UMass set for rubber match
The UMass men’s lacrosse team will put its nation-best 11-game unbeaten streak on the line tomorrow at Yale in a NCAA Division 1 tournament first-round game.
It will be the second meeting this season between the Minutemen and Bulldogs. Yale captured a 13-10 victory in Amherst on Feb. 27 despite the Minutemen scoring the game’s final six goals.
Yale (13-3), led by Ben Reeves (51 goals), has since risen to No. 1. UMass is slotted No. 16 with the winner facing either sixthranked Loyola (Md.) (12-3) or No. 10 Virginia (11-5).
This marks the 20th trip to the tournament for UMass and its ninth under coach Greg Cannella. UMass reached the title game in 2006 before falling, 15-7, to undefeated Virginia in Philadelphia. This year’s club possesses many of the same characteristics.
“It’s accountability. Every day we see a little bit of a cul- ture change. We have a great group of kids. We all care. We all bought in,’’ said Jeff Trainor, a sophomore midfielder from Billerica.
“Yale definitely has a very good team. What hurt us the first time we played them was that we started off slow. In this big stretch that we’re on, we’ve talked about having a high-octane attack. We did before, too, but only for moments. Now we want to do it for four 15s (minute periods).’’
Trainor’s 50 points (28 goals) are the most for a UMass middie since Tim Soudan clicked for exactly 50 in 1990. On the back end, junior Isaac Paparo, the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, is the defensive leader, after compiling 44 ground balls and causing 25 turnovers.
Foxboro senior Luc Valenza is a bookend companion to Paparo and a first-team AllCAA selection with 21 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers this season.
— LUC VALENZA On UMass’ 11-game win streak
“I think it comes from taking each game as it comes, weekto-week, going 1-0 each week,” Valenza said.
“We didn’t start out the year like the way we wanted, no doubt about it, but we’ve hit our stride. Every day on the practice field, you can see everyone giving everything that they have. Every week is a new game, a new scheme and we work hard on the practice field trying to perfect it.”
Yale coach Andy Shay worked for four seasons (2000-03) as a Minutemen assistant under Cannella. Also, UMass senior Buddy Carr, who scored 60 points (34 goals), is the son of Kelley Carr (1985-88), who was a teammate of Cannella on the Minutemen. The younger Carr is one of 41 players in program history to reach 100 or more points (116).
“I think it’s the leadership of the seniors and of our captains. A lot of times we’ve been down in games but they’ve done a great job of making sure they keep grinding and maintaining that even keel,’’ said Cannella. “I think the talent has been there for a couple of years but it’s a matter of coming out more this year. The captains keep talking about it and telling the younger players, ‘Hey, we got this.’ So, we have a lot of guys contributing. The middies. The attack. The long poles are scoring. It’s fun . . .
“The (Yale) game should be exciting. I think it’s going to come down to who handles the atmosphere better. You have to play the game, but not be overzealous.”
This year’s NCAA championship semifinal and final games will be played on Memorial Day weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
‘We didn’t start out the year like the way we wanted, no doubt about it, but we’ve hit our stride.’