Volume 134 No 16

The Springfield Student Est. 1910

February 20, 2020

[springfieldstudent@springfieldcollege.edu]

Volume 134 No. 16

Find us online at scstudentmedia.com

Fetty Wap set to perform

Photo Courtesy of AP News

Head over to Page 3 for more info on this years’ Spring Concert at Springfield College.

Rapper Fetty Wap will be coming to Springfield College this April.

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On the Inside

The Script Heard Round the Shire: A first-hand experience at the New Hampshire Primaries

Smiles, scrucnchies, and determination: How Arielle Johnson attacked Addison’s Disease -- Page 4 --

-- Page 2 --

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The continuation of the Public Safety Officer Profile series: Getting to know Officer Fredric Almeida -- Page 5 --

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February 20, 2020

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Jacobs: A trip to the New Hampshire Primaries

Graduate Student and English Education Major Adam Jacobs traveled to the New Hampshire Primaries last week and wrote about his experience for The Student.

By Adam Jacobs ajacobs5@springfield.edu

It’s the start of primary season and New Hampshire has fulfilled Iowa’s failed attempt at vetting, only slightly shuffling off some three minor candidates to leave us with a Big Five. I made

the trip up to New Hampshire to observe these fine political acts up close.

As I watched each candidate declaim and conjure with their own distinctive style and substance, I was reminded of

this soliloquy from As You Like It: All the field’s a stage, And all the septuagenarians merely players;

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February 20, 2020

Fetty Wap named performer for Spring Concert The popular rap artist will be performing in Blake Arena this April.

Fetty Wap on stage during a past performance.

(Photo Courtesy of Hollywood Life)

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By Collin Atwood catwood@springfield.edu

Mark it on the calendars.

Saturday, April 25, Fetty Wap is coming to Springfield College to rock the stage at this year’s Spring Concert.

Each April, Springfield College Backstage books a performer for the Spring Concert based on surveys done by the student body, as well as feedback from previous years.

“Based on that list, we work with our concert agency called Concert Ideas and we ask them to find some artists that would be free on the date that we have,” said Julie Koivisto, who is the Assistant Director of Student Activities and Signature Programs, and the advisor for Springfield College Backstage.

“The toughest part for me in this role is that I like to please people and I know that with a concert, I’m not going to please everybody,” Koivisto added.

Springfield College freshman Skylar Steele was surprised by the news. “I like Fetty Wap, but I feel like that’s very random,” Steele said. “I’m still going to go,” she added.

In years past, Springfield College has had some big names perform on campus including Bruno Mars, Gym Class Heroes, 21 Pilots and Lil Dicky. Fetty Wap will be the next addition to these accomplished artists.

Most Springfield College students across campus were thrilled about the news and plan on attending the concert.

“I was pretty excited that a bigger name was going to come and that we were actually going to have a big concert,” senior Loghan Nace said. Mason Dumas, a sophomore echoed that sentiment, “I’m going to go and I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good time.”

Fetty Wap won an MTV Video Music Award for Artist to Watch in 2015 and was a nominee for a Grammy and a BET Award. He has had 13 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and three top 10 hits.

In the last two years, Bryce Vine and Cheat Codes performed at the Spring Concert. Even though they did put on a good show, they were not known by many students on campus before coming to Springfield College. This year, the Springfield College Backstage crew really stepped it up.

“When I heard it was Fetty Wap, I was pretty pumped because out of the other two concerts I have seen, I think this one will definitely attract more students,” Springfield College junior Lydia Sinkiewicz said.

Students will be charged $20 and guests, faculty and staff will be charged $30 to attend the concert. There is also an alternative way to pay for the show which is Fetty Wap themed.

“We are going to run a special this year where if you use your pride dollars, not dining dollars, pride dollars, we’ll be charging $17.38 because it kind of goes with Fetty Wap,” Koivisto said.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, March 23. The Spring Concert will be held in Blake Arena and doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

February 20, 2020

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Attacking all obstacles First-year student Arielle Johnson isn’t letting Addison’s Disease or anything else stop her from reaching her goals.

Johnson (white uniform) pictured playing lacrosse during her high school days.

(Photo Courtesy of Arielle Johnson)

By Carley Crain @carley_crain12

Her long, blond braided hair was always pulled back with a colorful scrunchie. She wore a smile so contagious that it lit up any room she was in. But soon enough, her smile started to disappear. The spark in her eyes vanished. The sun would rise every morning, yet she found it impossible to find the energy to get out of bed and go to school or practice.

Meet Arielle Johnson - a first year student at Springfield College studying Occupational Therapy and a member of the women’s lacrosse team.

At age fifteen, life threw Johnson her toughest challenge yet, however, the way she attacked the situation through her perseverance, determination and hard work guided her through the most diffi-

cult time of her life.

Born and raised in Pomfret, Connecticut, a small town near the border of Rhode Island, Johnson was a very happy and active child. She pretty much played every recreational sport there was, from basketball, to soccer, to softball.

