UMass Lacrosse: Minutemen Ranked #17 in Nation After Defeating Penn State, Rest on Bye This Week

The 2016 season has been a bit of a roller coaster for the UMass Minutemen. They’ve alternated wins and losses for the most part, and have seen valleys like their 2-4 record after suffering 10-goal losses to Brown and Albany and peaks like their current two game win streak over UNC and Penn State which resulted in their #17 national ranking in the USILA/Coaches’ poll (UMass is also ranked #18 in both the Inside Lacrosse Cascade/Maverik Media poll and the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine poll, both unofficial rankings).

It must be noted that these rankings are likely to change tomorrow when the newest polls are released. UMass could end up remaining where they are, or they could drop, or drop out. The teams behind the Minutemen (#18 Army, #19 Hofstra, #20 Air Force) all won while UMass was idle, so don’t be surprised to see them fall slightly.

The Gorillas have faced a brutal schedule so far this season, facing six ranked teams and one who was receiving votes at the time their games have been played. The Hartford Hawks were the only opponent not to meet that criteria, which has led to UMass’ strength of schedule being ranked #1 nationally by LaxPower at the time of this post.

If any club deserved to have a bye at this point in the season, it was the Minutemen. It comes at a very opportune time, allowing the Gorillas to rest, recover, and prepare to go into CAA play ready to face the challenge of what is always a tough slate.

Last week the Minutemen traveled to State College, PA to take on the Nittany Lions, an old foe from the ECAC and CAA leagues prior to the formation of the B1G lacrosse league. UMass plays Penn State every year, and that familiarity makes for very tight, exciting games. UMass had won the previous two meetings, but on the whole, the average margin of victory in this series is under three goals.

There was no TV or stream so I cannot provide too much analysis (not that it’s worth the megabytes it’s written on) but there was one significant move that played a role in the win that we should see more of going forward.

Just like against UNC where coach Cannella made the move to make Dan Dolan the starting keeper full-time, against Penn State freshman FOGO Tom Meyers took every draw, replacing Noah Rak who had been struggling.

Meyers had taken a smattering a faceoffs over the course of the year, generally only to spell Rak in the previous games. He’d performed OK, going 50% on the draws he took before last Saturday. But once he was given the reins against Penn State, his play elevated substantially. The Pennsylvania native (Radnor, PA, near Philadelphia) went 16-for-24 against Penn State’s committee of FOGOs (similar to what UMass had been doing) and that helped swing the play in the Minutemen’s favor.

Patrick McEwen, who writes for Inside Lacrosse, publishes faceoff ratings every week as a guide to see who’s performing best at the X in the nation:

You can see in that piece that Meyers has debuted after taking all the draws against PSU, and he’s in the top 3rd. If he gets a chance and can continue that pace, UMass will benefit greatly.

In a game that UMass won 11-9, the swing in possession that winning 67% of the faceoffs brings in huge. The Gorillas were down 4-2 after one but used a 4-1 scoring advantage in the 2nd quarter to take a 6-5 lead into halftime that they would not relinquish.

I’d imagine we will see Meyers on the faceoff X until further notice, just as we’re seeing Dan Dolan in the cage (he played the entire PSU game as well). If Meyers can continue to provide that type of success at the X going forward the Minutemen are going to benefit, and they will need it against teams like Towson and Hofstra in CAA play.

Speaking of CAA play, it’s right around the corner now, starting next week with Delaware. The Blue Hens currently sit at 3-7 after a loss at Rutgers last night. They have by far the lowest LaxPower rating of any team UMass has faced or will face this season. UDel’s wins have come over teams that combined have a total of four wins, and whenever the Hens have faced stronger competition, they’ve lost and have not been in control of the game.

You hesitate to guarantee a win against any team in college lacrosse, especially this season, which has seen parity come to the forefront more than ever before. However, this is a game that UMass should win. Despite the fact that it’s on the road and against a conference foe that knows the Minutemen well, UMass has shown their mettle against good teams this season and are without a doubt better than Delaware.

That doesn’t mean next Saturday will be a game where UMass can just show up, quite the opposite in fact. If they don’t take Delaware seriously they’ll lose and damage their resume for postseason play. They can’t look past the Blue Hens to the following week’s match with Towson (currently 8-1) at Garber Field either. Focus on the task ahead of you, execute your game plan, and come back from Delaware with a victory.

I’ll try to be better recapping the Gorillas games going forward, and I’m interested to see where they are nationally by the time next Saturday rolls around. Should be a good game.

Go U.

UMass Lacrosse: Gorillas sit at 3-4 after last three contests, visit Penn State today

I’ve been a little lax in updating the blog (pun 100% intended) and for that I apologize. I’ve been a bit busy but I’m going to try and do better, at least until the workload lightens up around the beginning of May. After that I should, in theory, be able to do more updates depending on what news might be out there.

The Minutemen lacrosse team has had three games since last I wrote a recap, and they are 1-2 in those contests. They picked up consecutive losses to Brown and Albany, and then defeated UNC, showing the true Jekyll and Hyde nature of the 2016 Gorillas.

The first of these three games was in Providence against Brown, the annual match up in what is New England’s oldest lacrosse rivalry. In many years the battle between the Bears and the Minutemen is a closely contested, physical affair, but this year the then #7 (now #5) Bears completely dominated the Gorillas in every aspect, leading to a 15-7 win.

And you may or may not believe it, but the game wasn’t even that close. It was 9-1 Brown at the half, 12-2 after the 3rd, and the Minutemen only made the score halfway respectable once Brown had started to cycle in some of the backups in the 4th quarter.

