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No. 5 Minutemen Prepare For Competition At Harvard
Feb. 21, 2013
The Last Meeting
March 27, 2012
Amherst, Mass.
QUICK HITS SCOUTING HARVARD The Crimson graduated two of their top three point-scorers in 2012, with team-leader Jeff Cohen (48 goals, 8 assists, 56 points) and Kevin Vaughan (17, 19, 36), who notched the third-highest total, gone. Harvard will rely on strong years from Daniel Eipp, who notched 42 points on 24 goals and 18 assists as a sophomore in 2012 and freshman Will Walker, who added 15 goals and six assists during his first collegiate campaign. Jake Grambitsky and Harry Krieger split time in goal for Harvard during 2012, accumulating 818:53 of a possible 841:23 between the piped. Grambitsky, a freshman, played nearly 470 mintues over nine contests, making seven starts on the year. Grambitsky averaged 10.61 goals allowed per game with a .471 save percentage and 3-4 overall record. Kreiger allowed 8.42 tallies per game with a .510 save percentage in eight appearances and six starts. Kreiger won two contests against four losses and enters his senior season in 2013. Despite their 6-8 overall record last year, Harvard finished with positive margins in goals (145-137), assists (75-74) and points (220-211), while also recording a lead in groundballs, 400-373 and faceoffs won, 185-147. LAST TIME VS. HARVARD Will Manny paved the way for head coach Greg Cannella's squad with a game-high five goals, while dishing out two assists. Art Kell scored four times and Anthony Biscardi added a hat trick towards the UMass effort. Mike Fetterly was unselfish with a team-high three assists. Play was back and forth throughout the first half, as UMass opened the first 15 minutes of play with two goals by Kell and Manny. The second stanza was much like the first, with UMass coming away with a 4-2 goal advantage on scores by Biscardi and Bobby Tyler. It was not until the second half that the Minutemen extended their lead beyond four goals. Steve D'Amario and Kell reeled off consecutive tallies, six minutes into the final 30 minutes of play to make it 11-4. The Crimson would not go away quietly, scoring twice in the third quarter and twice in the fourth. The final quarter of play was dominated by the Minutemen with a 4-2 goal advantage, including the first four of the quarter. Alex White was a bright spot for Harvard with three goals, as the Minutemen held the Crimson's leading scorer coming into the contest, Jeff Cohen, to just one tally. UMass won the ground battle with a 28-23 advantage on groundballs. The Minutemen were 15-of-27 on faceoffs and 1-for-2 on extra man opportunities. Tim McCormack was rock solid in between the pipes, stopping 11 Harvard shots. MOST RECENT: FOURTH QUARTER EARNS #12 UMASS 12-11 WIN OVER #4 NORTH CAROLINA Sophomore midfielder Andrew Sokol recorded three points on two goals and one helper, with his pair of tallies coming back-to-back during the decisive fourth quarter. Sophomore attack Grant Whiteway added a pair of goals, his first of the season, while junior midfielder Matt Whippen secured one mark and an assist. UMass played without senior attack Will Manny, who suffered a hand injury and was unable to dress for the contest. The final goal of the game went on to become the decisive tally, with Mooney recording his third mark of the day on the play. Mooney rolled around the left side of the goal from the back of the cage and stopped at the crease, jumping into the air while placing a shot into the lower-right corner of the goal for the 12-11 lead with 3:18 to play in the contest. After North Carolina had a pair of tying attempts go wide of the net in the span of 13 seconds, beginning with 2:35 left to play, the Minutemen kept possession away from its defensive zone until the final seconds of the contest. Following a UMass turnover near midfield, North Carolina's Greg McBride scooped up the loose ball and sprinted toward the UMass goal. McBride sent a last-second game-tying attempt on-frame, with Oliveri adjusting to the shot to record his final save of the day and secure the win. North Carolina notched the opening pair of goals, one during a man-up situation, before the Minutemen connected to cut the deficit in half. Sean Cleary tallied the first UMass goal