Normally, having only two days of rest in between games is a nightmare for any lacrosse team.
However for UMass (4-1), the quick turnaround is the perfect way to forget the 25-10 routing it faced at the hands of Albany on Sunday, one of the program’s worst losses in recent years. The Minutemen host Providence on Tuesday, just 48-hours removed from the game against the Great Danes.
“All the guys are excited. Especially since we lost on Saturday all the guys are itching to get back on the field,” Connor Mooney said.
The first order of business for UMass is to fix the issues on defense after Albany attempted 45 shots, which resulted in 25 goals, 15 coming from the Thompson Family. But with Saturday’s game in the rear view mirror, the Minutemen have completely shifted their focus to the high-powered attack of the Friars.
Providence (3-2) is led by freshmen attackman Alex Corboy, has 14 goals through the first five games of the season. Also in the double-digit goal column is attackman Sean Wright, who has 10 goals and seven assists on the season. Through the first five games the Friars have averaged 10.2 goals per game.
“Hopefully we can play good defensive and be solid in our matchups,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said. “They have tremendous (midfielders) that can run, pitch, and shoot. (Providence’s) attack have a 6-foot-7 guy, 6-foot-3 guy, and other 6-foot-5 guy, so it’s going to be a tough matchup.”
Luckily for the Minutemen, they have a 6-foot-7 long-stick midfielder in Aaron Madaisky to help neutralize the size mismatches in the defensive zone.
“We only have one practice under our belts, as oppose to the usual five or six practices you have before a game,” Madaisky said. “Against Albany we tried to change our game up a little bit to react to what they were going to do. We are going to go back to what was working for us the first four games, and go out and play our game.”
The UMass attack will have the perfect opportunity to get back on track going up against Friar’s goalkeeper Tyler Himes, who has been off to a slow start this season. Hines averages 10.27 goals against per game to go along with a .489 save percentage.
Although the short layover might be good for the Minutemen to get back to their winning ways, Cannella mentioned that with only one day of practice it’s hard to install everything they want to while keeping his player’s legs fresh.
Another area that UMass has the advantage over Providence is in the faceoff game. As a team, the Friars are only 47-for-121 in faceoffs this season. Joe Calvello has won 66-of-108 (61 percent) draws this season, which ranks11th in the country in win percentage.
“I think the key to this game is just staying focused and bringing the intensity for the whole 60 minutes. Sometimes throughout the season we have had some lapses during some games, so we need a full effort for 60 minutes” Mooney said.
UMass and Providence are set to faceoff at 3 p.m. on Thursday from Garber Field.
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.