She even rode horses as a side hobby. Going into high school at Woodstock Academy, the regional school in her area, Johnson continued her love for sports by being a part of the lacrosse and field hockey programs.

Freshman year of high school is already hard enough, from trying to make new friends, to a tough new load of classes, and the pressures of joining every club or organization there is offered. On top of all these stressors,

Johnson constantly felt sick and not like her normal, cheery self.

She suffered extreme fatigue, had little to no energy, and felt nauseous or dizzy on a daily basis.

No one had any answers as to why she was feeling like this.

She started out her freshman year on the field hockey team but missed most practices and games because of her worsening symptoms. She also had to stop playing club lacrosse because just getting through practices was a burden.

Her mother, Kathleen Johnson, knew that something was genuinely wrong and reached out to an endocrinologist in hopes of finding out what was really going on with her daughter.

“The phrase I used to tell my doctor was that I lost my daughter

and that I do not have my daughter anymore,” Arielle’s mother said.

December 2nd, 2015.

The day that everything suddenly changed for Johnson and her family.

It was just another cool, winter day Johnson thought. She was in the car with her mom on the way to her pediatrician’s office when everything started to become one big blur.

She suddenly found herself in the back of an ambulance en route to one of the nation’s most prestigious hospitals UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Doctors swarmed her room - from taking her blood pressure, to conducting blood tests and taking her vitals.

Her blood tests and lab results were rushed,

and her doctors finally informed Johnson and her family that she suffers from an extremely rare condition known as Addison’s disease.

Residents and interns came into her hospital room every twenty minutes writing down notes about her case, since her condition is so uncommon. Johnson was her doctors second ever patient ever with this disease and the first ever female.

“It was all like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy,” Johnson said.

“Except this time, I was the patient with the extremely rare illness.”

Addison’s disease, a condition in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough cortisol, is extremely rare, See Johnson on Page 8

February 20, 2020

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Get to know: Officer Almeida The Springfield College Public Safety Officer profile series continues. This week, meet Officer Fredric Almeida.

By Amanda Hitchcock @amandah272

When thinking of police and law enforcement, people typically think of someone who is there at the worst times of their lives. Someone who has to break the bad news or get them in trouble for something they did.

This causes people to shy away from police officers and not want to talk to them until it is truly necessary. However, Springfield College does not see their officers in this light.

Officer Fredric Almeida is one of the courageous members of the Springfield College police force.

“The brother and sisterhood,” is what Officer Almeida said when asked what the best part of his job here on campus is.

Almeida continued to say how great all the police officers at Springfield College really are.

How even the Sergeants are “willing to go out of their way to make you a better officer.”

He talked about all the positive interactions he has had as a child

with police officers, which is the reason he decided to become one.

Almeida had made up his mind as early as elementary school that being a police officer was the job for him.

Being raised in Hartford, which isn’t always the safest area, police officers always made sure to make him feel safe and he can recall good memories associated with police.

Officer Almeida is now trying to pass on those good experiences that were given to him.

He attempts to do this by having positive interactions with both the people and the college students around him on campus.

“Police already have a bad stigma,” Almeida said. “Even if it’s one interaction at a time, one person at a time. People should see the good in officers”.

The campus police protect students and try to keep them out of trouble. Even if a student does something wrong, the police officers

Officer Almeida. (Photo Courtesy of Fredric Almeida) try and help the students out, not just “lock them up,” according to Almeida.

For an example, if on a Saturday night an individual were to get kicked out of the townhouses, Springfield College officers would much rather have them write an apology letter and be banned from going to the townhouses again, rather than an alternative scenario that puts the student in a worse position moving forward.

People really shouldn’t be fearful or turned off by these police officers. Officer Almeida talked about how one officer can ruin it for everyone, but in reality, most police officers really are good people and have good intentions in their minds and hearts.

“If one cop messes up, everyone gets a bad reputation,” he said.

The officers are just looking out to keep Springfield College safe. On top of everything he does around campus to protect students, Almeida also likes to go snowboarding and golf.

In addition to that, he is still active in the Marine Corps. He was deployed for one year and just returned back this past November.

Almeida, like his fellow officers, always has the interest of the student’s safety in his mind above all else.

February 20, 2020 Primaries continued from Page 2

They have their exits and their entrances; And one (wo)man in her/his time plays many parts, Their acts being seven ages.

What parts do they—along with a millennial!—play?

What dreams did I witness? And where did I sleep?

8:00am: I wake up to slender snowflakes covering my body. I yawn, stretch, and scratch, lug myself out of bed, and roll up my frozen sleeping bag. I replace my thermal underwear, don a new sweatshirt, shove my head into a SC beanie, grab my SC notebook and SC pens (representation!) and stumble out of my sleeping spot near the Concord Railroad Station. Hell, yeah.

