Do not question the confidence Greg Cannella has in his players, because it will not waver. And that goes for his freshmen, as well.
“They’re playing for us, so you can’t worry about them,” said the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team’s head coach yesterday. “And with their experience, they’re not really freshmen anymore.”
He makes a good point. As the Minutemen (8-1, 3-0 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference) push forward in their quest for a bid to the NCAA Tournament, so mounts the playing level of the UMass frosh community.
Whether it is the faceoff specialties of Craig Conn, the shot-blocking brigade of Bill Schell, the assisting expertise of Gene Tundo, or the midfield maneuvering of Greg Scott and Matt Garcia, the Minutemen coaching staff says it has nothing to worry about.
“That’s an added boost,” said Cannella, whose team travels to New Haven, Conn., Saturday for a 1 p.m. meeting with Ivy League foe Yale. “When you have any contributions from freshman, it just takes some of the pressure off the other guys.”
Conn has done a tremendous job in the faceoff circle lately for UMass. Winning 17-of-23 draws in the Minutemen’s 18-7 victory over Maryland-Baltimore County, Conn worked his way to a second ECAC Lacrosse Rookie of the Week award. He has won 54-of-102 faceoffs this season.
Tundo has been extremely generous in the UMass attack since Cannella started him three games into the season at Navy. He has 14 assists in his seven starts, including three last week against UMBC and eight in the last three games. Five goals added to those helpers gives Tundo 19 points for the season.
After taking advantage of senior Rob Schneider’s early failures, Schell has been quite impressive between the pipes. Since his first start six games in against Albany, Schell has made four consecutive starts and has a 7.37 goals against average and a .592 save percentage.
Garcia and Scott round out the talented bunch of Minuteman toddlers, both having made solid defensive contributions in the midfield as of late. It is Garcia who Cannella places on the opponent’s best midfielder. And it is Scott – also a member of the Massachusetts football team – who Cannella forces upon the enemy’s strongest middy.
“It’s a good freshman class but only time will tell,” Cannella said. “You can perform really well for a year and then tail off.
“But through the games we’ve played, every guy has really identified his role,” he continued. “That is really important for moving forward and creating team chemistry.”
And it’s that solidarity which UMass needs in order to find success in the coming weeks. Three of the Minutemen’s next four games are against top-notch teams.
It begins this weekend with Yale (4-3, 2-2 Ivy League), a team that always hovers in the nation’s Top 20 and beat Princeton (15-13) earlier this year. Unlike any of UMass’ prior opponents, the Tigers are strong defensively and shoot the ball with great command.
“They’re a very well coached team defensively,” Cannella said. “They have tremendous shooters and shoot with great efficiency. They beat the defending National Champions, so I’m not going to compare them to anybody.”
Coming off back-to-back losses to Duke (11-6) and Brown (9-8), the
Bulldogs are led at attack by junior Mike Scaglione and sophomore Scott Kenworthy. Both have combined for 24 goals and 20 assists. The midfield is headed by senior Marko Lujic who has scored a team-high 15 goals for the Bulldogs. Missing, however, is injured star Brian Hunt. In 2001, Hunt led the team with 46 points and 31 goals, but Cannella doesn’t think that his absence is necessarily a bad thing for Yale.
“Brian Hunt was their savior and I know it kind of doesn’t make sense, but losing him kind of made them better,” said Cannella, who mentioned that because of Hunt’s loss, it forces Yale to move the ball around more.
Yale is ranked No. 14 in scoring this year with 11.6 goals a game. But UMass is ranked second nationally with 13.7 goals a game. It’s that number which Eric Wenzel, the Bulldogs’ goaltender, must have to cut into for his team to have a chance at victory. The junior has a 9.24 goals against average and a .500 save percentage.
Although this game isn’t the most important one in UMass’ near future, it still has some postseason implications. Because Yale beat Princeton, a Minutemen win over the Bulldogs should give UMass the upper hand over the Tigers come Selection Sunday, counting on the fact that Cornell beats Princeton and wins the Ivy League.
If Princeton wins the Ivy, however, the at-large bid will probably be taken away from the ECAC. Cornell beat top-ranked Syracuse yesterday, 15-11, which gives it a good shot at making the 12-team field. Therefore, it looks like the Minutemen’s April 20 date at Georgetown will be the clincher.
