On March 15, the No. 14 Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team upset Penn State, the No. 5 team in the country, in State College, Pa., for its first conference win of the season.  At the time, sitting at 6-1, the Minutemen looked to be in the driver’s seat in the Colonial Athletic Association.

But the season wasn’t over on March 15. It was over on April 25.

UMass went just 1-5 in its final six games, which included losing its final four games in conference play to miss the CAA Tournament for the first time since 2008. The Minutemen were outscored 62-44 in those six games.

“In the end, it was very disappointing,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said. “We had a lot of young talent, and losing four in a row definitely left a bad taste in our mouths.”

“It was a tough way to end the season. We had a really good start,” senior Matt Whippen said. “We had a lot of confidence going into the season, but it didn’t end as planned. It’s pretty upsetting the way we went out.”

The 2014 campaign was certainly one that experienced plenty of ups and downs for UMass. From freshman Nick Mariano’s overtime winner against Ohio State to the 25-10 blowout loss to Albany, the Minutemen saw it all this season.

UMass played nine games against teams that were at one point ranked in the national polls. The Minutemen posted a 5-4 record in those games.

Mariano led all scorers in points (39) and goals (29). Connor Mooney (18), Grant Whiteway (18) and Jeff George (10) rounded out the list of double-digit goal scorers for UMass. Mooney also led the team with 20 assists.
Final goodbyes

One of the biggest holes the Minutemen will have to fill moving forward is on the face-off dot. Joe Calvello, the face-off specialist for the past two seasons, won 56.8 percent (147-for-259) of his face-offs this season, but he’s graduating in May. The preseason all-conference player also led UMass with a team-high 98 groundballs.

The team also relied on its seniors to lead a deep group of underclassmen.

“The seniors definitely did a good job of leading some of the younger guys,” senior Reed Goodhue said. “It was great that they got so much experience this early in their careers. We had a lot of young talent, unfortunately we didn’t make some key plays and we lost some keys games and that prevented us from moving forward.”

Cannella preached Goodhue’s leadership and work ethic and even went as far as saying he was one of the best leaders he’s seen in his 20 years at UMass. In his four years, Goodhue made 22 appearances, all of which came off the bench. Although his numbers don’t back it up, coaches and players spoke highly of his personality and locker-room presence he brought to the team throughout the season.

The future of the Minutemen all sits in the hands of their returning players. Cannella said it was solely up to them and the amount of work they put in this offseason to determine success moving forward.

The Minutemen have five graduating seniors in Goodhue, Whippen, Calvello, James Fahey and Mooney, all of whom were major contributors to not only UMass’ success this season, but during their four-year careers at Garber Field.

“We went through good times and bad times together, but at the end of the day we all still love each other and that’s what I’m going to miss the most,” Whippen said.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.