Now full disclosure I did not see this game. It was a road game with no free online stream, and the Ivy League apparently is hard up for cash because they charge you $9.95 for a day pass for one school on their digital network. If there was one intercollegiate athletic league in the nation that definitely didn’t need the extra cash it’s probably the Ivy League, so forgive me if I won’t pay ten bucks to watch a two hour game, even if it does involve the Minutemen. Get over yourselves Ivy League, seriously.

I did follow along with the stat tracker online and I can say watching that, this was a case of both the Bears being a legitimate NCAA title contender but also the Minutemen not coming through in the same areas that have plagued them this season, the face off X and the man-up.

Brown won 18 of 25 faceoffs in this game. My quick, calculator-app-assisted math says that’s a 72% success rate. UMass is not going to come out on the right side of the ledger too many times if they’re getting beat on essentially three out of four faceoffs every game.

They were also 2 of 7 on the man-up. Not good enough. You need to cash in on your man-up chances in this game. If you don’t you’ll regret it once the final horn sounds. Ironically the Minutemen were perfect killing man-ups against Brown, as the Bears went 0-8. That’s great to see as a UMass fan, though it also means that the Bears scored 15 even-up goals, which isn’t outstanding.

Brown is a great team that should make a deep run in the NCAA tournament this year. They were and are without question the better team when stacked up against UMass. That notwithstanding, they are not unbeatable but the Minutemen made them look like it when they played. UMass had a great chance to really gain some momentum and get themselves in the national conversation if they went down to Providence and came out with a win, but they were not ready to play and suffered greatly for it.

You can find the box score from the game here, and also, make sure you check out these great photos from Andy Heller, a good UMass man who trekked to Providence to test out his new lens:

After the loss at Brown, the Minutemen had a chance for a quick turnaround with a Tuesday game hosting then #15 (now #11) Albany Great Danes.

The Great Danes have been in the national conversation ever since the Thompson brothers came to Albany and started setting records, and they’ve continued with that momentum even with Lyle’s departure.

I saw this game in person in Amherst, although towards the end I’ll admit I almost wished I didn’t. It was another very disappointing effort from the Gorillas as they were beaten in nearly all aspects leading to a 16-4 defeat.

Now the one issue I consistently bring up is face off play, and in this game, per the official box score, UMass actually won the faceoff battle with 15 of 23 wins. I’ll be honest, when watching the game live it did not seem like the Minutemen won that many draws. Now the Gorillas did have better possession and shot numbers in this game, and Albany’s goalie Blaze Riordan had a very good game himself, but they didn’t seem like they won 2/3rds of the draws.

Albany’s offense had a great deal of movement and creativity about it, which made it very difficult for the Minutemen to deal with. UMass had a couple of bad defensive games in a row, and it raised some serious concerns about their ability to hang with the top teams on a consistent basis.

The Gorillas went only 1-4 on the man-up against the Great Danes, and Albany cashed in on 4 of 6 of their man-up opportunities. The eye test in this game was the biggest thing, and the Minutemen clearly came up short.

After the games against Brown and Albany, there some legitimate concerns about where the Minutemen’s season was headed. They were run off the field in both matchups and their schedule was not getting any easier. At the time Laxpower had the Minutemen’s strength of schedule as #1 in the entire country (currently it sits at #3), and the Minutemen were hosting then #10 (now #17) North Carolina.

UNC hadn’t come to Garber since 1977, and it was one of the two marquee home matchups of the 2016 season along with Ohio State. Aside from the obvious implications for both teams’ seasons that would be at stake, UMass also debuted new uniforms for the game from adidas:

Whether it was the new threads, the big crowd, or the perfect weather, the Gorillas came out firing like the Minutemen teams we’re used to seeing, jumping out to a very early lead and never looking back.

UMass didn’t run away with the game, but they were in control pretty much from the word ‘go’, and they handed a loss to the Tar Heels by a score of 14-9.

I was in attendance for this one as well and it was night and day from the previous two matchups. The Minutemen were hungry in this game, ready to play, and it showed right away. Their defense was aggressive and had good timing, their offense was clicking (aside from the man-up) with contributions from all over the lineup, and they got a career performance in the cage from goalie Dan Dolan.

Dolan was outstanding, and should have cemented himself as the full-game starter going forward. The Minutemen had been splitting the duties, with Dolan and DJ Smith each playing a half in all the previous games. The old adage is “if you have two starting goaltenders you have none” and that was very true in UMass’ case here. It simply was not working, and it will be a benefit to the Minutemen’s season going forward that they have their guy who they can play in front of all game.

Dolan made all the saves he should have made, some tough, timely stops, and a couple of saves that he had no business making. That’s a successful formula to upset a ranked opponent at home.

Now two of the Minutemen’s traditional problems reared their heads in this one, with the Minutemen going 0-for-5 on the man-up and winning only 8 of 25 draws. Now in this game their defense and goaltender played so well that they overcame the faceoff issue, but that won’t happen every time. (UNC box score here).

There isn’t a totally consistent pattern when it comes to the face off issue, but there is a trend, and it also really emphasizes the Minutemen’s Jekyll and Hyde nature. These McEwen Faceoff Ratings from Inside Lacrosse are great (the link goes to Week 5) as they show every major FOGO in the nation and their efficiency at the X. UMass’ Noah Rak is listed towards the bottom of the list, and you can see how he stacks up versus the rest of D1. To be fair Rak is not the only FOGO UMass uses, they generally have three different players taking draws in-game, but Rak does take the most.

