University of Massachusets Athletics
Saturday, February 8
AMHERST, MASS.
12:00 PM
University of Massachusetts
vs
#13/12 Army
Men's Lacrosse Set To Host #13/12 Army For Season Opener
February 06, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse
| Game 1 | Massachusetts (0-0, 0-0 A-10) vs. #13/12 Army West Point (0-0, 0-0 PL) |
| Date | Time | Saturday, February 8, 2025 | 12:00 PM |
| Location | Amherst, Mass. | Garber Field |
| Live Statistics | StatBroadcast |
| Watch | ESPN+ |
| Series History | Army leads 16-15 Last: Army 13, Massachusetts 12 Silverbacks Park | Atlanta, Ga. | February 10, 2024 |
| @UMassAthletics | @UMassMLacrosse | |
| UMass Men's Lacrosse |
AGAINST ARMY WEST POINT
- The Black Knights, coming off an 11-3 season in 2024, enter Saturday's matchup in the top-20 in both polls with a No. 13/12 ranking.
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 has seen 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 .500 save percentage and a 16.98 goals against average.
- Hoff has appeared in 30 games over three 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 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 14th 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
NEXT UP
- UMass will continue its four-game homestand to open the 2025 season by hosting Quinnipiac on Friday, February 14, at Garber Field at 2:00 p.m.
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