Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse Off To Vermont To Face Catamounts Saturday

Game 6	Massachusetts (3-2, 0-0 A-10) vs. Vermont (2-3, 0-0 America East)
Date \| Time	Saturday, March 11, 2023 \| 3:00 p.m.
Location	Virtue Field \| Burlington, Vt.
Live Statistics	Sidearm
Watch	AmericaEast.TV (Free)
Series History	UMass leads 7-0 Last: Massachusetts 12, Vermont 10 Garber Field \| Amherst, Mass. \| March 16, 2022
Twitter	@UMassAthletics \| @UMassMLacrosse
Instagram	UMass Men's Lacrosse
Tickets	Saturday

Against Vermont

- Massachusetts Is 7-0 all-time against Vermont with the series being rekindled for the first time since March 13, 2002 last season on Garber Field on March 16, 2022, a 12-10 victory for the Gorillas. Six of the seven meetings between the programs have come in Amherst, with UMass' only previous trip to Burlington coming on April 12, 1979, a 23-5 win for the Maroon & White.

A Knote-Worthy Performance

- Senior goalkeeper Matt Knote collected a host of accolades after UMass' win over Army on Feb. 11.
- Knote was named USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Player of the Week, to the USILA Division I Team of the Week and earned the first-ever Atlantic 10 Men's Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week.
- The Speonk, New York, native made 19 saves and picked up the win in a 10-8 victory over Army at Garber Field, also collecting four ground balls. He made 11 stops in the first half and allowed just one goal. The win marked the first for UMass vs. Army since 2014, ending a streak of seven straight wins by the Black Knights.

To Quickly Recap

- Massachusetts built a 3-0 first quarter lead, never trailing en route to a 9-6 victory over UAlbany on Tuesday afternoon.
- In a balanced offensive effort for UMass, nine players combined for 13 points, led by graduate student Gabriel Procyk's second straight hat trick. Senior Carter Castillo netted two goals and junior Grant Breyo had a goal and an assist.
- Silas Richmond and TJ Sheehan combined for five of six UAlbany tallies, Richmond with a hat trick and Sheean with two goals and an assist.
- The Great Danes edged the Gorillas in shots, 38-34, while UMass led the ground ball battle, 32-31. Massachusetts went 1-for-2 in extra-man opportunities, while UAlbany was 0-for-1.
- Goalkeeper Matt Knote finished the day with 15 saves for the Gorillas and corralled five ground balls. Caleb Hammett went 10-for-18 over X for UMass.

Minutemen Milestones

- With a hat trick against Albany, Gabriel Procyk moved into sole possession of seventh all-time in program history for career goals with 110. He is four from passing Kevin Patterson (1975-77) for sixth. Procyk is the program record holder in man-up goals with 23.
- Freshman Aiden Drunsic scored his first collegiate goal against Yale on March 3. Freshman Zach Auble registered his first career point vs. Army on Feb. 11 with an assist.

Challenging Road Ahead

- UMass' 2023 schedule features six matchups against 2022 NCAA Tournament teams and three more against squads that reached the conference championship games in their respective leagues.
- The Gorillas have six games on the slate against teams that were ranked in the preseason Top-20 USILA and Inside Lacrosse polls: #14 Boston University, #8/7 Yale, #10/9 Rutgers, #16 Brown, #13/15 Saint Joseph's and #19/20 Richmond.

Back For More

- The Gorillas have four players on this year's roster entering their fifth seasons with the Maroon & White: midfielder Jack Gump, attack Gabriel Procyk, midfielder Tim Hoynes and attack Jackson Cummings.
- Procyk was second on the team in goals (26) and third in points (33). He is the leading active career points scorer with 132 points over 51 career games.

Out Of The Portal

- UMass has added five transfers to the squad ahead of the 2023 campaign: defenseman Giuseppe Chiovera from NJIT, defenseman Chris Campbell from Hartford and LIU, midfielder Will Abbott from Quinnipiac, attack Conor Foley from UMass Lowell and defenseman Ryan Sharkey from Canisius.
- Abbott and Sharkey are graduate transfers, Campbell and Foley are seniors and Chiovera is a sophomore.
- Sharkey was a two-time All-MAAC selection at Canisius (second team 2021, first team 2022).

