UMass has run its current unbeaten streak to eight games after last weekend finishing the season 7-1-1 in league play. The Minutemen have a six game win streak in place and jumped 20 spots to No. 34 in this week's NCAA RPI Report. In the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Rankings, the Minutemen are now the No. 1 Team. UMass is also receiving votes in the NSCAA Top 25 poll and is ranked No. 25 in the College Soccer News Top 30 poll.

The win last Sunday over Charlotte gave UMass its fourth Atlantic 10 regular-season title: 1994, 2000, 2002, 2008. Last season, UMass won the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship for just its second ever tournament title (2001, 2007) and its second-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Minutemen then promptly ran through the tournament field all the way to the National Semifinals in 2007.

Sophomore Ben Arikian leads the team in assists (6) and points (14), while senior Prince Ofosu leads the team in goals with five. Both Arikian and junior Mark DeSantis have four goals each. Depth has been a major factor for the Minutemen as 11 different players have tallied at least one goal. Keeper Zack Simmons continues to be strong in goal for UMass with a 0.83 goals-against-average and an .814 save percentage.

UMass vs. The Atlantic 10
Since becoming a league member in 1987, UMass is 108-68-17 all-time versus the Alantic 10 Conference. UMass has won four regular-season titles and two tournament titles in that time. Last season, UMass was 6-3-0 in league play and won the A-10 Tournament. This year, UMass is 7-1-1 in conference action.

All-time, the Minutemen are currently behind on Rhode Island in terms of all-time conference wins (121 for the Rams) and rank fifth in win percentage (.592) among current members. Of the 18 teams who have been members of the Atlantic 10 for soccer, UMass is one of six remaining teams of the original 1987 league: Rutgers, Penn State, Rhode Island, UMass, George Washington, West Virginia, Temple, St. Bonaventure, and Saint Joseph's.

Frequent Flyer Miles
On the Minutemen's last four-game road trip, UMass has logged enough frequent flyer miles to earn a few free trips. All told, the Minutemen traveled 2,750 miles to Wake Forest (North Carolina), the University of Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure (upstate New York), and Duquesne (Pittsburgh, Pa.). The round trip to Wake Forest totaled 1,388 miles, the trip to URI was 238, St. Bonaventure adds 407 miles, while Duquesne is 540 miles. The trip from St. Bonaventure to Duquesne adds another 177 miles to the grand total. By comparison, a cross country trip from Boston to San Francisco would be 3,100 miles - just 400 miles more than what the Minutemen have traveled the past four games.

All told, UMass played 11 of its 18 games so far on the road this season.

Minutemen Show Depth In Scoring Column
The Minutemen have netted a total of 22 goals this season from 11 different players - the exact same amount of goals as last year during the regular-season. Senior Prince Ofosu, sophomore Ben Arikian and junior Mark DeSantis are the only players to have scored multiple goals. Bryant Craft, Sam DeNormandie, Chris Roswess, Stuart Thomson and Chris Vaccaro each scored their first career goals this season.

He Likes To Score In Pairs
Junior forward Mark DeSantis tied his career-high when he netted a pair of goals at St. Bonaventure. The two goals were his first of the season. DeSantis also started the 2007 season with a pair of goals in the win over Dayton (10/12) - his first career goals. DeSantis finished the 2007 season with four goals and six assists for 14 points. For his career, he now has eight goals, 10 assists, and 26 points in 63 career games.

Attendance Mark One Of UMass' Best Ever
A College Cup berth has made the Minutemen a popular commodity in 2008. To date, over 14,000 fans (an average of 800) have shown up to the 18 games so far. That mark is the second highest attendance figure in the A-10 this year behind 21,000 for Saint Louis. The high for the season is 5,935 for the Boston University game. That mark currently stands as the sixth highest attendance nationally for a men's soccer match this season. At the ODU STIHL Classic, 1,846 fans came out for the UMass/Old Dominion game.