I don’t want to pile on Rak because I think he’s done a decent job, but the fact of the matter is the Minutemen need to be better at the X in order to be more successful. In the pro game faceoffs matter but because there is a 60-second shot clock, possession will change no matter what. In the NCAA a stall clock can only be put on by the referees, and that’s generally only after one team has had possession for a LONG time. Faceoffs help teams in college control the pace and clock, much like an effective running game in football. If your ground game is, generally speaking, worse than your opponent’s, it’s tough to win games.

While that is an issue, UMass did overcome it against UNC, and their offense was more dynamic than I’d seen it all season long. The ball movement was better, the cuts were better, the shot selection was better; it was the type of performance you hope they can duplicate every week going forward.

The feel good story of the game was from Freshman midfielder Tyler Bogart, who earlier in the week had lost his uncle to cancer. Bogart had not made a huge impact on the season before the UNC game, but he broke out for a hat trick against the Tar Heels, which not only helped honor the memory of his uncle, it earned him a CAA award as well:

If the Minutemen can get the kinds of contributions they got up and down the lineup against the Tar Heels all the time, they might just get themselves back in the national rankings.

I liked the new unis the team wore, the newest offering from adidas, although they had the old, generic numbers that the football team’s previous uniforms had prior to the redesign this season. UMass has its own font, and that was a big deal for the newest uniform set across all the sports this season, particularly football. The Gorillas more traditional unis that were rolled out new this season had that font and the outline of Massachusetts above the nameplate space but these high-tech adidas ones do not. Not a fan of that, would like to see it fixed if at all possible, but that’s unlikely this season. Maybe next.

UMass has to capitalize on their momentum as they go in to face #20 Penn State on the road today. PSU is an old ECAC/CAA rival, and they are a good team with solid depth. UMass has gotten themselves back in the “Receiving Votes” section of the latest national poll, so if they can beat another ranked team on the road this week they could absolutely be in the conversation for #20 themselves, even at 4-4.

The Gorillas need to improve at the X and on the man-up before their CAA schedule starts, because their conference slate is always grueling, even more so this year with a couple of top-15 teams in Hofstra and Towson waiting for them.

There’s no live stream, but you can follow along with the live stats on the UMass Athletics website and/or listen to the broadcast on the radio streaming online:

I encourage you to do so, and hopefully we’ll see the Minutemen beat Penn State and get themselves back in the rankings where they belong.

Go U.

UMass Lacrosse: Gorillas Lose Heartbreaker to Harvard, Defeat Hartford in Most Recent Games

The UMass Lacrosse program was beginning to garner some early national attention with their convincing win at home over a ranked Ohio State club, and they had a chance to crack the national rankings if they could have followed up that win with another over intrastate rival Harvard.

Unfortunately the Minutemen let a 4th quarter lead slip away and the Crimson scored a mere 10 seconds in to overtime to defeat the Gorillas 10-9, and push them out of that early national picture.

It was a slow start for the Minutemen, something that has plagued them this season, and they fell behind early 3-1 after the 1st quarter. Harvard was definitely sharper early on, but the Minutemen and Junior goalie DJ Smith in goal kept it closer than it could have been, as Smith made 3 saves in the opening frame. Buddy Carr scored the lone UMass goal.

The 2nd quarter was the Minutemen’s best. They were dominant in all phases in the period and outscored the Crimson 5-0. They won the faceoff battle, scored a goal on the man-up, and controlled possession completely for the 15 minutes.

Carr completed his hat trick in the frame, including scoring the Minutemen’s man-up goal. Junior attackman Brendan Hegarty finally got off the schneid and potted his first of the season. Even Senior defenseman Kevin Porzelt scored his first of the year on a break, and that was followed by the first career goal for Freshman midfielder Issac Paparo just nine seconds later. Smith made four saves in the cage and UMass took a 6-3 lead into the half. They were looking good and firing on all cylinders, but that efficiency would wane once the 4th quarter came around.

The 2nd half began well for the Gorillas, as A Peter Lindley scored his first of two 3rd quarter tallies which gave the Minutemen their biggest lead of the day at four goals. However Harvard always had an answer in the 3rd in the form of Devin Dwyer, who scored all three of the Crimson’s goals in the frame (Dwyer had five goals and two assists in the game, including the OT game-winner). Redshirt Sophomore midfielder Paul Spinney scored his first goal of the season in the 3rd, and Lindley ended the frame with his 2nd to give UMass a 9-6 heading in to the 4th quarter.

Unfortunately the 4th is where the wheels came off for the Gorillas. Prior to the final frame, the Minutemen had done a good job of limiting Harvard’s chances and keeping an edge in possession. Entering the 4th, FOGOs Noah Rak (9 of 13) and Tom Meyers (4 of 4) were dominating the faceoff X and that was the primary reason UMass was able to control possessions and maintain their lead. But Rak lost both draws he took in the 4th quarter and Meyers lost the lone one he was on the field for, and Harvard used their advantage at the draws to dominate possession for the majority of the quarter.

Now not all the blame falls on the FOGOs here, UMass’ defense was not as good as it was in the first three quarters, and 2nd half goaltender Sophomore Dan Dolan had a couple chances at saves he’s like to have back. The offense shut down as well, and the Minutemen didn’t have an extended possession until there was about four minutes left in the 4th. Prior to that they turned the ball over twice and couldn’t get anything going.

They had several chances in those final four minutes to take the lead but they were unable to, and Rak lost the OT faceoff clean which allowed the Crimson to score just 10 seconds into the extra frame.

Definitely check out the stories on the game, both from the UMass website and from the Collegian from writers Phil Sanzo and Jason Kates:

It’s a shame that UMass could not pull the win out against Harvard, as a 2nd victory over a ranked team, even if both were at home, would have absolutely put the Minutemen into the rankings. They were receiving votes prior to the game with Harvard, sitting at ostensibly #22 in the country. After the loss the dropped off completely, no longer receiving any votes in the most recent USILA/Nike D1 Coaches’ poll.