unassisted, fighting his way toward the crease before placing a shot by Tar Heels goalie Kieran Burke for the sophomore's second mark of the season. North Carolina and UMass traded tallies through the remainder of the first quarter. After Jake Matthai earned a goal for the Tar Heels with 5:55 to play, Kyle Smith answered for UMass with his first tally of the day and second of the season to pull the Minutemen within 3-2 with 2:17 remaining in the opening quarter. Marcus Holman, a two-time USILA All-American, extended the North Carolina lead back to a pair with 23 seconds remaining in the first. However, Kyle Smith found the back of the net only one minute into the second stanza, following a pass from senior midfielder Bobby Tyler, to cut the UNC lead back down to one, 4-3. T.J. Kemp & Bitter recorded back-to-back tallies for the Tar Heels to push the lead to 6-3 for UNC before Whippen, the reigning CAA Player of the Week, added a tally for the Minutemen. Whippen spun off of his marking defender, rolled to the right and sent an attempt into the left side of the goal with 8:05 to play in the half for his sixth goal of the year. Davey Emala sent a shot by Oliveri to extend the lead back to three, 7-4 with 1:38 left in the second, an advantage that held through the break before the Minutemen attack responded during the opening minutes of the third. Kyle Smith secured the hat trick, the eighth of his UMass career, by racing in front of the net from the side of the goal before extending his arms and dropping a shot by Burke. With the 30-second stall warning active, the Minutemen again dropped the UNC lead to just one goal, 7-6, as Mooney earned his first tally with 5:35 remaining. To create the play, Mooney sprinted to his right and fired an attempt into the top-left corner of the goal. The North Carolina offense answered with a tally from Chad Tutton at the 4:11 mark to extend the Tar Heels lead to 9-7, but Mooney responded with his second goal of the day to earn the Minutemen their eighth tally. Kyle Smith found Mooney in front of the net, with the junior from Wilbraham, Mass., one-timing an attempt by the outstretched arms of Burke. However, the UNC offense recorded the final two goals of the third quarter on shots by Spencer Park and Holman to send UMass into the fourth trailing, 11-8. Sokol pulled the Minutemen back within one goal of tying for the seventh time on the day with back-to-back conversions over a span of 1:36, using a leaping attempt following a pass from Whippen to secure the first with 14:01 to play in the contest. After junior Joe Calvello won the faceoff following the goal and Whippen fired an attempt wide, Sokol dodged a defender at the right side of the net and shifted to his left while placing a hard shot into the back of the net with 12:25 to play for UMass' 10th tally. The squads exchanged possessions over the following eight minutes of play before the Minutemen added the game-tying goal at the 4:16 mark. Whiteway controlled play behind the net and raced around the left side, converting a shot while being knocked to the ground in front at the crease to even the score at 11-11. North Carolina tallied a 43-38 advantage in shots while the Minutemen scooped up 39 groundballs to 38 for the Tar Heels. UMass finished 18-for-22 on clears to a 12-for-13 clip for UNC. The Tar Heels won the faceoff battle, taking 15-of-28, while Burke finished with 12 saves for North Carolina. Calvello won 12 of the 26 faceoffs the junior took against the Tar Heels. Redshirt-sophomore Ryan Izzo notched a career-high seven groundballs while Tyler also set a single-game personal-best in the category with six scooped up on the day. OLIVERI NETS A PAIR OF WEEKLY HONORS UMASS OPENS 2013 WITH 16-9 VICTORY OVER ARMY WHIPPEN TAKES HOME CAA, UMASS LAURELS Whippen proved instrumental in the Sunday victory, tying with teammate Andrew Sokol with a game-high six points. Whippen recorded his first collegiate point on a goal during the opening quarter to put UMass in the scoring column and knot the contest at 1-1 with 10:49 remaining. Whippen went on to add a trio of goals during the decisive second and third quarters as the Minutemen built a 13-8 lead entering the final stanza. The Chelmsford, Mass., native then secured the initial tally of the fourth quarter