UMass Magazine Online

Fall 2003

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Great Sport

Features

Experiencing Jeff Corwin

Drawing on the past

Clean-up at the old Davis Mine

Great Sport

Sports Scoreboard

Charles Creekmore '95




	photo by Ben Barnhart

YOU GOTTA BE A FOOTBALL hero: On October 25, the football team used a record-breaking pass play and a miracle finish to beat the previously undefeated Villanova Wildcats by one of their own whiskers. Both teams entered the contest ranked among the top-five in Division 1-AA football. UMass took a 13-6 lead deep into the fourth quarter on the strength of two field goals and a 97-yard pass, the longest in the history of Atlantic-10 football, from quarterback Jeff Krohn to wide receiver Jimmie Howard. But then an eight-play, 54-yard drive gave Villanova a 14-13 lead with 6:36 to go. Shortly thereafter, the ’Cats ran out of lives, largely due to a fantastical fumble. While routinely running out the clock with a little more than two minutes left in the game, Villanova quarterback Marvin Burroughs muffed the snap. UMass defensive back Shannon James followed the little bouncing ball, picked it up like an old tune, and whistled into the end zone for the winning TD.

The ball has been bouncing right for UMass all season. Led by several key players, The fourth-ranked Minutemen boasted an 9-1 record after 10 games. The only loss was a respectable defeat to perennial Division 1-A powerhouse Kansas State. Leading the offense at quarterback is Krohn, the co-captain and transfer from Arizona State. His specialty is flicking the football to all corners of the gridiron in tight spirals that would warm the cockles of Knute Rockne’s heart. On running plays, Krohn often slips the pigskin to fullback Rich Demers, who rarely demurs from running north-south like a one-man herd. Among the standouts on defense are linebacker Jeremy Cain, linebacker Mark Kimener, and defensive back Anton McKenzie, whose hallmark is the kind of tackle that registers on the Richter Scale. As of press time, the team was gearing up for a showdown with yet another top-five team, the University of Delaware, and soaring toward the rarified air of the Division 1-AA Tournament.

Different strokes for different folks: Call it a stroke of genius. Actually, four strokes of genius. Freshman swimmer Greg Chartier, a local hero from Amherst who was competing in his first meet for UMass, kicked off his collegiate career by winning the 400-yard individual medley in the Husky Invitational at the University of Connecticut. He also placed in three other events. Other men’s winners were the 400-yard freestyle relay team and freshman Evan Swisher, first place in the 200-yard backstroke. For the women, freshman Ni-cole LeBarge finished first in the 50-yard freestyle.

Booting up: The men’s soccer team finished its regular season with a fine record of 11-7-1. The most scintillating victory was a barnburner with Saint Bonaventure on the strength of sophomore Oral Bullen’s powerful kicking leg and his two clutch goals: one with 52 seconds left in regulation time to knot the score at 1-1, and the second at the 1:39 mark of overtime for the win. In November four UMass players were named All-Atlantic 10 players: senior Ptah Myers to the first team, seniors Dan Colwell and Devlin Barnes to the second team, and freshman Richard Higa to the rookie team.

Junior puck master: Stephen Werner, sophomore forward for the ninth-ranked Minuteman hockey team that began its season 8-2-0 and led the Hockey East Conference, is the first UMass player ever selected for the United States National Junior Team. The squad will compete in the 2004 International Ice Hockey Federation Junior Championships in Finland. Werner was the sixth-best freshman goal scorer in the nation for UMass last season.

Comeback: Briana Scurry ’95 – former UMass soccer goalkeeper, human heat shield, and star of the US women’s team that won the 1999 World Cup – was back in goal for the team that took the bronze medal at the 2003 World Cup by defeating Canada 3-1 on October 11th. With Scurry minding the nets, the US team has medaled in every major tournament it has entered. The 32-year-old shot blocker was also the 2003 goalkeeper of the year in the now defunct WUSA professional league. Meanwhile, current UMass star Lindsey Fairweather ’05 helped the New England Mutiny of the Women’s Professional Soccer League to a final-four appearance as the third-best scorer on the team. She also boasts what sportswriter Gary Brown calls the “best nickname” in sports: “Stormy” Fairweather.

Finishing well on the Charles: The idea is to row, row, row your boat fiercely down the stream. That’s exactly what the male and female crew teams did at the Head of the Charles Regatta, those renowned shell games held on October 18 and 19 in Boston. The men’s and women’s eights pulled with all their might, and also pulled off their best finishes ever in these prestigious races. The men’s boat ended up 10th in a field of 40, thus putting the exclamation point on a splashy season, when the UMass crew team won the New England Rowing Championships for the first time in 12 years. In the women’s Championship Eight category, the competition was even stiffer, and the minute-rowers placed 19th. The women’s crew team, perennial league champions, carries 60 members, more women than compete in any other sport on campus. For more on rower Katharine O’Brien, see profile at http://www.umassmag.com/Fall_2003/Sources_of_hope_and_inspiration_568.html

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