12:30pm, THE SCHOOL-BOY: At Rundlett Middle School, three Congresswomen from the 2018 wave, Deb Haaland (first Native woman, Laguna Puebla), Katie Porter (first single mother with children), and Ayanna Pressley (you know her!) open to a fairly diverse crowd of young folk and

families. After their introductions, Warren enters to exuberant whoops. She bounds on stage like an eager gazelle, part pep-professor, part introspective policy whiz, part teamsters bulldog.

Like her white-color populism, her hand gestures are a bit more intentional, and she rotates between exclamatory fist pumps and loose wrist flicks.

She has that shining morning face which must creep (un)willingly to take account of the excesses of capitalism: “All right, let me just give you a little taste of what’s in this, just a quick taste, cause it’s got a lot of pieces to it. But part one: end lobbying as we know it…

Here’s one you may have never thought about, but it’s important: make the United States Supreme Court follow basic rules of ethics. Okay, I could do these all day, let me do just one more, just one more. You really want to hose out some corruption in Washington: make every single person who runs for federal office put their tax returns online.” For Warren’s paradigm, capitalism is a broken Humpty Dumpty who’s fallen from a wall someone built too high. But can

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he be put back together again?

3:30pm, THE JUSTICE: Inside the gymnasium at Alvirne High School in Hudson, an expectant crowd, mostly white, mostly older, forms a circle around a podium. After the pledge of allegiance to a sizable flag festooned on a wall, Joe Biden enters the round. The atmosphere, as someone noted, is sepulcher. Biden perambulates the ring like an aged Aristotle, an elder statesman who is reflecting on this new turbid landscape and hoping inquiry will stimulate us to our senses. At times, he also plays the irate father whose anger at the economy bleeds into some terse words with his children.

Whose side are we on?

Why don’t we realize how important your campaign is? If you’re not angry, he seems to imply, why aren’t you paying attention to me? His speech was punctuated by wise saws and modern instances: “Biden is an honorable man;” “America’s character is on the ballot;” “Like many of you, I’ve lost a lot in my lifetime… but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand by and lose my country!”

While Biden may have

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Bernie Sanders at the New Hampshire primaries.

(Photo Courtesy of New York Times)

eyes severe, his fair round underbelly may be soporific.

6:30pm, THE LOVER: Annie Kuster, the stout chalky raisethe-roof New Hampshire representative, opened for Pete Buttigieg at Londonderry Middle School. After her logistics, Buttigieg strides on stage, a bit shy at receiving applause and with a splitting smile. He has a type of inviting idealism and captivating charm which has culled comparisons to JFK. He deftly sketches a seductive “ballad” for the voters’ “eyebrow:’’ a yearning for that “sunrise” after Trump is deposed. His

politics is based on commingling: “the idea that you either got to be for a revolution or you got to be for the status quo, leaves most of us out: we need a politics that brings all of us in, because all of us need a new and better president…I am seeing Democrats standing together, I’m seeing Independents refusing to sit on the sidelines, I’m even running into an awful lot of what I like to call future former Republicans.” Still, where’s the LGBTQ community in those constituents? It is possible that his rural and religious affectations, his moderate leanings, as well as his

February 20, 2020 demure approach to his sexuality have not generated a concomittant enthusiasm in the wider LGBTQ community. But that sure as hell didn’t mean I wasn’t enamored by our first openly gay major presidential candidate.

8:00pm-8:00am: Drink! Grill! Flock!

Don’t ask me where I slept.

10:30am, THE PANTALOON: I was on the lookout for the tell-tale BernieBros, but as it was IRL, I instead spotted a cordial array of a fairly diverse crowd at the Ultimate Sports Academy in Manchester. An insistent Native female campaign worker, a gleeful Ben and Jerry, and a stern union labor organizer set the stage for Sanders. With the hunched shoulders of Elizabeth, and the staccato gestures of Trump, he brings an ideologue to his populism. His visage and voice are blustery, and his index finger impertinent and scolding, as if he is the ghost from Christmas past to remind you of the smirch beneath your lapels. If Warren deals in policies, Sanders deals in prophecy. His speech was peppered with his proclamations on the American pan-

orama. His final note ended with his theories on human nature: “I happen to believe that the function of human life is not what Trump thinks it is… that you are a success because you step on other people, and you lie and you cheat…We think differently, we think that we are successful when we reach out to human beings, when my family helps your family, and your family helps my family, because we all got a lot of problems.”

Will his most ardent adherents head this back-scratching call?

Democrats, however, should be less worried about a potential loss of Sanders voters, and more a potential loss of Sanders campaigners.

12:30pm: I buy a MAGA hat.

7:00pm, THE SOLDIER: President Donald Trump strides on stage at the Southern New Hampshire arena. He has just been proceeded by Kimberly Guilfoyle, the National Finance Chair for the Trump Victory Committee (which was part of the staggering single day haul of $25 million); Donald Trump, Jr., who has taken on more and more of his father’s gestures and rhythms; and Vice President

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Mike Pence, still as stern and squinty as ever. His audience is 11,000+ strong at full capacity and just as white as Pete Buttigieg’s (though more rollicking). He starts to regale the audience with superlatives surrounding his bubble reputation, cheery accolades that are in stark contrast to the catastrophic foreboding of the Democrats. Trump’s nasal, sniffly Queens accent, reminiscent of a used-car salesman, is paired with a leaning posture as he grasps his rostrum, and short, truncated gestures. Always jealous in honor, he lists the dozen Republican officials in attendance who had helped in his acquittal proceedings.

