Former UMass men's lacrosse star Tom Celentani (2009-12) was featured on the Boston Cannon's website recently following his addition to the team's roster. Celentani was selected in the supplemental draft by Boston and will join the team beginning with training camp next month. A USILA All-American and three-year starter on defense for the Minutemen, check out the spotlight on Celentani here.
Former UMass All-American softball standout Sara Plourde (@s_pizz10) will be playing her professional softball closer to home this season. After a year playing with the Carolina Diamonds in the National Pro Fastpitch league, the franchise is moving to the New York/New Jersey area. Plourde's contract was picked up by the NY/NJ Comets during the transition, so the UMass grad will be playing softball in the northeast once again.
Paul Angilly of the Bristol Press wrote about the move here in Tuesday's paper.
The National Pro Fastpitch softball league, the highest level of professional competition in the sport in this country, recently announced that a new team, the NY/NJ Comets, will play its home games in New Jersey and New York this season, plus a two game "outreach" series in Pennsylvania.
UMass hockey seniors Darren Rowe and Rocco Carzo, who each signed ECHL contracts last week, both enjoyed great opening weekends of their pro careers.
On Saturday, Carzo scored two shorthanded goals in a 2:37 span to help lead the Florida Everblades to a 5-1 victory over the Cincinnati Cyclones, a victory that clinched a berth in the ECHL playoffs for the Everblades for the 15th consecutive season. Playing in just his second professional game, Carzo finished the night with three points (2g, 1a), including the game-winning goal, was a +3 and was named the game's No. 1 star.
Then on Sunday, Rowe was a part of a third period comeback that helped the Utah Grizzlies extend their unbeaten streak to nine games, scoring his first professional goal at the 9:33 mark of the stanza.
Justin Lafleur contributed to Inside Lacrosse with a feature story on the lifelong friendship of UMass' Will Manny and Lehigh's Dante Fantoni, who will face each other for the first time on Wednesday after years of competing together through high school. The duo played at St. Anthony's High School and have developed into two of the strongest players in Division I college lacrosse, combining for 325 career points entering the upcoming contest, which will be featured as the ESPNU Game of the Week at 6 p.m. on March 20. You can also catch Manny and Fantoni in action through WatchESPN.com.
Below you will find the accompanying "Who Knows Who Better" challenge video related to the feature story.
Behind a strong performance by Chaz Williams offensively and a solid showing containing A-10 Player of the Year Khalif Wyatt, UMass upended Temple 79-74 in the quarterfinals for the second-consecutive year. Now it's on to Semifinal Saturday and a rematch with the VCU Rams at 4 p.m. They have a lot of people in Brooklyn so we need UMass nation to show up in a big way.
The game will be broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network: Comcast/Xfinity subscribers in the Springfield and Amherst markets can watch the game on channels 261 and 956 (HD). Additionally, the network can be found on DirecTV Ch. 613 and Dish Ch. 158. For students on campus, the UMass Cable system recently added CBS Sports Network to the channel lineup. It can be found on channel 88 for analog users and 80.1 on the digital signal.
Led by a pair of outstanding second-half performance by Chaz Williams and Trey Davis, the UMass basketball team advanced to the A-10 Quarterfinals with a 77-72 win over George Washington. Now the Minutemen and rival Temple will get to write another chapter in their storied history. The game will tip at approximately 9 p.m. and be televised on CBS 3 Now in the Springfield/Amherst market. Here is a link to the Friday's TV Clearances for stations carrying it across the A-10 footprint. If any additional outlets pick up the game, we will do our best to alert everyone. All four quarterfinal games will be streamed live over the Internet for free. And don't forget, there are 12 different train routes that stop at the Atlantic Station, just outside the Barclays Center. We would love for you to start your weekend cheering the Minutemen on in Brooklyn.
UMass has final shot at redemption against Temple in Atlantic 10 quarterfinal matchup | masslive.com
Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette spent some time with Freddie Riley last week and wrote the following story on the senior from Ocala, Fla.
The picture was taken when he got it almost four years ago during orientation before his freshman year. The young man in the picture has short hair and a clean-shaven face, a kid away from home for the first time, about to start the next chapter of his life.
It doesn't much resemble the man it belongs to anymore. Riley, now a senior guard for the Minutemen, has dreadlocks that fall beyond his shoulders. He has a mustache, a chin beard and sideburns that frame his face.
"When I meet someone new they're like 'Whoa that's you?'" Riley said.
It was him. But the Freddie Riley who will be in the starting lineup at 9 tonight when UMass takes on George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Tournament neither looks like nor feels like the young Floridian in that picture from the summer of 2009.
Read the complete article here.
It's time for the second season to start. Everyone has a clean slate and 12 schools are vying for the Atlantic 10 Championship this week in Brooklyn. UMass opens play tonight at 9 p.m. against George Washington in a game televised on NBC Sports Network. If you haven't decided if you will make the trip to the game, public transportation is a great option. The Atlantic Ave. terminal lets you off right outside the arena and the UMass sections are in some great locations in the building. You've also got a great pregame reception for all UMass fans provided by the UMass Alumni Association so there's plenty to get you fired up for the rematch with the Colonials.
Here's a well-written piece by Harry Plumer of the Springfield Republican on the unique road to success and Amherst for UMass assistant coach Shyrone Chatman and his brother - 12 years his junior - junior forward Sampson Carter.
So just after Carter began his junior year of high school, he and his older brother Marcus hopped on a Greyhound together and rode to Memphis.
It happened fast after Chatman extended the offer.
"It was a better situation, it was a better opportunity, so I just ran with it," Carter recalls. "I dropped school like in a day."
Once their mother tied up her loose ends in Baton Rouge, she sold her house and followed them.
Read the entire article here.
Leslie Albrecht of DNA Info caught up with Chaz Williams last week and talk about his return to Brooklyn and being able to play in front of family and friends.
When Bishop Ford High School graduate Chaz Williams got his first look at the Barclays Center a few months ago, he snapped some photos on his cell phone and wondered if he might get a chance to play there some day.
That day came sooner than expected, as Williams, a junior point guard at the University of Massachusetts, prepares to come home to his native Brooklyn next week for his first game at the Barclays Center, just 2 miles away from where he was a top scorer for the Bishop Ford Falcons.
Read the entire article here.