TOP MEN'S CROWDS OF 2008
1. Cal Poly-UC Santa Barbara (Oct. 17), 11,705
2. UCSB-Wake Forest (Sept. 21), 7,408
3. Maryland-Wake Forest (Sept. 26), 6,500
4. South Carolina-Clemson (Aug. 29) 6,102
5. Maryland-Duke (Sept. 19), 6,083
6. Boston Univ.-Massachusetts (Aug. 31), 5,935
7. Saint Louis-Missouri State (Sept. 27), 5,785
8. Connecticut-West Virginia (Oct. 3), 4,407
9. Creighton-Gonzaga (Aug. 29) 4,071
10. UC Santa Barbara-UC Davis (Oct. 11), 4,007

Minutemen Pitch Six Shutouts So Far This Season
The Minutemen earned their first clean sheet of the season against Siena (9/6) with the 1-0 blanking of the Saints. UMass also blanked Vermont (9/28), Duquesne (10/19), George Washington (10/26), La Salle (10/31), and Charlotte (11/9). In the last 83 games, the Minutemen have pitched 30 shutouts (1 of every three games).

Arikian Critical In UMass Wins
Sophomore midfielder Ben Arikian has been instrumental in eight of UMass' nine wins for the Minutemen this season. Arikian scored the game-winning Golden Goal at Boston University (8/31) just eight seconds into the second overtime period. Against Siena (9/6), he served a direct kick into the box finding Chris Brown for the game-winning goal in the 89th minute. In the win at St. Bonaventure (10/17), he was credited with the game's opening goal. Heading into the tournament, he has scored at least a point in each of the last five consecutive games.

In the final weekend of the regular-season, Arikian set-up both goals in the win over No. 10 Saint Louis and, after coming off the field against Charlotte with a laceration to his head, he headed home the game winning goal against the 49ers. His play earned him Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week, UMass/Dinn Bros. Athlete of the Week, Soccer America Team of the Week and College Soccer News Team of the Week honors.

As a freshman, he tallied two goals and a team-high six assists to earn Soccer America All-Freshman Second Team honors and Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team accolades.

Simmons Improving Upon UMass Records
In 2007, keeper Zack Simmons re-wrote the UMass record book for goalkeepers. In 2008, Simmons is looking to put those numbers out of reach for his successors. He holds the career record for wins (41), shutouts (29), and saves (372). He is also closing in on the career goals-against-average of 0.96 with his career average of 0.98 GAA.

Simmons Moving Up On NCAA Charts As Well
With 7,528 minutes of game action logged, Simmons has cracked the NCAA Career Goalkeeper Minutes Played list. That total places him 18th all-time in NCAA history for minutes played by a goalkeeper. All told, he has just missed two games in his career (81 games played).

Iron Men Set Games Played Record
UMass defender Chris Brown and midfielder Mike DeSantis set the all-time UMass career games played record at La Salle when they suited up for their 80th career matches.

On Friday, the pair will play in career game No. 84. For Brown, he has started all 83 consecutive games leading into the weekend. DeSantis has 76 career starts under his belt.

Jeff Deren (1999-02) - UMass' all-time leading scorer and a two-time All-American - previously held the record with 79 career games.

Keeper Zack Simmons is just behind Brown and DeSantis with 81 consecutive matches.

Thunder And Lightning
UMass has an interesting combination of forwards at its disposal this season. Mark DeSantis and Bryan Hogan started much of the first part of the season together, but freshman Chris Roswess, who made his first career goal the game-winner over Richmond, has earned a spot in the starting rotation as well. Add into the mix UMass' top reserve and goal-scorer Prince Ofosu and Michael Jejana, who hit the game-winner against Boston University in the NCAA First Round last year, and head coach Sam Koch has some very dangerous combinations he can play.

DeSantis is a scrappy player who is opportunistic and plays his body well in positioning for 50-50 balls. He reads the field well and puts himself in position to score. Hogan and Jejna both add size in the box and are big targets on set pieces. Hogan led UMass in scoring last year and Jejna nearly scored against Charlotte this year but his header rang off the cross bar. Rosswess and Ofosu are both extremely fast and can make timely runs to chase down long crosses.

The Flat Back Four
Anchored by Iron Man Chris Brown, the UMass defensive back row is one of the best in the business. After sustaining the loss of four-year starter and all-conference centerback Chris Brown and Doug Rappaport at left fullback, the Minutemen had to make some changes to the back row. Tony Bassett moved from midfield to fullback and Stuart Thomson, who had played every position on the field in his first two years at UMass, became the starting centerback alongside Brown. Dan Lepone, who transitioned from the midfield to right fullback last year, returned and played some of his best soccer in the latter half of the season this year. After an injury sideline Bassett mid-way through the season, freshman Andrew Henshaw stepped into the line-up and has played well.