Hammett & O'Leary Look To Build Off Breakout 2022 Campaigns

- Redshirt sophomores Caleb Hammett and Shane O'Leary enter 2023 looking to build off stellar seasons as redshirt freshmen in 2022.
- Hammett was an All-CAA First Team and All-CAA Rookie Team selection in 2022. He appeared in all 14 games and went 185-for-301 (.615) over X, leading the CAA in faceoff percentage and ranking fifth in the nation. The Hanover, Massachusetts native also paced the league in ground balls per-game (8.50) and ranked sixth nationally. He finished the 2023 campaign with 119 ground balls on the year.
- O'Leary was named to the All-Rookie Team after registering 16 points over 13 games on 14 goals and 2 assists during the regular season with 24 ground balls and four caused turnovers. The Byfield, Massachusetts, native opened the 2022 season with a hat trick at Army, tallying the first three goals of his career. He also put up three points (2g, 1a) at Yale and scored a pair of goals in a 12-9 win over UAlbany as both games were part of a six-game goal scoring streak for the midfielder. He finished the 2022 campaign ranked sixth on the squad with 17 points on 14 goals and three assists.

Welcome To The Troop

- Massachusetts has 10 first-year players on its roster this season: midfielder Zach Auble (Burlington, Mass.), face off specialist TJ Casey (Medfield, Mass.), attack Aiden Drunsic (Exeter, N.H.), defender Russ Hutchinson (Marblehead, Mass.), midfielder Brian Jackman (Oakville, Ontario), defenseman Zander Johnson (Downers Grove, Ill.), midfielder Liam Maher (Melrose, Mass.), goalkeeper Ryan Mazzariello (Watervliet, N.Y.), defenseman Kyle Swanson (Evanston, Ill.) and defenseman Rob Travers (Wycoff, N.J.).

Leading The Way

- Graduate student defenseman Jack Gump, senior goalkeeper Matt Knote and senior midfielder Mike Tobin have been named team captains for the 2023 season.
- Tobin logged 28 points on 13 goals and 15 assists in 2022 as a junior, finishing fourth on the team in scoring and earning a NEILA All-New England Second Team nod.

Preseason Accolades

- Senior defenseman Chris Campbell and senior goalkeeper Matt Knote were named to the inaugural Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference Team. The duo was also selected to the NEILA All-New England Preseason teams alongside redshirt sophomore faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett.
- The Gorillas were picked third in the preseason poll with 20 points, while Richmond was selected as the preseason favorite (33 points) with Saint Joseph's in second (29). Behind UMass, High Point (19), Hobart (18) and St. Bonaventure (7) round out the poll in fourth, fifth and sixth.
- Campbell comes UMass from LIU where he was an All-NEC first team and NEC All-Tournament Team honoree in 2022 after starting 14 games, collecting 31 ground balls and forcing 19 turnovers. The Shrewsbury, Massachusetts native previously spent two seasons at Hartford where he earned an America East All-Rookie Team nod in 2019. He started all 21 games for the Hawks over the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.
- Knote started all 14 games of his junior season in 2022, logging an 8-6-0 record with an 11.07 goals against average and a .527 save percentage, making 173 stops between the pipes to garner his second consecutive First Team All-CAA nod. The Speonk, New York native finished the 2022 regular season as the CAA leader in GAA and save percentage, while ranking second in saves per-game.
- Knote currently ranks 10th all-time in the UMass record book in career saves (450) and holds a career save percentage of .540 and a goals-against average of 10.69 over 2149 minutes in net.
- Hammett was an All-CAA First Team and All-CAA Rookie Team selection in 2022. He appeared in all 14 games and went 185-for-301 (.615) over X, leading the CAA in faceoff percentage and ranking fifth in the nation. The Hanover, Massachusetts native also paced the league in ground balls per-game (8.50) and ranked sixth nationally. He finished the 2023 campaign with 119 ground balls on the year.

Looking Ahead

- Coming off Saturday's road contest at Vermont, UMass will return home to host #6/7 Rutgers on Saturday, March 18 at 1 p.m. and Brown on Saturday, March 25, at 1 p.m. to close out the non-conference slate.
- The Atlantic 10 opener is set for Saturday, April 1 against High Point at noon on Garber Field. The Gorillas will then travel to Richmond for an A-10 meeting with the Spiders on Saturday, April 8, at 11:30 a.m.

Scoreboard