Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse Opens Inaugural A-10 Slate Saturday Against High Point

Game 9	Massachusetts (5-3, 0-0 A-10) vs. High Point, (6-4, 0-0 A-10)
Date \| Time	Saturday, April 1, 2023 \| 12:00 p.m.
Location	Garber Field \| Amherst, Mass.
Live Statistics	StatBroadcast
Watch	ESPN+
Series History	First Meeting
Twitter	@UMassAthletics \| @UMassMLacrosse
Instagram	UMass Men's Lacrosse
Tickets	Saturday

Against High Point

- Massachusetts has never faced High Point in the program's history, one of three opponents in the newly-minted Atlantic 10 Conference that the Gorillas will meet for the first time this season including Richmond and St. Bonaventure.
- UMass is 8-2 all-time against Hobart and 2-1 all-time vs. Saint Joseph's heading into its first-ever A-10 meetings with those squads.

Where UMass Stacks Up

- UMass is currently fifth in the nation in scoring defense at 8.88 goals per-game, first in the Atlantic 10. The Gorillas are also first in the A-10 in saves per-game, 14.50, ninth nationally.
- Massachusetts ranks 12^th nationally in man-down defense at .739, second in the A-10.
- Senior Matt Knote leads the nation in save percentage (.619), fifth in goals-against average (8.74) and seventh in saves per-game (14.00). He is the A-10 leader in all three categories.

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.

Knote Honored Again

- Goalkeeper Matt Knote was selected as the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week on March 13, earning the honor for the second time this season after helping the Gorillas to a pair of road wins over UAlbany (9-6) and Vermont (12-4).
- Knote posted a 4.15 goals against average and a .771 save percentage on the week, making 27 saves over the two games and collecting five ground balls. He had 15 stops on 21 shots on goal vs. UAlbany then followed up with 12 saves on 14 shots at Vermont.

To Quickly Recap

- Massachusetts scored five goals in the final 2 minutes, 57 seconds of the opening quarter and withstood a Brown rally in the fourth to defeat the Bears, 10-9 on Garber Field last Saturday afternoon.
- Redshirt sophomore Mason Bregman led the UMass offense with four points on the day, registering his first career hat trick and dishing an assist. Classmate Shane O'Leary joined Bregman with four points on two goals and two helpers. Senior Carter Castillo netted a pair and logged an assist and graduate student Will Abbott scored twice. Graduate student Gabriel Procyk extended his scoring streak to seven straight with a goal and an assist.
- For the Bears, Tanner Burns put up three points on a goal and two assists, Aidan McLane and Ben Locke registered two goals apiece, Trevor Glavin contributed two points on a goal and an assist and Marcus Wertheim picked up a pair of helpers.
- Goalkeeper Matt Knote finished the day with nine stops for the Gorillas, while Connor Theriault turned aside 16 between the pipes for the Bears. UMass out-shot Brown, 41-32 in the contest and won the ground ball battle, 32-28. Faceoff specialist Caleb Hammett won 15 of 23 draws and picked up five ground balls for the Gorillas.
- UMass freshman Zach Auble registered five ground balls and Jack Wittmaack had a game-best five caused turnovers.

Minutemen Milestones

- With a hat trick against Albany, Gabriel Procyk moved into sole possession of seventh all-time in program history for career goals. He passed Kevin Patterson (1975-77) for sixth with a goal against Brown and is now 17 goals away from cracking the top-five all-time. 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. Redshirt sophomore Jack Wittmaack picked up his first career goal at Vermont on March 11.

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 139 points over 54 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 are 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 two 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 fifth all-time in the UMass record book in career saves (491) and holds a career save percentage of .548 and a goals-against average of 10.45 over 2325 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 Atlantic 10 opener, the Gorillas will travel to Richmond for an A-10 meeting with the Spiders on Saturday, April 8, at 11:30 a.m. and will return home to face St. Bonaventure on Saturday, April 15, at 1 p.m. before heading to play Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 22 at 1 p.m.
- UMass will close out the regular season at home on Friday, April 28, at 5 p.m. against Hobart.

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