Defensively, the unit alongside keeper Zack Simmons, have only surrendered 16 goals this season, have six shutouts and are posting a 0.83 goals against average - just 0.04 higher than last season. Against Saint Louis and Charlotte, the group was peppered with 22 corner kicks and turned each away successfully.

The `Fort Rudd' Advantage
Few home fields yield such a distinct advantage as Rudd Field, aka FORT RUDD. At home UMass is 42-17-6 (.692) since the facility opened in 2002. All told, UMass has pitched 23 shutouts at home and outscored opponents by a 120-75 margin. The Minutemen have scored four or more goals at home on 10 occasions, while allowing that total just once. This season, UMass was 5-1-1 at home.

Last season, UMass was an amazing 9-1 on the home pitch - including three NCAA Tournament wins. A Rudd Field record 1,863 fans showed up for the NCAA Quarterfinal game vs. Illinois-Chicago.

Sophomore Bryan Hogan scored the 100th goal in Rudd Field history on Oct. 14 in a 2-1 win over A-10 rival Xavier.

Koch Captures Win #250 As Head Coach; Four Away From #200 At UMass
Head coach Sam Koch is in his 18th season at UMass and is the winningest coach in the program's 76-year history. Against George Washington, he captured win for #250 of his overall coaching career. His career win total in Amherst stands at 196, while his overall coaching win total is 254 games. Among active NCAA coaches, Koch ranks 21st in overall career wins. In 2007, he was a finalist for the NSCAA National Coach of the Year.

Simmons Twice Named Preseason All-American
Coming off a school-record season where he set career marks for wins (32), shutouts (23) and saves (302) and the single-season record for goals-against-average (0.79), keeper Zack Simmons was named to the Soccer America Preseason All-America First Team and the College Soccer News Preseason All-America Third-Team.

Four Named To Atlantic 10 Preseason Team
Chris Brown, Mike DeSantis, Bryan Hogan, and Zack Simmons were each named to the 2008 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference Team as announced by the league in early July. UMass led the way with four players named to the All-Conference Team.

Minutemen Ranked To Begin The 2008 Season
UMass began the season ranked No. 13 in the NSCAA/adidas Preseason Top 25 National Poll. Additionally, the Minutemen were ranked in four other collegiate soccer preseason national polls. UMass finished the 2007 season ranked No. 4 nationally - its highest ever national ranking.

Poll Rank
NSCAA/adidas #13
Soccer America #15
College Soccer News #22
SoccerTimes.com #25
TopDrawerSoccer.com #28

Coburn, McGrath Named To UMass Athletics Hall Of Fame
The University of Massachusetts Athletic Department has inducted five new members into the George "Trigger" Burke UMass Athletic Hall of Fame, making up the class of 2008. The quintet was honored on Friday, October 3, 2008 at a dinner held at the UMass Student Union Ballroom, and they were also recognized at the UMass-Delaware football game the following day. The 2008 Hall of Fame Class was Jack Canniff (ice hockey coach 1967-79), Thomas Coburn (Class of 1974, men's soccer), Jack Foley (Class of 1957, men's basketball), Edward McGrath (Class of 1949, soccer, basketball, baseball), and Ron Wayne (Class of 1971, cross country, track and field).

Streaming Video Live From Rudd Field
The UMass Media Relations Department is proud to announce that the 2008 men's soccer regular-season home games will be streamed live over UMassAthletics.com this year. Along with live video of games, make sure to check out UMass All-Access Multimedia for player profiles, interviews with head coach Sam Koch, and much more. You can sign up for an All-Access Pass by clicking on the Multimedia link at UMassAthletics.com.

Order Photos From The 2008 Season
The UMass Media Relations Department offers fans the chance to purchase photos from the 2008 men's soccer season. Simply go to UMassAthletics.com, find the photo you like in our photo galleries and fill out the order form. You have your choice of 4x6, 8x10 and new this year, 11x14 prints - all shipped directly to your door. Make sure to capture your favorite memory of the season to proudly display your Maroon & White pride!

Free Soccer E-Newsletter
Fans, want to get all the latest information on the UMass men's soccer team? Sign up today by contacting John Sinnett (jsinnett@admin.umass.edu) in the UMass media relations department. You will receive weekly notes, feature stories, postgame recaps, box scores and more delivered straight to your inbox. It's the best way to keep up with the Minutemen, so sign up today!