It would have been nice to see the Minutemen ranked again, and they really should have been since they had a lead that they should have protected. The Gorillas have been a bit Jekyll and Hyde to start the 2016 season, but they showed the good side on Tuesday when they dispatched the Hartford Hawks easily by a score of 11-3.

Hartford is not a powerhouse program. In fact, in the entire series history between the Minutemen and the Hawks, Hartford has exactly one win, and it came last season during a very difficult year for the Gorillas. UMass was 8-0 all-time against Hartford at Garber before Tuesday, and the dominance continued in a shut-down effort.

The Minutemen got off to a slow but steady start in the game scoring twice in the opening frame. Freshman M Ben Spencer scored his 4th goal of the season on the man-up, and I can tell you he should shoot the ball even more. Kid has a cannon, very impressive shot to see in person.

Grant Consoletti scored UMass’ other 1st period tally with about 90 seconds to go in the frame. It was a bit of a rock fight to start off, neither team really executing they way they wanted to, but UMass led the possession and on the scoreboard.

UMass picked up their execution in the 2nd quarter everywhere except the faceoff X. They outscored the Hawks 3-2 on goals from Hegarty, Lindley, and Sophomore M Jake Liskauskas. Hartford scored two of their own, though their first of the game was on a man-up for what can kindly be described as a bullshit penalty call. They also scored with 14 seconds left to go in the half.

UMass was by far the better team all day, and it certainly showed in the first half. Aside from faceoffs they dominated every statistical category.

Heading in to the 2nd half the Minutemen continued to assert dominance over the Hawks, outscoring them 3-1 in the quarter on two goals from Lindley (completing his hat trick) and one from Buddy Carr. They lost every faceoff they took in the quarter though, which is not a good sign.

In the 4th the Minutemen scored three more from Liskauskas, Carr, and RS Junior midfielder Dan Mueller. They improved at the X, going 4-4 in the quarter, though they lost the battle to an inferior Hawks team which is not a great look. In the end though the game ended as it should have, with the Minutemen comfortably on top.

UMass was just quicker, stronger, faster, better on Tuesday. They outclassed the Hawks in nearly every category save for faceoffs and the score reflected it. The game wasn’t even as close as the scoreline; the Hawks are not in the same class as UMass. Hartford’s lone win this season however is over Boston University, and they are knocking on the door of being ranked, but that team definitely didn’t show up to Garber on Tuesday.

Recaps and game stories here, give them a click:

The faceoff issue is concerning though. UMass dominated Hartford in spite of the ineffectiveness at the X, but that won’t fly against the upcoming teams on UMass’ schedule. Hartford is by far UMass’ easiest non-conference game this season (and might be their easiest matchup overall). While the numbers overall say UMass was 7 for 18 on faceoffs (Rak 6 of 14, Meyers 0 of 2, Charlie Schatz 1 of 2) I don’t think I saw them win one clean all day. They controlled the ground ball off of seven draws but it appeared watching it in person that the Minutemen FOGOs got beat to the ball basically every time on the whistle. That needs to improve in consistency quickly going forward.

UMass’ next game is Saturday on the road at #7 Brown. Not only is that the renewal of the oldest rivalry in New England lacrosse, it’s also a tough road game against a ranked opponent who just happens to have the nation’s 2nd leading goal scorer from last season Junior attackman Dylan Molloy. Molloy scored 62 goals last season and had 30 assists for 92 points, which put him 3rd in the nation in overall scoring.

As a team over their first two games Brown is also averaging 18 goals/game. They are a high-powered offense that defeated the Minutemen at Garber last year 18-12, and you know the Gorillas would love to pay them back for that down in Providence.

UMass took care of business against an inferior opponent in Hartford, as they should have done. They got themselves back to .500 on the season and now they have a chance to get themselves back in the national rankings.

If they travel to Providence on Saturday and pull out a win, they should absolutely be among the top 20 teams in the nation. The game is at 1pm and hopefully there will be a stream available through the Brown website. If there is make sure you tune in, because it is sure to be a hell of a game.

Go U.

UMass Recruiting 2017: Junior Day Recap

The Minutemen football program hosted a New England-area Junior Day on Sunday, February 21st, and had 20 recruits from the class of 2017 on campus getting a feel for what UMass and the Minutemen program can offer.

By all accounts it was a successful day for the program, as it looks as though the attendees enjoyed their trips if social media is any indication…

Worcester, MA/Holy Name ATH Kevin Mensah-

https://twitter.com/ARTofKM/status/701517039018647554

 

Newton, MA/Newton South QB Austin Burton-

https://twitter.com/austinburton_12/status/701592340121698305

 

Lawrence Academy (Groton, MA) DE/TE Jake Byczko-

https://twitter.com/Jakebyczko/status/701518277277839361

 

Williamstown, NJ/Deptford HS WR/DB JP Roane-

https://twitter.com/1GOLIVE/status/701551103347965952

 

There were also several players in attendance who picked up offers from the Minutemen at the event. As of today there are three players who received offers at or after attending this weekend, at that number is likely to grow as well…

Sandy Hook, CT/Newtown HS MLB Ben Mason-

 

Milton Academy (Milton, MA) OL Allan Rappleyea-

https://twitter.com/allanrapp66/status/701523720154828801

 

JP Roane-

https://twitter.com/1GOLIVE/status/701794955908530184

 

Roane just picked up his offer today, while Mason and Rappleyea got theirs yesterday during the Junior Day event. Going in to the day only Austin Burton had been offered by the Minutemen staff.

