Back in September, the UMass men’s lacrosse team held a banquet to celebrate its successes from 2018.

The Minutemen, in coach Greg Cannella’s 24th year, won the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title, conference tournament and narrowly lost, 15-13, to eventual national champion Yale in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Six players received first-team All-CAA recognition, and UMass took home three of four CAA major year-end awards.

So what was the message? A pretty straightforward one from Cannella, a 2019 US Lacrosse Western Massachusetts Chapter Hall of Fame inductee. 

“At the end, I can clearly recall Coach saying, ‘From this point, we’re turning the yearbook over and 2018 is in the past,’” said CAA Player of the Year and senior close defenseman Isaac Paparo. “It’s time for 2019.”

There were times for celebrations over UMass’ best season since 2012, but Cannella knows what resting on your laurels can do.

“Even the guys who came back, they said, ‘this is your team, let’s move on,’” Cannella said. “That’s what we kind of do here. You’re looking forward to trying to replace some of those guys and your team dynamic is totally different.”

There are certainly holes to patch up, too. Gone are Buddy Carr and his team-leading 64 points (39 goals, 25 assists) on attack. Same goes for faceoff specialist Noah Rak, whose winning percentage (.593) was 15th nationally. All-conference players like LSM Shane Rinkus and close defender Luc Valenza have also bid adieu. 

Departures are natural for college lacrosse program, but it leaves the group’s identity in flux, especially with 16 freshmen and one transfer incoming.

“To be honest, we probably won’t know what that identity is until after three or four games into the regular season,” Cannella said. “You see how they’ll react to adversity and success. You’ll have a better idea. It’s a hard thing to talk about on Nov. 6. It really is. But you hope that it’s a together group and one that comes out every day and prepares the right way.” 

However, it’s not an entirely new complexion as February nears. 

Paparo, whose time was limited this fall as he recovered from an undisclosed injury, is back to lead the defense. He’s joined by junior midfielder and All-American Jeff Trainor and sophomore attack Chris Connolly, the reigning CAA Rookie of the Year. In 2018, the latter two both tallied 50-point seasons. The goalkeeper position looks secure, too, with Second Team All-CAA member Sean Sconone and Hampton Brannon both back.

But that’s all in the past, stressed Paparo.

“We sure had our fun towards the end of the year,” Paparo said. “Although what a great experience it was, we’re so beyond that. A third of our team is new guys who weren’t even there and who don’t know what we did to get there. ... We touched upon it briefly of getting back there, but we can’t dwell on it. We need to have more hunger and compete even harder.”

Layered in is the difficulty of repeating in college lacrosse. In the CAA, there largely haven’t been repeat winners outside of Towson. UMass also hasn’t made consecutive NCAA tournaments since 2005 and 2006. Even from 2013 to 2017, four of the Minutemen’s five seasons were losing ones.

Toss in the fact every CAA team will be aiming to take down UMass this spring, and matters get even harder.

“Regardless of if we won it or not, I feel like teams would be gunning for us anyways,” Cannella said. “It’s so competitive in the conference that you’re gunning for an opportunity to play in the championship or win and get in. Playing a competitive schedule throughout the year helps, but everyone does that. Then in the CAA games, they’re bloodbaths that are determined by the bounce of a ball or one or two plays.”

That all goes to say 2019’s edition of UMass will, of course, be of a different ilk than last year’s. But it’s not a stripped-down and rebooted edition either. Returning All-Americans in Paparo and Trainor goes a long way, and there are bound to be some impactful players from the 16-member freshmen class.

No matter who emerges, the message remains unwavering from Cannella. He’s been at this for a quarter century, after all.

“The biggest message is to meet every challenge head-on,” Cannella said. “It has been for the last 24 years because you’ll face a lot of challenges, go through plenty of ups and downs. Everything, you have to meet it and fight through it.”

Fall Focus
Colonial Athletic Association

UMass ended a run of success from Towson in 2018, and will look to repeat as conference champions come next season. The Tigers will be steady as always in conference, and Ben DeLuca's Delaware Blue Hens will hope to join the ranks of the quality teams in the CAA. This conference could be as up-for-grabs as it has been in many years.

Towson
3-2 CAA, 7-8 overall

From 2013 to 2017, the Tigers had a stretch of four NCAA tournament appearances in five years, peaking with a final four trip two seasons ago. But that’s in the past for Shawn Nadelen’s program, which is coming off its first losing season since 2012 — his first as Towson head coach. To possibly return to status quo, the big returner is defensive midfielder Zach Goodrich. He’ll enter his senior season fresh off a First Team All-American and CAA Defensive Player of the Year campaign. Other key pieces back on defense are longstick middie Koby Smith and goalkeeper Shane Brennan. Eight Towson players reached double-digit points last year, though five return, leaving space for others to step into high-impact roles.

Delaware
3-2 CAA, 6-8 overall

The Blue Hens began a new era in 2018 under head coach Ben DeLuca, one that was inconsistent with seesaw results, a five-game losing streak and 3-0 start. With that foundation laid to bare, Delaware will hope to trend up in the CAA, a conference it hasn’t won since 2011. Pivotal to that charge should be Charlie Kitchen down on attack. He has 93 career points through two seasons. Other key returners are Austin Haynes at longstick middie and Matt DeLuca in goal, two all-conference members. One angle to watch with Delaware is a 16-player freshman class that should reflect DeLuca’s vision for the program. Another newcomer is a transfer in Brook Rideau from Onondaga Community College.

Hofstra
2-3 CAA, 6-8 overall

The loss of two-time All-American goalkeeper Jack Concannon looms over the Pride, but coach Seth Tierney will surely want to keep the program focused on the present. They haven’t made the NCAA tournament since 2011 and haven’t won the CAA regular season title since 2014. To change those fortunes, Hofstra can rest easy with leading scorer Ryan Tierney (27 goals, 22 assists) back on attack. Twenty-plus goalscorers in Jimmy Yanes and Dylan McIntosh are also back, but the reality is four all-conference players have also since graduated.

Drexel
1-4 CAA, 5-8 overall

The Dragons will enter their 10th season under head coach Brian Voelker, hoping to rekindle the magic of their 2014 run to the NCAA tournament. That was the program’s first-ever berth, but it’s since been four consecutive losing seasons. While a lot has to fall in place, Drexel can find optimism in the fact that four Second Team All-CAA players are back: attackmen Reid Bowering and Matt Varian, midfielder Marshal King and faceoff specialist Jimmeh Koita.

Fairfield
1-4 CAA, 4-11 overall

The Stags played .500 lacrosse or better from 2009 to 2016, but have recorded back-to-back losing seasons the past two years for the first time 2003 and 2004. To compound matters, Second Team All-CAA midfielder Joe Rodrigues (30 goals, eight assists) has since graduated. However, leading scorer Colin Burke (17 goals, 23 assists) is back, as are 27-point producers Jack Brennan and Dylan Beckwith.