Tuesday Matchup Against Dartmouth Awaits Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse

Game 3	Massachusetts (1-1, 0-0 A-10) vs. Dartmouth (1-0, 0-0 Ivy)
Date \| Time	Tuesday, February 18, 2025 \| 3:00 PM
Location	Amherst, Mass. \| Garber Field
Live Statistics	StatBroadcast
Watch	ESPN+
Series History	Massachusetts leads 19-2 Last: Massachusetts 13, Dartmouth 7 Garber Field \| Amherst, Mass. \| April 17, 1991
Twitter	@UMassAthletics \| @UMassMLacrosse
Instagram	UMass Men's Lacrosse

AGAINST DARTMOUTH

- Massachusetts is 19-2 all-time in its series against Dartmouth, winning the past 19 straight after dropping the first two meetings between the squads in 1965 and 1966. It has been nearly 34 years since the Gorillas and the Big Green last squared off, a 13-7 meeting in Amherst on April 17, 1991.

LAST TIME OUT

- UMass saw 10 different individuals score in a convincing 19-5 win over Quinnipiac at Garber Field last Friday afternoon. It marked the highest scoring output for the Gorillas since the squad scored 19 on UMass Lowell on February 19, 2022.
- Trace Hogan led the way for UMass' offense with eight points on six goals and two assists and two ground balls, the first eight-point performance by a Gorilla since 2021 when Kevin Tobin had 3 goals and six assists against Fairfield. It was the first six-goal game for a UMass player since Gabriel Procyk put up six in that same contest against the Stags in 2021.
- Matthew Cargiulo contributed two goals and three assists for five points and Aiden Drunsic had four points with a goal and three assists. Freshman Tyler Clayton followed up his three-point debut with another two goals and an assist and classmate Robbie Granara posted his first collegiate hat trick with a team-best five ground balls.
- Brendan Coyle won 7 of 10 faceoffs and TJ Casey went 11 for 17 over X. Matthew Petitto contributed two caused turnovers and three ground balls.
- Freshman goalkeeper Owen Salanger posted 10 saves and three ground balls in his first collegiate win.

CAREER FIRSTS

- Despite the tough loss against Army, the Gorillas saw offensive contributions from some of their new faces.
- Freshman midfielder Tyler Clayton posted a hat trick in his collegiate debut, and fellow freshman Robbie Granara added another two goals in his first collegiate game.
- Senior transfer Trace Hogan led the way and contributed four points to the stat sheet in his debut with Massachusetts.
- The Massachusetts freshman goalkeeper Owen Salanger played 45 minutes In his first collegiate game and totaled 13 saves.
- In last Friday's win against Quinnipiac, sophomore Michael Finnerty picked up his first collegiate point with an assist while freshmen Will Morse and Jack Turowsky collected their first career goals in their UMass debuts.

WELCOME TO THE TROOP

- The Gorillas have added 11 first-year players to their roster for 2024: Attackmen (3) Luca Duva (Katonah, N.Y.), Robbie Granara (Reading, Mass.), Jack Whitham (Dallas, Texas), Midfielders (4) Tyler Clayton (Acton, Mass.), Xander Johnson (Dublin, Ohio), Ryan Mourad (Norwood, Mass.), Jack Turowsky (East Longmeadow, Mass.), Defensemen (3) Tyler Burton (Chanhassen, Minn.), Will Morse (Norwell, Mass.), Ryan Wieczorek (Massapequa, N.Y.) and Goalkeeper (1) Owen Salanger (Liverpool, N.Y.) whose father, Jeff Salanger '89, was a UMass teammate of Greg Cannella's in 1986 and 1987.

2025 LEADERSHIP GROUP

- Graduate student goalkeeper Tyler Bluse, senior midfielder Brady Hoff and graduate student defender Jack Wittmaack were voted as team captains for the 2025 season.
- Bluse saw action in nine games over the past three seasons, playing a total of 21:12, backing up All-American Matt Knote. He holds a career .478 save percentage and a 17.07 goals against average.
- Hoff appeared in 30 games over three previous seasons, including a career-best 14 in 2023. He has scored two career goals and contributed 21 ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
- Wittmaack has played in 33 games over three seasons after not seeing action as a freshman in 2021. The defenseman has totaled three points on two goals and three assists, 47 ground balls and 35 caused turnovers. He posted career bests in ground balls (30) and caused turnovers (22) in 2024 as a senior. Wittmaack will miss the 2025 season with an injury.

ADDING EXPERIENCE VIA THE TRANSFER PORTAL

- The Gorillas have added four transfers to the roster for 2025, including faceoff specialist graduate student Brendan Coyle from Bucknell, redshirt sophomore attackman Gavin Begonia from Ohio State and senior defenseman Joe Conley and senior midfielder Trace Hogan from Merrimack.
- Coyle saw regular action for Bucknell over X over the past three seasons for a total of 25 games, serving as the team's primary faceoff specialist in 2023 and 2024. He won 115 of 250 (.460) draws last season.
- Begonia redshirted the 2024 season with the Buckeyes last year after seeing action in three games as a rookie in 2023.
- Conley and Hogan join the Gorillas after both having starting roles with the Warriors. Hogan started all 41 games he appeared in at Merrimack and logged 79 points on 33 goals and 46 assists, including finishing third on the team in scoring in 2024 with a career-best 35 points (16g, 19a). Conley played in 41 games in three seasons in North Andover, starting 30. He has 38 career ground balls and 43 caused turnovers to his credit.

ENCORE PERFORMANCE

- Current sophomore midfielders Matthew Cargiulo and Blaise New were both named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team as freshmen in 2024.
- As a rookie, Cargiulo appeared in all 14 games in 2024 and contributed 10 points on eight goals and two assists with three multi-goal efforts, two in Atlantic 10 play, while collecting seven ground balls. New also saw action in all 14 contests to start his career and logged 22 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.

NEW FACE ON STAFF

- During the offseason, head coach Greg Cannella added Cole Pecora to his staff as the director of player development for the Gorillas.
- Pecora comes to UMass from Bryant where he helped the Bulldogs to the 2023 America East title. As an assistant coach at Bryant, Pecora coached and developed the No. 4 ranked faceoff unit (59.8%) and No. 1 faceoff specialist (62.8%) in Division I in 2024, All-American Nathan Laliberte. The Bulldogs faceoff unit ranked 14^th nationally (56.6%) on his watch in 2023.
- Prior to joining Bryant's staff, Pecora was a graduate assistant coach at Wesleyan where he earned his master's in liberal studies. Pecora coached the offense, goalies, wing play and faceoffs with the Cardinals and served as co-recruiting coordinator. His recruits helped Wesleyan reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and win the 2024 NESCAC title. While with the Cardinals, Pecora mentored nine USILA Division II All-Americans over two seasons.
- As a student-athlete at Springfield, Pecora earned four varsity letters and was part of four NCAA Tournament teams. The two-way midfielder was a two-year starter and served as captain as a senior while earning all-conference recognition.

YEAR 31 FOR THE MAN IN CHARGE

- University of Massachusetts head coach Greg Cannella enters his 31^st season at the helm for the Gorillas and his 37^th year in coaching overall. He currently holds a record of 248-176 (.585) and ranks sixth among active Division I head coaches in wins. The UMass alumnus is the third-longest tenured among active Division I men's head coaches and the most tenured coach at one institution in Division I lacrosse (both genders).

NEXT UP

- UMass will wrap up its four-game homestand by hosting NJIT on Saturday, February 22, at Garber Field at 12:00 p.m.

Scoreboard