 

UMass does put their time in recruiting New England, though the fact remains they do tend to focus on other areas of the country, specifically Florida, quite a bit more. The talent pool for Division 1 FBS athletes is not as deep in New England as it is in other places, that’s a fact that will remain unchanged.

That being said, UMass is establishing itself as a legitimate option for top local New England talent to come to a play, which is great to see. For a very long time, up to and including the present day, Boston College has been the top destination for local players. While that’s unlikely to change overnight, their dominance in recruiting the area can be challenged by a UMass program that is steadily on the rise.

I’d imagine that at least a few other players who attended this Junior Day and will attend the next Junior Day that UMass is almost certain to host in April will receive offers from the staff at some point. They’ll be identified as the best fits for UMass and hopefully the Minutemen’s performance on a national stage this year will convince them that Amherst is the place to be. I look forward to seeing which Massachusetts and New England athletes end up joining the movement for #OptimusPrime17.

Go U.

UMass Recruiting 2017: Junior Day Visits

Today (Sunday February 21st) the Minutemen are hosting a New England area Junior Day for local prospects they’ve identified as potential recruitment candidates for the 2017 cycle. The list of visitors is almost exclusively from Massachusetts and Connecticut with one exception from New Jersey.

Here’s the list of players scheduled to be on campus Sunday, per sources:

Massachusetts–

Kevin Mensah, ATH, Worcester (Holy Name) [Hudl]

Austin Burton, QB, Newton (Newton South) [Hudl]

Noah Gray, ATH, Leominster (Leominster) [Hudl]

EJ Perry, QB, Andover (Andover) [Hudl]

Coreese Everett, WR/DB, Springfield (Springfield Central) [Hudl]

Tank Walker, ATH, Springfield (Springfield Central) [Hudl]

Jake Byczko, TE/DE (Lawrence Academy) [Hudl]

Travis Demby, WR/DB, Nantucket (Nantucket) [Hudl]

Mehki Henderson, DB, Cumberland, RI (Xaverian) [Hudl]

Allan Rappleyea, OL, (Milton Academy) [Hudl]

Ifeatu Melifonwu, ATH, Grafton (Grafton) [Hudl]

Connecticut-

CJ Lewis, QB, (Cheshire Academy) [Hudl]

Griffin Burke, LB/TE, (Cheshire Academy) [Hudl]

Hunter Verdi, OL, (Cheshire Academy) [Hudl]

Zach Verdi, LB/DE, (Cheshire Academy) [Hudl]

Seth Willis, OL, Newtown (Newtown) [Hudl]

Ben Mason, LB, Sandy Hook (Newtown) [Hudl]

Niam Coward, OLB, East Haven (East Haven) [Hudl]

Andrew Stueber, OL, Darien (Darien) [Hudl]

New Jersey-

JP Roane, WR/DB, Williamstown (Deptford) [Hudl]

 

Highlighting this list for Minutemen fans are Austin Burton, Kevin Mensah, Noah Gray, CJ Lewis, and Ben Mason.

As the only player on this list to hold a UMass offer, Burton is certainly one of, if not the top target among the attendees today. He’s still a little raw but had great numbers as a junior and is starting to pick up more and more interest. UMass is his only offer at the moment but that won’t last for long.

Mensah is a good athlete playing in an archaic offense, but his skill should translate well to the next level whether he comes in as a RB or a DB. Will be interesting to see how UMass handles his recruitment going forward and if an offer is in the cards at some point.

Gray is a very nice player coming out of Leominster High. A QB for the Blue Devils, he might end up moving to a spot like WR at the next level. He’s a guy on the top of my list as a local player for 2017, he’d be great in Amherst; he’ll need to show that athleticism off in this upcoming senior year. He’s going to have several offers to choose from before it’s all said and done.

CJ Lewis is an interesting QB prospect out of CT, holding an offer from UConn. He’s a dual-threat QB with some serious athletic ability, though he’s certainly not the traditional QB that you might see in a Mark Whipple pro-style offense. But it’s not about tradition, it’s about results, and Lewis can certainly deliver those. I would put UConn clearly in front for his services though.

Ben Mason is a big name that UMass has not offered though I imagine they have plans to if they are having him visit today. He’s got offers from some big programs like Cal, Rutgers, and Duke along with Syracuse, BC, UConn, Army, and Temple. He’s a prototypical linebacker, the kind that just makes plays. Ideal size, speed, athleticism at the position, he’d be a huge get as a strong 3-star if UMass were to land him (but they have to offer first).

There are some other interesting attendees today as well. Byczko plays at powerhouse Lawrence Academy and just visited BC for their Junior Day yesterday (as did CJ Lewis). Melifonwu has offers from BC and UConn and has two brothers playing college ball. Perry and Rappleyea have a handful of FCS offers apiece. Henderson is an interesting story, commuting every day from Rhode Island to play for the powerhouse Hawks.

I’ll follow along today with social media to see how these kids are enjoying the trip, so keep an eye on my feed for updates today.

#OptimusPrime17

Go U.

UMass Lacrosse: Gorillas defeat Buckeyes in 1st Game at new Garber Field

An unseasonably warm February Saturday saw the UMass Minutemen host the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Gorillas’ 2016 home opener at the new and improved Garber Field.

The completed renovations, which reportedly cost over $600,000 (and were covered completely by donors), gave an already formidable home field a much-needed face lift. The Minutemen utilized that advantage in full this afternoon as they defeated the #11-ranked Buckeyes by a score of 16-9.