His strange oaths and sudden, quick quarrels yield numerous enthusiastic chants from “Lock Her Up!” (Pelosi) to “Lock Him Up! (Schiff) to the standard “Fake News!” (mainstream media). The highest sonic shrill ricocheting around the auditorium, however, comes on the tail of Trump’s promise to always defend our 2nd Amendment rights.

His speech is a mix of his post-acquittal recollection and State of the Union address; like the former, it aspires

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towards inclusivity: “we’re all together, we’re building the world’s most prosperous economy and the most inclusive society anywhere in the world, it’s a great thing, it’s a great thing...We’re delivering for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans like nobody has ever done, we are fighting for great jobs, great schools, and a truly great future for our country.” While Trump is maligned for his measurements and his mission, he has a movement.

Takeaways: So, this is the dysfunctional modern family of politics. Barring a Unity Slate, it will mutate as all families tend to do: the gay son will go into exile, the women will drown, the father murdered, and the prodigal son will return home to face off with the tempestuous uncle. Who will inherit the family jewels? Is this second childness or mere oblivion?

Senator Elizabeth Warren (blue shirt) and a supporter. (Photo Courtesy of Vox)

February 20, 2020 Johnson continued from Page 4

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I think lacrosse helped me to get to school and motivated me to actually attend an entire day of school.

If I did not have lacrosse, it would have been a lot worse.

as there are less than 200,000 cases yearly in the United States.

Symptoms are nonspecific, which makes the disease hard to classify and diagnose. In Johnson’s case, it took doctors over six months to pinpoint her symptoms as Addison’s disease.

“It was just so overwhelming, and fast, and a change in my life,” Johnson said. “One day ” I was normal, and the next day I needed all this treatment, so it was just weird.”

From that day on, Johnson had to make (Photo Courtesy of Arielle Johnson) drastic life changes regarding her overall health and body. It took injection (similar to an EpiPen) with her at all times, just in case of a medical emergency. about a year for her On top of taking her medication four times a day, Johnson must take salt tablets daily, since her body candoctors to figure out the correct dosage that suit- not maintain proper salt levels, as well as taking electrolyte packets a few times a week.

“Knowing that she depends on something, like her medication was a big struggle for her,” Arielle’s mothed Johnson’s needs. er said.

This period of time Coping with Addison’s Disease is just as hard mentally as it is physically. Dealing with the fact that she was challenging because has a chronic disease that currently has no cure was very challenging, especially for a young teenager. her symptoms of fatigue, She questioned herself asking, “Why did this have to happen to me?’ and “Did I do anything to cause lack of energy, and this?”

Itching to get off of the sidelines and get back into action on the lacrosse field hurt Johnson the most. nausea were still affect“Will I ever be the same player again?” she thought. “Will my condition prevent me from being the best ing her everyday routine. player I can be?” These kinds of questions consumed her everyday thoughts for months.

Lacrosse, however, was Her mother was noticing how hard this was for her, and she decided to quit her job as a college professor the light at the end of a and discontinue her pursuit of a Doctorate Degree so she could be there for her daughter. very dark tunnel.

She even decided to start coaching the Woodstock Academy lacrosse team. With the continued support “I think lacrosse of her family and friends, Johnson started to play lacrosse again and thrived. She soon became a dominant, helped me to get to aggressive player on the lacrosse field. school and motivated Her position of attacker suits her perfectly: attackmen are the “quarterbacks” of the game, controlling me to actually attend an the offense and scoring goals. The position of attacker requires advanced stick skills and explanatory leaderentire day of school,” ship.

Johnson said. “If I did “She is just a really hard worker and she is a true attacker, so she sees the field very well and has a very not have lacrosse, it strong lacrosse IQ,” Springfield College Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Kristin Mullady said. “She is also a would have been a lot creative and dynamic player on the field.” worse.”

Entering her freshman year at Springfield, Arielle was the 26th-ranked high school lacrosse player in After about a year Connecticut.

She continues to thrive on and off the field, and because of her perseverance through the lowof testing out different est time of her life, Johnson attacks every challenge with a smile, and of course a colorful scrunchie pulling dosages, Johnson and her her hair back. doctors finally figured Whether it is on the field, in the classroom, lifting weights at the gym, or just hanging in a social setting, out a solution.

Johnson succeeds in all aspects of life, despite her incurable illness.

Currently, she has to “She has definitely shown me that not everyone has it so easy and that there are other people who have to carry extra medication work harder for their health,” roommate Emily Sardo said. “She is one of those people that must make sure everywhere she goes, as that she is doing things that are good for her body.” well as wearing a medObstacles, to Arielle, are seen as just another way to improve and grow. No matter what comes her way, ical ID bracelet 24/7. she is a true attacker, and can handle any challenge that is thrown at her, just like how she plays on the field.

