May 13, 2008

AMHERST, Mass. - To honor UMass men's soccer coach Sam Koch for guiding the Minutemen to the program's first-ever NCAA College Cup appearance, the Boston Red Sox have invited the Concord, Mass. native to throw out the first pitch against Kansas City on May 19. The game is set for a 7:05 PM start and will be televised on NESN.

With a 17-8-1 record, the UMass soccer team enjoyed its best season ever winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament title to advance to its second-ever NCAA Tournament. The Minutemen won four-straight NCAA Tournament games before falling to Ohio State in the National Semifinals.

Koch and the Minutemen completed their spring season last Saturday with a thrilling 2-1 win over the Western Mass Pioneers. UMass will return nearly its entire starting lineup next season with the exceptions of Greg Cirillo, Kenny Cook and Doug Rappaport.

Koch is the fifth UMass coach to be honored with the first pitch at Fenway Park. Men's lacrosse coach Greg Canella was the most recent in 2006 in recognition of the Minutemen making the 2006 National Championship game. Former men's basketball coach Travis Ford threw out the first pitch in April 2005, while head hockey coach Don "Toot" Cahoon received the honor in 2003 to commemorate the unveiling of the new UMass Minuteman logo. In 1999, head football Mark Whipple tossed the first pitch in honor of leading UMass to the 1998 NCAA I-AA Championship title.

The men's soccer program celebrated its 75th anniversary in high style this past fall with the run through the NCAA Tournament. The Minutemen received national attention with coverage from The New York Times and USA Today and were nationally televised in the semifinal game on ESPN2.

Nearly 2,000 fans packed Rudd Field for UMass' third round and quarterfinal games of the NCAA Tournament. In the quarterfinal game against Illinois-Chicago, the Minutemen set an attendance record with 1,863 fans at 'Fort Rudd' storming the field when UMass won to advance to the College Cup.

At UMass, Koch just completed his 17th season as head coach and has a record of 187-124-29 as the winningest coach in program history. For his career Koch is one of the top 30 active soccer coaches nationally in career wins with a 245-177-45 overall record.