After coming off a season-opening loss at West Point to Army (9-5 scoreline) the Minutemen needed to bounce back strong in their first game in Amherst. The weather cooperated fully (their game against Army was moved up a day due to the record cold last weekend) and the Minutemen took advantage.

While they initially struggled with Ohio State’s attack in the first quarter, they still managed to keep the game close at 4-2 at the end of the 1st. Junior midfielder Gianni Bianchin did start the game off right for the Minutemen with a goal 17 seconds in, but OSU scored four of the next five.

The Gorillas turned the tide to begin the 2nd quarter however as Bianchin scored the first two of four straight goals that put UMass on top 6-4 before the period was half over. Sophomore M Buddy Carr scored the 6th goal for UMass, his first of four on the day. After OSU took a timeout to talk things over the half slowed down a bit and the Bucks ground out two straight goals to tie the score at 6. It looked like it would go into the half that way until UMass picked up a turnover with under 30 seconds to go. The Minutemen picked up the clear, set up their offense, and Junior M Dan Mueller buried a sweet feed from Junior attackman Grant Consoletti to give the Gorillas a 7-6 lead with two seconds remaining in the 1st half.

That was a big goal for UMass, giving them a nice boost of momentum going in to halftime, but the Buckeyes came out in the 2nd half a tied the game again four minutes into the 3rd quarter.

With the game tied at 7, UMass put together the sequence that would effectively put the game away. Thirty seconds after OSU had tied it, Buddy Carr scored his 2nd of the game off a feed from Sophomore A Peter Lindley on the man-up. With the 8-7 lead, Sophomore FOGO Noah Rak won the following draw clean and sprinted down the alley, burying a shot to the low post only five seconds after Carr had scored, giving UMass a 2-goal cushion that felt much bigger. The Gorillas scored twice more before OSU got another goal to end the 3rd, and they outscored the Buckeyes 5-1 in the 4th quarter for a comfortable margin of victory.

A big issue for UMass in the game against Army was time of possession, keyed mainly by the fact that Army won 13 of 18 faceoffs. In all the biggest areas that UMass needed to improve upon going in to this game against Ohio State (time of possession, discipline, ball movement on offense) winning faceoffs was key to all of them.

UMass committed seven penalties against Army to only one for the Black Knights. When you don’t have the ball, you’re far more likely to take penalties. Against Ohio State, UMass committed only four infractions to the Buckeyes two.

UMass allowed 42 shots by the Black Knights last week, 21 of which were on goal. When you don’t have the ball, you’re going to be playing defense most of the game (somebody call John Madden I’ve got one for him!). Last week UMass took 17 shots with nine on goal. This week, UMass took 37 shots with 22 on goal (Ohio State had 24 shots, 18 on goal). Check out the box score from the UMass/Army game for all the stats.

UMass also displayed some serious skill moving the ball on offense today, much better than what the reportedly did at West Point. I did not see the Army game so I do not have a definitive comparison to offer, however the team I saw today, with its crisp passing and excellent finding of the open man, likely would have performed much better than the team that had to claw back to tie Army at 5, only to give up four straight 4th quarter goals and lose.

UMass’ offense worked the ball around beautifully today and found the open man on the crease on more than one occasion. Eight of UMass’ 16 goals today were assisted as compared to only two of Ohio State’s nine. They worked the ball through X effectively and still managed to score on the break and on iso dodges as well, which is exactly the type of balance you need to be successful (and to upset a ranked opponent).

I don’t think enough can be said for the job Rak (8 for 18) and the other Minutemen who faced off did today (Freshman FOGO Tom Meyers was 3 for 4). While Rak’s numbers don’t jump off the page at you, it was a significant improvement over the game at Army, and proof was in the pudding with the way the game played out for the Minutemen. His faceoff win and score really put the dagger in the Buckeyes today and UMass’ overall ability to win draws at a 50% clip (they were 12 for 25 as a team) allowed them to dictate play for long stretches of the game, especially the 2nd and 4th quarters.

The road won’t get easier for UMass coming up, as they have one of the more difficult schedules nationally this year. The good news is the next two are at Garber, including next Saturday’s matchup with the Harvard Crimson. UMass/Harvard games are great matchups every year, and this one should be no different. It won’t be easy but if the Gorillas can do what they did to Ohio State today, they should be able to pick up a win over their in-state rivals next weekend. Look forward to it.

Go U.

UMass Roundup: Football’s Junior Day and Coaching Vacancy, Hockey’s Friendship Four, and the Gorillas take on the Buckeyes

There’s been a bit of news over all the UMass programs in the last couple of weeks, and here at FireTheMusket we’re going to recap a few of the higher-profile announcements in the world of Minutemen sports.

At the top of the list is the departure of UMass’ offensive line coach Shane Waldron, who’s taken a position with the NFL’s Washington Redskins.

Waldron’s position is titled “Offensive Quality Control”, and he’s held a similar position in the NFL before with the Patriots. That position lends itself to a lot of hours studying and breaking down opposition film, providing the key details of the opponent’s game plan that can be exploited to help defeat them.

Waldron moving to the NFL is good for the UMass program, even though he is leaving right after working to recruit several athletes in the year’s cycle. UMass putting people in the NFL, both players and coaches, is a long-term benefit. The more connections you have in the NFL, the more you can sell that to incoming recruits.

Waldron was previously UMass’ recruiting coordinator under the last head coach, and he was the Philadelphia-area recruiter for Coach Whipple. That’s an important area for UMass’ recruiting base, so whoever is taking that over will be busy. Waldron ran point on getting Charly Timite, RaQuan Thomas, and Pat Amara Jr. to UMass this year and also helped with several other recruits. Perhaps we’ll see Matt Dawson take over that territory in the recruiting game.