She also has to carry an

- Arielle Johnson -

February 20, 2020

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PAGE 9

Academics in action

Perry sits on the men’s basketball bench at home games. Pictured next to Daryl Costa (middle) and Noah Cummings (left). (Springfield College Athletics)

Dr. Andrew Perry, a professor of mathematics at Springfield College, has stepped into an interesing role with the Birthplace Boys.

____________ By Danny Priest ____________ @dpriest3

When people think of basketball, math is not typically the first word that comes to mind.

Yet the game is changing. Three-pointers, floor spacing, and advanced numbers are part of the new age of basketball.

For an indication of how much numbers, or analytics, are now being factored into the game, look no further than the Springfield College men’s basketball bench during their home games.

Charlie Brock mans the sidelines as he has in his head coaching role for the past 22 seasons. His assistant coaches – Sean

Martin, Patrick McGuinness, and Cam Earle serve their roles as his go-to guys.

Then there’s Andrew Perry.

Faculty guest coach Dr. Perry, that is.

Perry has been teaching at Springfield College since 1999 as a Professor of Mathematics, but 2019-2020 marked his first year serving a role for the men’s basketball team.

This year, Perry, a graduate of Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1992 and a Doctor of Philosophy from Oklahoma State University

in 1999, is serving as the numbers and analytics guru for the men’s basketball team.

He joins the team on the bench for their home games (and road games if he chooses), he’s in the locker room for pregame and postgame talks, and most importantly, he breaks down the data and makes recommendations to the coaches based on what he’s seeing.

Perry is the Pride’s numbers expert and data analyst mastermind.

While this season is the first year Perry has joined the Pride in this role, the original idea actually came up a few years back.

“When our sports analytics minor started, I knew that other colleges had sports analytics programs (that) were collaborating with the coaching staff,” Perry said.

“I went to the Athletic Director at the time (and) I said what coaches would be most amenable to that type of thing and Coach Brock was one coach that was named and we had arranged to get together and meet and he had gotten sick or whatever and we just didn’t end up talking.”

Coach Brock joked that he stood Perry up years ago, but this season the bond was finally created and the fit has been natu-

ral from the start.

In fact, Perry is just one of several faculty members who have spent time entrenched in either practices or games with Springfield College athletic programs this year. Multiple teacher coaches have invited their colleagues from a wide range of academic disciplines to gain the experience of being involved as a member of an athletic team as part of the department’s faculty guest coach initiative.

For Brock, a coach who has been around the game of basketball for See Perry continued on Page 14

February 20, 2020

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PAGE 10

Defending champs

Kate Sarnacki. (Sam Leventhal/The Student)

After graduating eight seniors from the NEWMAC Championship team, the women’s lacrosse team will rely on underclassmen depth.

___ By Hayden Choate ___ @ChoateHayden

The Springfield College women’s lacrosse team looks to pick up right where it left off last season after capturing their seventh NEWMAC championship and their first since 2016.

The team went 13-7 in the regular season last year and 6-2 in conference play. They went on a seven-game losing streak in March of last year before winning 10

straight including the NEWMAC title game over Babson.

The Pride graduated eight seniors from last year’s team that lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Franklin & Marshall.

This year’s team only features four seniors but 11 juniors on the roster.

Head Coach Kristen Mullady enters her 11th season with the team leading the team to their third NCAA

tournament appearance in the last four years.

Mullady, who graduated in 2000 from Springfield College, is ranked ninth on the program’s all-time career points list..

One of the team’s biggest goals for the year is coming together as a team to try to defend their NEWMAC title from a year ago.

“Contribution from everyone, whether on the field or the sideline, to bring success in order

to win games and build team chemistry,” Gabbie Fogg said.

Fogg, a junior midfielder, is one of the three captains on this year’s team. Senior defender Maria Antintellis and goalkeeper Brenna Keefe are the other captains.

“I expect our team chemistry to just keep growing. As our team chemistry grows our success will follow,” sophomore Anjelia Altebrando said.

With only four seniors, the team also brought in eight firstyears that will add depth to the roster that was ranked no. 1 in the NEWMAC preseason rankings. The team is bringing a one-gameat-a-time mentality into the new season.

“Keep working towards our ultimate goal of the NEWMAC title taking it game by game, making sure we are disSee Women’s LAX continued on Page 13

February 20, 2020

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A baker’s dozen?

Springfield men’s lacrosse looks to win a 13th consecutive NEWMAC Championship _____________ By Evan Wheaton _____________ @EvanWheaton

A lot of boys became men last year.

It goes without saying that the 2019 Springfield men’s lacrosse campaign was more than just another season.

“With my daughter passing away last year, last year was a year like no other. And those guys saved my life,” Springfield head coach Keith Bugbee said.

Bugbee asked his players to show up, and it was something he had to do as well. When it came time for the season to start, Bugbee continued to coach because he knew that’s what his daughter, Lindsay, would have wanted.

