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Winter 2003 Departments
Exchange
Around the Pond
Extended Family
Great Sport
North 40
Arts
Books
Freeze-frame
Features
All my best friends are here
One giant molecule
I learnt to dream of Sicily
The Landscape Beautiful
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Great Sport
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SCORE BOARD
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HOCKEY EAST, MEET THE MINUTEMEN: When the UMass men’s ice hockey program was resurrected in 1993, critics said the team would never be competitive in the tough Hockey East conference which regularly produces many of the nation’s top collegiate teams. This year the Minutemen and their third-year head coach Don Cahoon have proved those critics wrong with a spree of impressive wins, which included for the first time beating both Boston University and Boston College in the same season. By the first week of January, UMass had already won more games than all of last year and was ranked 14th in the nation by the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll.
Leading the way for the Minutemen, junior defenseman Thomas Pöck and sophomore wing Greg Mauldin have both entered the top 50 list of all-time scorers at UMass and Pöck scored the first ever hat trick by a UMass defenseman in the Minutemen’s 5-4 win over Providence on January 5. He was named national defensive player of the week by U.S. College Hockey Online for his efforts.
As this issue goes to press, the Minutemen hold a15-14-1 overall record, good for 6th place in Hockey East and for the first time they’re playing, not just for an invitation to the conference’s post season tournament, but for home ice advantage.
MARNIE MAKES HER MARK: In her first year at the helm of the UMass women’s basketball program, head coach Marnie Dacko already has her team in full gallop. The Minutewomen opened the season with an 8-1 record – the best start by any first-year coach at UMass – and some of those wins were against top opponents like Vermont, Villanova and Memphis. In fact, the Ratings Percentage Index, which nationally ranks teams based on the strength of opponents played, had UMass in the top spot in mid-December.
Senior center Jen Butler has been the shining star for the Minutewomen thus far and is the only woman to tally 1,000 points and rebounds in school history. In a 78-70 double overtime loss to Florida on December 28, the All-America candidate scored a career high 30 points and grabbed 30 rebounds, a UMass and Atlantic 10 Conference single-game rebounding record, and the fifth-best in NCAA Division I history.
Butler and her teammates have embraced Dacko’s uptempo, high-flying style and that has produced results for a team that won just 12 games last year. As Dacko told the Boston Globe, “We’ve got some fillies who can run.”
BRAVOS: UMass soccer standout Jeff Deren, a two-time Atlantic 10 offensive player of the year, was named a third team All-America by College Soccer News after a stellar senior season last fall. Deren ranked fifth in the nation in goals and points per game, set several UMass single-season scoring records and is the first player in UMass history to register more than 100 points in his career.
Three UMass football players were named 2002 All-Americas by Don Hansen’s National Weekly Football Gazette. Defensive lineman Valdamar Brower ’04 and linebacker Jeremy Cain ’04 made the second team while center Maikel Miret ’03 was named to the third team. Cain led the Minutemen in tackles last year with 133 while Miret matched a school record of 47 consecutive games in the starting lineup.
SHIPP MAKES WAVES IN THE NFL: Former UMass tailback Marcel Shipp ’01 had a breakout year with the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals last season. Shipp, who was not drafted but signed as a free agent in 2001, stepped in when Arizona’s starting back was injured. In 14 games Shipp gained 834 yards on 188 carries, scored nine touchdowns and became the Cardinals’ prime ball carrier. His success earned him a four-year contract extension worth $4 million and the first spot in the team’s backfield when training camp opens next year. |
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Involved in just about everything
McCAW: Larger image
SCORE BOARD
SCORE BOARD: More images
UMass women take to the ice
UMASS WOMEN: More images
Educating the Chancellor
EDUCATING: Larger image
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