five or fewer goals allowed in four games: UMass Lowell (2), Utah (2), NJIT (4) and Brown (5) and also had a 70.0 percent or better save percentage against UMass Lowell (.818), Utah (.818), Brown (.762) and NJIT (.714).