It was a process.

The entire staff and every player knew that some days would be harder than others, but at the end of the

day, they knew they all had to show up and be strong for one another.

For Bugbee’s sake, and for their own.

“I don’t know where I’d be without these coaches and these players.

They allowed me to be very transparent with them, very emotional with them, and very real with them,” Bugbee said. “Last year was a hard year and they allowed me to kind of lean on them a lot.”

With a brutal out-of-conference schedule in which they were far below .500 before NEWMAC play, last year’s Pride had many doubters back in March.

Many believed it would be the year that the conference title streak of then 11 years would be snapped.

And then there was the Babson game – Spring-

The 2019 men’s lacrosse team celebrating after capturing its 12th consecutive NEWMAC Championship. (Sam Leventhal/The Student)

field’s wakeup call.

A game that consisted of costly turnovers and not capitalizing on key opportunities, Bugbee felt the team wasn’t playing for 60 minutes.

At that point in the season, it was beginning to look like the streak would finally be snapped.

“I was frustrated with this team earlier last year. I think we were underachieving for a little while, lost a couple league games, played horrible at Union… It was really hard for me where I was at personally to be around guys who weren’t showing up,” Bugbee said.

From there, the Pride began to show up. They worked harder. They played harder. They made every game count.

Not only did they defeat Coast Guard to

win their 12th consecutive conference title, the Pride also rallied back from a 6-0 deficit against Ursinus, one of the more competitive teams in the NCAA D-III tournament, to advance to the third round before ultimately falling to Cabrini, the eventual national champions.

Despite winning a D-II national championship in 1994, the 2019 season may have been Bugbee’s greatest feat yet, and he was named the 2019 NEILA Walter Alessi Man of the Year for his efforts.

“Where they went as a team, that was probably my best year in my career,” Bugbee said.

“Where we were, what we had to work with, where we finished, and what I was personally going through. To let

them let me coach them (and) kind of push them hard.

“I kept harping that I can’t be around guys who don’t care and they responded. They willed themselves into being a really good team.”

Last year wasn’t about winning and losing.

It was about healing, personal growth, and being able to function in the face of adversity.

It was about showing up. *** For the first time in his 37-year tenure at Springfield, Bugbee will wield five senior captains.

Kyle Murakami, Joe Hawley, Joe Cameron, Sean Thornton, and returning captain Tommy Nash will be leading the Pride this year across different positions.

Bugbee saw their

February 20, 2020 Men’s LAX continued from Page 11

growth and development last year and knew they would end up heading the program.

“Never had five (captains) and I probably never will again,” Bugbee said. “Any one of those five guys – it’d be wrong if they weren’t a captain. They’re just at that level.”

After the graduation of many vital offensive players, such as Jack Vail, Lucas Habich, and Ray McCarthy on attack, along with Cole Pecora and Cameron Glover at midfield, Hawley has been working closely with a young offense.

“He was forever pulling kids aside and just talking to them, not yelling at them, that’s not his thing. He’s very low key,” Bugbee said.

Hawley, who recently received Inside Lacrosse

All-America honors and was named to the 2019 USILA Division III Honorable Mention All-America Team, has aspirations to get into coaching upon graduation and has embraced his new role. “(I’m) kind of just taking it in stride,” Hawley said. “I think it’s just a lot of letting them get comfortable and understanding that they can make mistakes, It’s whether you’re going to make mistakes at 100 percent and you’re going to let that bother you for the rest of the game and the rest of the week, or are you going to work hard and respond better next time.”

Dan Biesty will be taking over as starting goalie with Cole Finerty graduated. The Pride will be retaining the vast majority of their defensive core, and one

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Bugbee will honor strong players each game with a yellow custom-made helmet in honor of his late daughter, Lindsay. (Evan Wheaton/The Student)

that’s already seen their fair share of postseason play.

Defenseman Connor Roberts and long stick midfielder Tommy Briscoe were standout firstyears of the group last year and look to make another big impact this season.

“The thing is, with Thornton hurt almost all year, it was really all freshmen,” Bugbee said. “When you play a lot as a freshman, it’s not like you’re sophomores. They’re like juniors now.

“Two rounds of NCAA out of our league,

that’s a lot more season and it’s high level.

Several times they’re covering player-of-theyear, they’re covering the best possible kids they can cover in Division III.” *** If there’s anything to take away from the NEWMAC in recent years, it’s way more competitive than it’s ever been.

Coast Guard has claimed the no. 1 seed for the past two years while MIT, who has been making leaps and bounds in recruiting under head coach Tyler O’Keefe, has been consistently forcing overtime games against Springfield.

And with Clark and Babson much stronger than in years past, a 13th consecutive conference title is anything

but guaranteed.

“In year’s past, the conference hasn’t been as good and it was kind of an automatic thing that (Springfield) would get to the tournament,” Cameron said. “But I think in years’ past, and definitely this year, we’re going to have to earn it and once May comes around and we’re in the tournament we know that we deserve to be there.”

