The Massachusetts men’s soccer team added another major scoring threat Monday as they announced the signing of Jackson Fotter to the Minutemen for the 2017 campaign.
Fotter was one of the top high school soccer players in Maine, scoring 31 goals for Gorham High School, while helping lead the Rams to the Class A championship game where Gorham lost to Bangor High School.
“We are very excited to welcome Jackson to the UMass soccer family,” UMass coach Fran O’Leary said in a UMass athletics press release after the announcement Monday. “He is another addition to our program who will help us improve our offensive capabilities as we continue working to compete at the upper levels of the Atlantic 10.”
“Having lived in Maine for several years, I am well versed in the quality of players that come out of the state. Jackson is a versatile player who is comfortable on the wing and upfront. He possesses great dribbling ability and has a good strike rate in front of goal. We are excited to add him to our attacking corps,” O’Leary added.
The forward racked up a whole slew of accolades while playing for the Rams. During his high school career, he was a two-time All-Maine, two-time all-region and three-time all-conference selection.
He finished his Gorham career with 65 total goals and was named the Maine Telegram Player of the year his senior year.
On top of his high school soccer participation, Fotter also played club soccer with Seacoast United Under-17 premier squad, where he helped lead the team to two national titles.
Fotter becomes the fifth newcomer to the men’s soccer program for next season, joining Christian Carucci, Eli Cronin, Davis Smith and Jack Fulton.
Fulton signed a national letter of intent with the Minutemen last week.
UMass players honored
Three UMass lacrosse players were honored this week for their recent play.
Women’s lacrosse attacker Hannah Burnett was named A-10 player of the week and teammate Sarah Crowley was named co-defensive player of the week. Men’s lacrosse freshman midfielder Jeff Trainor was named Colonial Athletic Association rookie of the week as well.
Burnett tallied a total of 17 points over the last two games this week, notching 12 goals and five assists. In the Minutewomen’s 24-14 win over Saint Joseph’s Sunday, she set a new UMass record for goals in a single game with eight. Burnett currently leads the Minutewomen with 30 goals this season. The next top scorer is Hannah Murphy with 19.
Crowley tallied six caused turnovers, seven groundballs and three draw controls over the two games last week. The New York native currently leads UMass with 27 caused turnovers and 33 ground balls. Her 2.7 caused turnovers per game puts her atop the category in the A-10 and seventh nationally.
Trainor tallied four points in the Minutemen’s 9-6 win over Delaware Saturday with two goals and two assists.
The honors were the second time all three players had received that recognition this season.
Adam Aucoin can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @aaucoin34.