before assisting Kyle Smith on the final goal of the game. Dating back to last season, Whippen was the fourth consecutive UMass men's lacrosse player to receive at least a share of the CAA Player of the Week honor, with now-senior Will Manny taking home the final 2012 season award on April 30. He shares the UMass Co-Athlete of the Week award with men's basketball point guard Chaz Williams. "GARBER'S GORILLAS" EXPLAINED MINUTEMEN RECEIVE PRESEASON RECOGNITION During the announcement, the CAA also recognized senior attack Will Manny as the preseason conference player of the year while tabbing Colin Fleming, Ryan Hollenbaugh and Jake Smith to join Manny on the preseason all-CAA listing. Nationally, the Minutemen are featured in each of the major polls, including ranking 12th in the USILA Coaches Ranking and 13th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Top-20. MANNY AMONG NATION'S OFFENSIVE LEADERS STEPPING INTO THEIR OWN The midfield has spearheaded the offensive charge due in part to the success of juniors Matt Whippen and Connor Mooney, sophomore Andrew Sokol and freshman Dan Muller. Whippen leads the squad with six goals, chipping in a pair of assists for eight points. Sokol is pacing the Minutemen with nine points, tallying five goals and four assists, while Mooney had a four-point performance that included the game-winner against No. 4 North Carolina. Muller broke into the lineup against Army and registered a pair of goals and an assist for three points against the Black Knights. On the attack, sophomore Sean Cleary has established himself as a legitimate scoring threat with a pair of goals in only three shots on the year. 2012 SEASON RECAP Then-junior attack Will Manny finished the campaign as a Tewaaraton Award finalist with 77 points on 44 goals and 33 assists, also taking home USILA First Team All-America and New England and CAA Player of the Year laurels. Classmate Jake Smith also tallied USILA All-America honors along with Anthony Biscardi, Tom Celentani, Art Kell and Tim McCormack while Greg Cannella was named the CAA Coach of the Year. FIRST AND FOREMOST At No. 1 in the April 16 USILA Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the April 16 Media Poll, the UMass men's lacrosse program achieved its highest national ranking ever. Prior to being ranked No. 2 for three weeks (March 27 - April 9), the previous high for a national ranking was No. 3, which the Minutemen did this season, in 2003 and in 2001. MANNY EARNS 2012 TEWAARATON FINALIST NOD UMASS SETS WINS RECORD The 15 wins on the year also tied for the 15th-most in NCAA history. The all-time NCAA record for wins in a season is 18, accomplished by Duke in 2008. WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE! ALL WE DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN OFFENSIVE TRIO ONLY GROUP TO REACH 50 POINTS IN NCAA The 182 combined points from the trio accounts for 52.9 percent of UMass' total (344) while the trio also holds 110 of UMass' 207 goals scored (53.1). LOCKDOWN DEFENSE Of the top-25 point producers in the country, UMass faced nine of them, holding six in the group to two points or fewer in games against the Minutemen. Bucknell's Billy Eisenrich posted six points on three goals and three assists in the Bison's 12-9 loss to UMass, Joe Resetarits had a trio of goals and an assist in Albany's defeat to the Minutemen and eventual Tewaaraton Award winner Peter Baum had a pair of goals and an assist for No. 9 Colgate during the NCAA Tournament First Round. SPECIAL TEAMS MAKING AN IMPACT
Despite the changes to the lineup, the Minutemen transferred this strength into shutting down a potent offense during their 2013 season-opening contest against Army. UMass limited the Black Knights, including two-time USILA All-American Garrett Thul, to just 1-for-5 (20.0 percent) on man-up opportunities as the Minutemen notched a 16-9 victory.
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The No. 2 UMass men's lacrosse team was finally able to break through the Harvard Crimson on Tuesday night with a 16-8 victory at Garber Field, improving to 8-0 on the season. The Minutemen came into the contest having lost three of the last four against Harvard, but were able to break that streak with the team's third largest margin of victory thus far in 2012.