The Pride will be facing four NESCAC teams: Tufts, Wesleyan, Amherst, and Middlebury.

The NESCAC is widely regarded as the best D-III lacrosse conference in the country, and having such steep out-of-conference comSee Men’s LAX continued on Page 15

February 20, 2020

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Women’s LAX continued from Page 10

ciplined and executing playing together to be successful,” Fogg said.

Players to watch Offensively, the team returns Kate Sarnacki at attack who broke the Springfield College record for most points in one season in 2019 with 92, surpassing the previous record of 87 set in 2018.

Along with Sarnacki, Taylor Pichel returns for her junior year after a strong sophomore campaign. She was named the 2019 NEWMAC Championship Most Outstanding Player after scoring four goals in the title game.

Fogg, who can help the Pride offensively scoring 34 points last season but also on the defensive side of the field causing 20 turnovers and picking up 37 ground balls last season.

Sophomore midfielder Katie Martel will also add to the offensive production this year after posting 48 points last year including the game-winning goal in overtime against MIT in the NEWMAC Semifinals.

Atlebrando will help the attack posting 21 points in her first year and looks to build on that in 2020.

“We have to take it one game at a time and work on perfecting the little things, we have

Players celebrating after a win during the 2019 season. (Springfield College Athletics)

to keep communicating and working together keeping in mind our goal of NEWMAC champs,” Altebrando said.

One of the four seniors on the team is goalkeeper Brenna Keefe. Keefe made 131 saves last season and has started every game since her sophomore year.

On the back end, Katie Campbell looks to shut down opponents and add offensive to an already powerful attack.

Campbell had 28 points last season helping the Pride stay in games and win the NEWMAC title.

Senior captain Maria Antonellis will also

bring experience and leadership to the defensive side of the field.

Outlook The season begins for the Pride on Feb. 22 at home against Framingham State on Stagg Field, where Springfield went 8-0 last year.

Springfield will then play Endicott at home on Feb. 26 and then travel across town to Western New England University on Feb. 29 before beginning a stretch of tough out of conference play. That stretch of opponents includes Amherst (Mar. 4), Middlebury (Mar. 8) and at Stevens (Mar. 17).

That stretch of games last season did not go well for the team but that seven-game losing streak was a learning experience.

Although, the 10game win streak the Pride went on last year led them to a NEWMAC championship the team wants to make sure they don’t have another losing skid like last March.

“Pushing through the middle of the season,” Fogg said. “We lost all our games in the middle of the season last year. This year we want to be able push through the tough games and keep our foot on the gas all season.”

Springfield will then

open NEWMAC play at home against MIT on April 21 and Babson on April 28, the two teams they beat en route to their championship last season.

Both teams will definitely be looking for revenge in the new season especially after Springfield was ranked No. 1 in the preseason rankings.

“Along with teams out to beat the first ranked preseason team I think the middle of our season will be the hardest part of our schedule as it was last year, we need to stay strong mentally as well physically in order to push through to the postseason,” Altebrando said.

February 20, 2020

Perry continued from Page 9

such a long time, adjusting himself to the new wave of numbers and data analysis wasn’t the easiest way to go, but the decision has helped make his team that much more successful.

“Sean (Martin) is very much analytical, as is Cam (Earle), you know the younger guys are more tuned into that kind of stuff,” Brock said.

“I’m more inclined to go with what I’ve known and done for a long time, having said that, if there’s something I can use that they come up with and I can use to be applicable, I’m all about it. I just want to do what’s best for the team and help them be successful,” Brock added on bringing Perry into the mix.

The bulk of Perry’s role with the Pride is to break down the numbers after each game and analyze and interpret what the data is saying.

Perry looks at data and through that, makes recommendations to the coaching staff on what changes they may want to make or new things they could try to help the team be more successful.

According to Perry, one example would be that he concluded by looking at the data that junior big man Harper Niven was more effective on the floor when playing with only one of the Jake Ross-Heath Post duo, as opposed to both of them.

“I definitely show the data and I’m very differential. I understand that they (the coaches) know so many more things than I do. I would never think about just saying

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the players at halftime or something like that,” Perry explained.

“Admittedly, I didn’t. I may have my own observations, but as far as end of game suggestions, what the more experienced coaches who played college basketball, what they can say is 20 times more valuable.

I wasn’t sure, I didn’t know just how I could add value in terms of analysis,” he said.

As the season went on and the availability of numbers and data to work from increased, Perry figured out the Perry analyzing statistics during a Pride home game. (Springfield College Athletics) best way to start looking at them and his role like, ‘Play this guy more’ ship has been nothing interact with everyone without telling them the but positive to this point. all that much, but I think became clearer.

