Bleeding Maroon
For hoop fans, the season’s first emotional high was the men’s trip to the National Invitational Tournament championships at New York’s Madison Square Garden in March. The Minutemen headed to New York after an exciting come-from-behind win against archrival Syracuse. They handily beat Florida 78-66 in their first game. The faithful filled 14 buses and caravanned to the Big Apple for the showdown with Ohio State. Etienne Brower, one of four players in the starting lineup who grew up in New York, had 17 points and 12 rebounds for UMass Amherst. Despite his stellar play, and that of Gary Forbes (finished with 16 points and six assists), and Dante Milligan (scored 14), the Buckeyes prevailed.

Most of us were still reeling when the headline hit: UMass Coach Travis Ford had inked a lucrative deal with Oklahoma State. His replacement is former Minutemen point-guard Derek Kellogg ’95.
A Springfield native, Kellogg began his coaching career at his alma mater. He was a graduate assistant and part-time radio broadcaster at UMass for the 1996-97 season. Kellogg served as assistant coach at other schools for 12 years, the last eight at the University of Memphis under former UMass head coach John Calipari.

“Kellogg’s proven track record as one of the country’s top recruiters, the coaching experience he has gained, and his deep passion and love of UMass make him a perfect fit for this position,” said Director of Athletics John McCutcheon.

Derek Kellogg ’95 Born: June 20, 1973 Studied: Real Estate/Finance Married: Nicole Flory ’97 Children: Maximus Antonio Kellogg, born April 28, 2008.

A Senior Moment
It wasn’t the way the seniors on the women’s lacrosse team wanted to end their college athletic careers, losing to Temple 10-3 in the Atlantic 10 championship game. They gathered for a photo after their valiant effort. L-R: Kathleen Typadis, Melynda Zwick, Julie Papaleo, and Jeannette Villapiano.

A Grand Celebration
On a cloudy Sunday in April, sophomore softball player Sarah Reeves knocked two out of the ballpark, including a grand slam, and drove in five runs. But the high point of her game was helping Coach Elaine Sortino lock in her 1,000th career win. Sortino became the 11th coach in NCAA softball history to reach the mark.
“Coach acts like she doesn’t care about it, but we care about it,” Reeves said. “This is why I wanted to come to this program, and I am happy to be a part of the tradition.”

Reeves hit her second homer of the game with the bases loaded. The blast cleared the fences of the new softball complex and landed in the parking lot to put UMass up 5-0. (Reeves’ two home runs tie the school single-game records for home runs.) The Minutewomen posted a 10-1 victory.

Sortino said of the game, “I really like the way we are coming together,” and when asked how long she would celebrate the 1,000th win before thinking about 1,001, Coach Sortino responded, “Probably about one hour.” Following the historic win, Sortino coached the team to 16 straight victories. The team finally fell to Stanford in two out of three games during the NCAA regional finals, held at UMass Amherst in May.

Of Thrice and Men
Freshman men’s lacrosse attacker Peter McNichols (31) jumps into teammate Evan Bhen’s arms after posting his third career hat trick in the loss to Rutgers during the final game of the season. The Minutemen closed the year at 5-9 overall, 3-4 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.