Waldron was one of two remaining holdovers from the previous head coach’s staff after the earlier departure of Strength Coach Mike Golden. That leaves only Dave Sollazzo on staff as a coach who predates Mark Whipple’s arrival for his second tour of duty. Whip now has another chance to make an impact hire for the program, and while I haven’t seen or heard any names of who might be coming in, I look forward to seeing how the vacancy is filled.

Speaking of football recruiting, UMass should be holding a Junior Day this weekend, which is an important day for recruits to get an early look at the Minutemen program. The idea behind a Junior Day of course is that current juniors in high school are the focus (though you will see younger recruits like sophomores attending in some cases as well). UMass has already recruited its high school seniors for this year, so now they are looking to get in on next year’s seniors.

Junior Days tend to be events for more local recruits, as they are unofficial visits and thus cannot be paid for by the school. The focus is usually on the more local players UMass would be trying to make inroads with in New England, New York, New Jersey, etc. It is a one-day event but it’s very important; for example, Taylor Edwards attended UMass’ Junior Day last year.

You can have more than one Junior Day, although I have no indication how many UMass is planning on hosting. I am hoping to receive a list of prospects that will be coming to pass along to everyone in a separate post.

One local recruit that has posted they will be attending is ATH Kevin Mensah, who plays for Holy Name in Worcester.

https://twitter.com/ARTofKM/status/700762884192735233

Mensah has been on UMass’ radar for quite some time. In fact, he attended Junior Day in Amherst last year as a sophomore. He’s being recruited strongly by a lot of New England schools including Boston College and UConn, so the battle for his services figures to be a good one. He’s a running back in Holy Name’s Wing-T offense, and while that allows him to put up some big numbers and display his athleticism, he may be ticketed for another position at the next level, like safety.

He would be a great athlete to add to the mix at UMass on either side of the ball. Hopefully the Minutemen keep up a strong pursuit of Mensah throughout his senior season. He does not yet hold an offer from UMass but in my opinion it’s only a matter of time.

For readers, here’s a link to last year’s Junior Day attendee list that was compiled by Bob McGovern at the Maroon Musket.

UMass hockey was in the headlines recently for a positive reason for once, and that’s because they will be participating in next season’s Friendship Four tournament, an event started this season in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The inaugural tournament this year featured Northeastern, Brown, Colgate, and UMass-Lowell.

The plan is for this tournament to be an annual event with two teams from Hockey East and two from the ECAC. Next year the Minutemen will be joined by Vermont, Quinnipiac, and St. Lawrence. The first round matchups are conference games and then the final is for the Belpot Trophy, a not-so-subtle play on the Beanpot.

The exposure for the program and for the school is great with the event, and it’s an incredible travel opportunity for fans and alumni.

It’s held on American Thanksgiving weekend though, which if you plan on traveling is something to factor in. If you’re flying to Belfast you have to leave on Thanksgiving to arrive on Friday, which is the day of the first game.

This might just be one that I try and go to. I went to Notre Dame last year, and plan to go to Florida and South Carolina this year, but Belfast would be an unbelievable experience.

Keep an eye on Fear The Triangle for more on the Friendship Four and UMass Hockey in general, that’s the #1 source.

The final UMass note this weekend from FireTheMusket is that Garber’s Gorillas will be taking on THE Ohio State University at the new and improved Garber Field today, Saturday, and 12 noon. That’s just about 45 minutes from when I’m typing this, and it should be streamed free online.

The link in the above tweet does have the stream link to follow to see the game live for free online.

UMass lost their opener to Army on the road 9-5, and they are trying to work in some new faces this season at some key spots since they lost several important players to transfer in the off-season, including their best talent in Nick Mariano.

This is a big game for the program though as Ohio State comes in ranked #11 in the country. Also, the simple fact that they are coming to Garber is a huge deal. The renovations to Garber were long overdue, and while they were not cheap they will be invaluable to the future of both the men’s and women’s programs.

UMass will be able to host more teams now, teams that would have previously not agreed to play on Garber’s old, terrible turf. Just this season UMass is hosting both Ohio State and North Carolina in Amherst, two huge matchups for the Gorillas.

This will be a tough one for UMass today but they can absolutely pull off an upset. Tune in online if you can’t make it but if you can, get out to Garber and show support, especially students. Garber is one of the great places to watch lacrosse and probably the best home-field advantage that UMass has in any sport when it’s packed. I hope the lacrosse programs benefit from that this year, starting today.

Go U.

21 Gun Salute to the Maroon Musket

If you haven’t heard, though I can imagine if you read this space for UMass news you already have, Bob McGovern is closing up shop at the Maroon Musket. It was a sad day for UMass Nation when Bob made the announcement, but if anyone has earned some more time with his family and friends, it’s Bob.

https://twitter.com/BobMcGovernJr/status/697844960398340096

The Musket was the #1 source for anything related to UMass Football, especially for recruiting. It’s a real shame to lose that resource and community for Minutemen fans, but if we’re lucky the board will stay open as will the recruiting aspect of the site.

I know I’ll do the best I can to keep up with the recruiting for the Minutemen, but it’s going to be a rough go of it at least initially without the Musket. UMass Nation will adapt to life without the site but it won’t be easy. Bob did an exceptional job and that’s not going to be easy to replace, and impossible to duplicate. Very few people bleed Maroon like Bob does.

Hopefully there will come a time that the site will be back up and running, providing Minutemen fans with the recruiting scoops we all love and well-written columns that help fill the void when football season is still months away.