“When I actually reason or anything like “Andrew has been great everyone’s happy to have figured out and when I that,” Perry said. “I show with looking at people me there. It’s kind of a them the data and mostly and their statistics and novelty, kind of interest- actually got around to encoding the stuff and let them do with it what figuring out what things ing for a lot of people. they want, but I do also can work well and better It’s not something people getting plus-minus data, then it was really excitpoint out some things together. It’s a huge are used to, having a that seem clear enough.” thing,” Brock said. math guy on the coaching ing because then I really found what to do. I took For Perry, sitting on “It’s been totally smooth staff,” Perry said. that to the coaches and the bench allows him to and part of that is a Between Brock and confirm with his eyes credit to him. He’s not Perry, they have 43 years they said, ‘Yeah this is actually really helpful, we things that the numbers trying to be overbearing combined at Springfield really like it, now maybe tell him are happening in any way at all. We’re College and have both you can do this’ and there on the court. This allows thirsty for any informabeen highly successful in are other things they him to make sure he’s not tion we can get that’s their own ways. want as a longer-term reporting pure statistical going to help us and I Now, joining forces has project,” Perry said. anomalies which can hap- think the kids are too. opened up an entirely If success is any indipen from time to time.

Quite frankly, I think the new and successful way cation, Perry’s presence “I’m looking at the guys enjoy the fact that of looking at the game around the team has kinds of things that have there’s a mathematician for the men’s basketball played at least some role been showing up in the sitting on the bench and program. in the amount of success data recently that I’m he’s also a faculty memIn the early portion of the Birthplace Boys have wondering whether I will ber. He’s not a coach, he’s the season, Perry wasn’t had this season. see visual confirmation a math professor and a quite as sure how he Now, with the NEW(or not),” Perry said. good one, a brilliant one, could fit himself into the “Like when I made so we got him sitting dynamic of the team, but MAC Tournament and potentially a spot in the conclusion about on the bench with us with time, that’s become the NCAA Division III the Harper recommenwhen we’re stressed and much easier.

Tournament looming, dations, then I really trying to win a game or “The awkward time at Perry, Brock, and everyfocused on looking at whatever is going on. It’s first was when I was in him, how does he look been pretty cool,” Brock this position for a while, I one else in the program is preparing for the bigwith the two stars in added. didn’t really have anygest part of the season. there, and how does he The transition into the thing to add. Like Coach If there’s one area the look when he’s more of a role has not only been Brock, when we were Pride are sure to have big-guy focus in a small- seamless for Perry, but with the team, he would er lineup,” he added. it’s been one he’s enjoyed, say, ‘do you have anything an advantage in come postseason time, it’s the For Perry, the staff, and too. to add Coach Perry?’ numbers department. the players, the relation“I don’t necessarily like specifically to tell

February 20, 2020 Men’s LAX continued from Page 12

petition early on will be beneficial for the Pride to gauge where they’re at before heavy NEWMAC play at the tail end of the season.

“Coach Bugbee has done a really good job going out and talking to different schools and putting the best possible teams on our schedule so that come

May, once we hit playoff time, we’ve played those teams and we know we can compete with them, and it gives us confidence,” Cameron said.

The final week of the regular season will consist of three NEWMAC games at Stagg Field. In the meantime, the Pride are looking to build off of what they established last year.

“The biggest thing as a coach is you want to not

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underachieve. That’s on you as a coach, don’t let your team underachieve. That’s the worst feeling when you underachieve,” Bugbee said. “The best feeling in coaching is when you overachieve, but you can’t determine that. No coach has anything to do with overachieving teams. My standards don’t change.

“These are my standards, and if you reach

those standards, we’re achieving what we should be. Overachieving is going over those standards, and last year’s team I think overachieved. I don’t think we were really that good a team, and at the end of the year, we were as good as anybody. We gave Cabrini a better game than Amherst did in the national title game.”

Last year’s Pride over-

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achieved for one very simple reason.

Everyone showed up.

“They lacked something, but they gained it. I’ll always be in debt for them to rediscover themselves as human beings,” Bugbee said.

“I think they took my life story and took it to another level.”

The road to 13-straight begins Feb. 22 when the Pride travel to Nazareth.

UPCOMING ATHLETIC EVENTS Saturday, Feb. 22

Sunday, Feb. 23

Women’s track and field – Triangle Classic

10:30 a.m.

Men’s track and field – Triangle Classic

10:30 a.m.

Women’s lacrosse vs. Framingham St.

12:00 p.m.

Women’s basketball vs. Wellesley

12:00 p.m.

Men’s basketball vs. Babson

2:00 p.m.

Men’s volleyball vs. SUNY Potsdam

3:00 p.m.

Men’s volleyball vs. No. 4 NYU

7:00 p.m.

Women’s gymnastics vs. Rhode Island College

1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 26 Women’s lacrosse vs. Endicott

4:00 p.m.

SWIMMING & DIVING @ NEWMAC CHAMPIONSHIPS Friday Feb. 22 – Sunday Feb. 23

SPORTS LAX IS BACK The Springfield Student

Both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams look to defend their NEWMAC titles.

[See inside]

VOL. 134 NO. 16

(Sam Leventhal/The Student)

FEBRUARY 20, 2020