Rotating image

Emma Mendoker ready for UMass softball season

By Brian Henry on January 30, 2013 11:06 AM
With softball season underway and games beginning in mid-February, the UMass softball team is hard at work getting ready for another exciting schedule filled with tough competition all year long. But gone from the previous season is All-America pitcher Sara Plourde, meaning the pitching circle will see some new arms in 2013.
One of those is transfer Emma Mendoker. The redshirt freshman sat out last year at East Carolina with a torn biceops tendon and returned to Amherst where she prepped at Amherst Regional HS and will be looked upon to play a big role for the Minutewomen this season.
Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette recently sat-in on a pitching session with Mendoker and head coach Elaine Sortino.

      It looks like a tedious process -- adjusting her shoulder, tweaking her elbow and wrist movement a little bit to find the optimum pitching motion. But Mendoker, a former star pitcher at Amherst Regional, is enjoying the process.
      A year ago, she was a freshman at East Carolina in Greenville, N.C., getting ready for her first collegiate season after a standout high school career. But just a few days before the season, she felt a pop in her shoulder that was later diagnosed as a torn biceps tendon. It ended her season.

Reminder Of Special Time Today For UMass Sports Luncheon

By John Sinnett on January 30, 2013 8:34 AM
Just a reminder for fans attending today's UMass Sports Luncheon that it will start at a special time of 10:30 AM in the Massachusetts Room of the Mullins Center. The early start is to allow fans attending the chance to see the women's basketball game against La Salle which will tip-off at 11:45 AM as the annual Field Trip Day game for local elementary school children. Fans going to the Sports Luncheon will receive a free ticket to the game and can park in the back lot of the Mullins Center!

GAZETTE: NFL success seems to follow Amherst native James Ihedigbo

By John Sinnett on January 30, 2013 8:07 AM
Matt Vautour of the Daily Hampshire Gazette has a story on James Ihedigbo and how success has followed him throughout his four-year NFL career. In addition to playing in back-to-back Super Bowls with different teams, Ihedigbo has been a member of four AFC Championship teams.



BALTIMORE SUN: Ihedigbo's mother will see son play in Super Bowl

By John Sinnett on January 30, 2013 7:58 AM
David Anderson of the Baltimore Sun has a profile of James Ihedigbo's mother, Rose, who talks about her son's path to the NFL and his second straight Super Bowl. Rose and her late husband, Apollos, came to the United States from Nigeria in 1979. James grew up in Amherst playing at Amherst Regional High School before coming to UMass. Rose will soon be publishing a book called "Sandals in the Snow" which describes their life and the path their family took.

Harford loves the Ravens

James Ihedigbo of the Baltimore Ravens reacts after the Indianapolis Colts missed a field goal attempt during the AFC Wild Card Playoff Game at M&T Bank Stadium on Jan. 6. His mother, Rose, who lives in Abingdon says her son exemplifies the values she and his father instilled in him, the values of hard work, perseverance and faith in God.(Patrick Smith/Getty Images, Getty Images / January 5, 2013)



MBB Gameday Previews: at La Salle, 1/30/13

By Brian Henry on January 30, 2013 7:46 AM
UMass makes its only trip to the City of Brotherly Love to face La Salle hoping to improve upon its 5-1 road record this year. But to do that, the Minutemen will need to snap a four-game losing streak inside Tom Gola Arena. The game is not televised but online video and audio is available. The links are in the gameday HQ link below.





Ihedigbo Takes Part In Super Bowl Media Day

By John Sinnett on January 29, 2013 1:56 PM
In a photo gallery by the Associated Press which is featured on Yahoo! Sports, James Ihedigbo is shown filming Media Day as the Baltimore Ravens are interviewed prior to the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Football

Baltimore Ravens safety James Ihedigbo shoots a video as safety Bernard Pollard, right, looks over his shoulder during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Judy Dixon Previews The Spring Tennis Season

By John Sinnett on January 29, 2013 12:52 PM
The UMass tennis team starts the 2013 spring campaign this Friday at Brown and Sunday at home against Saint Joseph's. Head coach Judy Dixon sits down with UMassAthletics to talk about the progress from the fall and what she expects to see this spring.


HERALD: Local connections come Easy at Super Bowl

By John Sinnett on January 29, 2013 9:11 AM
UMass alum and Boston Herald sportswriter Jeff Howe has a piece on local connections in this year's NFL Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Included in his piece are mentions of UMass alums James Ihedigbo and Clarence Brooks.

Ihedigbo is making his second straight Super Bowl appearance albeit with a different team after helping the Patriots reach the title game last year.

Brooks played football at UMass from 1970-72 and was an assistant coach in the mid-70's for the Minutemen. He is now the Ravens' defensive line coach.



UMass Sports Luncheon To Be Held At Special Time On Wednesday

By John Sinnett on January 29, 2013 9:00 AM
The weekly UMass Sports Luncheon will begin at 10:30 AM this Wednesday in conjunction with the women's basketball game against La Salle that will tip-off at 11:45 AM. The game will be the annual Field Trip Day where local school children get to attend the game thanks to the morning start.

Fans who attend the UMass Sports Luncheon will receive free tickets to the basketball game and there will be free parking in the Mullins Center Back Lot. Speakers for Wednesday's Luncheon will be hockey head coach John Micheletto along with women's basketball Director of Operations May Kotsopoulos. Additionally, this week's co-athletes of the week Becky Stoyle (women's track) and Michael Cyphers (men's track) will be honored.

VANCOUVER SUN: Undrafted Irwin 'Looks Like He Fits' With Sharks

By Jillian Jakuba on January 28, 2013 12:16 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
Here's another piece of former Minuteman Matt Irwin and his early season success in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks:

Matt Irwin is too young to remember Larry Robinson. But he knows "big bird." Big yellow fella from Sesame Street.

"My uncle is a Montreal Canadiens fan, so he's a big Larry Robinson fan," Irwin, the 25-year-old San Jose Sharks' rookie, said before facing the Vancouver Canucks here Sunday. "I haven't had to ask for an autograph yet (for my uncle), but that might be coming up soon."

Irwin is already signing autographs for himself. The defenceman from Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island has been a revelation to the Sharks' coaching staff, which includes Robinson, known as "Big Bird" when he played and merely one of the greatest blueliners of his generation.

Robinson and Irwin are getting to know each other.

Undrafted after three Junior-A seasons with the Nanaimo Clippers, Irwin entered the University of Massachusetts as a 20-year-old freshman and played two seasons in Amherst. He earned a free-agent contract from the Sharks, then spent another 2 ½ seasons in the American Hockey League before injuries to San Jose defencemen Brent Burns and Jason Demers helped Irwin make the lineup for the start of the lockout-shortened National Hockey League season.

Until two weeks ago, Irwin's entire NHL experience was one pre-season game.

But through four games this month, the 6-2, 210-pound Irwin was averaging 22:48 of ice time and playing with Dan Boyle in the defence's top four.

Read more: Undrafted Matt Irwin 'looks like he fits' with Sharks

Archives

RSS Feed

MOST RECENT POSTS

CATEGORIES

ARCHIVE