But until then Bob should enjoy his well-earned break, having his Saturdays back to tailgate, relax, and watch football as a fan is a big deal, because we all know we love that part of gameday.

Sláinte Bob, thanks for everything you’ve done for UMass Nation. We’ll see you in September.

UMass Signing Day recap on Hustle Belt

Hey all, I recapped the day for Hustle Belt and would love if you took a look at that piece.

I do plan on doing a recap post here as well in the coming days so look out for that.

Go U.

UMass Football Recruiting 2016: Minutemen add more commitments before NSD

After two extremely successful recruiting weekends the UMass football team’s #OptimusPrime16 is far from finished. In fact, over the past couple of days, they have added more commitments from talented players and in doing so have further solidified the incoming class as the best in school history.

As first reported by the Maroon Musket, JUCO QB Andrew Ford and TE Cody Banks have pledged to the Minutemen prior to NSD tomorrow.

Ford is a big get for the Minutemen, a 3-star lefty gunslinger who will come in and challenge for the starting job right away. Ford is a very highly-rated recruit coming out of JUCO and is the #2 rated kid in the Minutemen’s class as of right now. Ford originally signed with Virginia Tech out of high school (he was Pennsylvania’s Mr. Football in 2013 and he was the Gatorade Player of the Year in PA as well) but redshirted his first year in Blacksburg and subsequently requested his release to transfer.

He transferred to Lackawanna Community College in PA and graduated in December, giving him three years to play three when signing with the Minutemen and enrolling in the fall. Take a look at his JUCO highlights here and you can see why he was so highly sought after, especially out of high school initially.

Ford’s got a great arm and is very accurate as well, especially when on the run. For a guy who goes 6’3″ and 215 he moves very well within the pocket and has escapability outside the pocket. He’s got the look of a guy who can make all the throws and do so efficiently. I said as soon as his commitment came in that he might be more of a traditional fit at QB for the offense that Mark Whipple likes to run.

His arrival in Amherst will ratchet the intensity surrounding the quarterback position up to 11, which is a very good thing. Ross Comis was the heir apparent to the job after Blake Frohnapfel graduated. He was the backup last season and was very effective in his limited mop-up minutes in 2015. He’s got a strong arm and is very mobile, a dynamic which the offense did not have when Froh was the signal caller. He’s a real competitor and a hard-nosed kid who’ll take a hit to make a play.

Comis may not be as big as Ford but he’s still got the size to command the position. What he may lack in size he makes up for in both heart and mobility. Having Comis under center changes the dynamic of the offense and brings in the possibility of entire new schemes offensively, such as running a zone read in an added play set.

To me bringing in a game-ready QB like Ford indicates that perhaps the staff were not so settled on Comis as the guy going in to the 2016 season. Don’t get me wrong I think they like him a lot, but I also think they wanted to have the most possible competition for the role and bring in a guy who could potentially step in and win that job to start week one.

I honestly think that Ford, given that he is a 3-year player who could have gone a lot of places with more unsettled QB situations, has a slight inside track on the job as of right now. But that does not mean by any stretch he would win it. Comis is no shrinking violet, he’s a tough kid who will look at competition Ford brings as a chance to improve and make himself better. He’ll welcome the challenge, that much I’m sure of.

This will be the first real QB position battle since Whip was rehired. Yes technically there was a “competition” when Froh transferred in, but I don’t think anyone is surprised that he ended up starting. It was clearly his job to lose before he even came here. Now that he’s gone and there are four QBs already on the roster with Ford making 5, the competition will be fierce and I for one am greatly looking forward to it. We’ll know that whoever comes out on top beat out talented players to be the starter.

The other official commitment over the last two days for UMass was TE Cody Banks. Banks was originally a UCF commit in the 2015 class, but he never signed in central Florida, thus he is eligible right away for UMass. He’s a 3-star player rated as a DE/TE, and he’s 6’7″ and 250 pounds. He’ll be playing TE for UMass, and his size of course will draw immediate comparisons to Jean Sifrin. While he may not be the athlete that Sifrin was, he will add depth and competition to what was a very weak spot in the Minutemen lineup at tight end.

The majority of Banks’ tape here is at DE, but there are spurts of him as a TE that show some surprisingly soft hands and a real knack for blocking. One might wonder if he’ll be used primarily as a blocking TE or short-yardage weapon, or if he’ll see more consistent, every down time in the offense. Either way glad to have him on board.

There is another listed commitment for UMass that at the time I’m writing this is unconfirmed. Sam Franklin, who UMass fans remember as a surprise signing from last season, is now listed on the Minutemen’s commitment list over on the Musket.

Franklin is a 3-star athlete that the Minutemen had designs on being a WR for them last season until he didn’t qualify and had to go to prep school. Franklin attended East Coast Prep in Great Barrington, which in case anyone didn’t know is in the middle of fucking nowhere in the 413, but he appears to have gotten his academics in order and will hopefully be joining the Minutemen’s 2016 class (in fact ECP’s website has had him accepting a UMass offer {scroll down} for a little while now).

Franklin switched over to safety for ECP this season after a couple of games, though IMO UMass would be best served to have him come in and compete at WR; they need the help there more than in the defensive backfield. Franklin’s highlights reflect the change to defense clearly but they also show his great natural athleticism. Hopefully his recommitment to UMass is legitimate and we see him in Maroon & White next year.

I covered UMass’ most recent commitments for Hustle Belt today as well, give that a click and check it out if you like.

I’ll also be covering NSD for Hustle Belt tomorrow, but I’ll be all over Twitter all day and will have a post wrapping things up over here at some point as well. And of course make sure you check out the #1 resource for UMass recruiting the Maroon Musket tomorrow as well.

Go U.