The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: February, 23rd 2017

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Legend in the making

Hannah Murphy enters final lacrosse season

By Henry Brechter

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Collegian Staff

ince Angela McMahon became the coach for the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team in 2009, she and her staff have maintained and groomed no shortage of talent, from transfer-turned-star Erika Eipp, to three-time Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year Jackie Lyons.

UMass can now add Hannah Murphy to that list.

Murphy, a senior midfielder and team co-captain, enters the year with plenty of accolades. A two-time A-10 Midfielder of the Year and a 2016 All-American, she is the latest member of the Minutewomen to shatter old records and post top numbers of her own.

“She’s constantly doing extra work to improve herself as an individual,” McMahon said. “She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached in my career, and she wants to do anything and everything in order to help the team be successful.”

The Duxbury, Massachusetts native played three varsity sports in each of her four years at Duxbury High School. She was a four-time league all-star in

lacrosse, was named a first-team All-American and was one of the MIAA’s Will McDonough Athletes of the Year in 2013.

After graduating and choosing UMass over two other schools, her athletic career barely missed a beat.

She started six games for the Minutewomen her freshman year, and established herself as a draw control specialist, finishing second on the team with 45 draw wins.

She broke out in her sophomore campaign, setting UMass and A-10 records for single-season draw controls with 113. On offense, her 46 goals led the team, and she was named the conference’s best midfielder for the 2015 season.

In 2016, Murphy once again lit it up and posted stellar numbers.

She finished the season with 310 career draw wins, good for 12th in NCAA history. She earned her second consecutive A-10 Midfielder of the Year award and was named the A-10 Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after helping lead the Minutewomen to the Elite Eight, where they fell to topranked Maryland. Entering 2017, she averaged 4.92 draw wins a game, seventh best all-time.

Athletically gifted, Murphy could easily play attack or defense.

But her intangibles, on-field awareness and ball-hawking skills make her a presence in the middle of the field and one of the country’s best

players at the position.

“Her overall athleticism and instincts really separate her,” McMahon said. “She just has those natural instincts to read plays well. She has great hands, and she is a competitor. She’s really fearless, and is always tracking the ball and watching the ball, so wherever there’s a play going on, she’s usually near it.”

Murphy is one of just five seniors on the Minutewomen’s 2017 roster, and one of the team’s clear-cut leaders. But as a freshman on a team with eight senior starters, Murphy was quiet and reserved, eager to see some playing time.

“I just wanted to get on the field as much as possible,” Murphy said of her first year. “But I was definitely on the quiet side.”

“I don’t think I heard her say one word for her entire first year,” McMahon said with a laugh.

“But now, she gained confidence, embraced her role as a leader, and has just been really true to herself.

She has been an amazing leader and captain for us, and does a really good job connecting with everyone on the team.”

Murphy’s individual accomplishments are impressive, and by the end of the season, she will be in the top 10 for several all-time NCAA records. While her career is something to marvel at, her sucsee

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

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BASEBALL

THE HART OF THE LINEUP No. 3 hitter readies for senior season

By Philip Sanzo

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Collegian Staff

arber Field is the home of the Massachusetts men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. On occasion though, it serves as a practice field, free of snow, for the Massachusetts baseball team. Last Friday was a perfect day for baseball on the field… if it was about 25 degrees warmer.

The cloudless sky allowed the sun to shine on the bright green turf without any sort of obstruction, making the 35 degree temperature a bit more bearable. The team stretched, played catch and broke off into groups based on position. In the far right corner of the field, with the most space, were the outfielders. Among them was Mike Hart.

While many on the team sported maroon UMass pullover sweatshirts and the occasional beanie, Hart stuck to just his maroon “UMass Baseball” T-shirt over another black threequarter sleeve. He decided to go with the throwback UMass cap with an interlocking “UM” and Adidas training shoes that at one point were new and white.

Hart hits left-handed, yet throws with his right hand, and patrols his part of the outfield with unmatched intensity and passion. It can be an Atlantic 10 game at Earl Lorden Field or a midFebruary practice at Garber,

it doesn’t matter.

Hart needs—not just wants—to give it his all.

He needed to be the hardest worker in the room simply to earn a start. Now, following a breakout season, the pressure is on for Hart to maintain that dominance.

“I love it—no I love it,” he said. “The pressure is there for a reason. I work hard when people say I can’t do something. I use that as motivation.”

*** With the 2017 season a week away from commencing at Elon University, the Minutemen are unsure how the lineup is going to look. But UMass coach Mike Stone made one thing certain: Hart’s name will be penciled in as the number 3 hitter on the lineup card.

Hart’s 2016 stats fit the mold of a traditional threehole hitter. In 43 games for the Minutemen last season, Hart hit a team leading .313, along with three home runs and 14 runs batted in.

His performance as part of the Seacoast Mavericks in the Futures League this past summer backed up the stats from the 2016 season. In 45 games with the Mavericks, Hart hit .364, belted 10 home runs and drove in 31 runs against college-level talent from all over the country.

There is no denying that Hart has been blowing up the stat sheets over the course of the last year, and Stone believes the 2017

campaign could be his best yet. What can get lost in all the hits and RBIs that Hart has accumulated in the past year though, is the work the once walk-on catcher has put into this game.

His one and only season of high school varsity baseball came when he was a senior in 2012. A .329 average helped earn him a spot on the All-Conference team and recognition as a league All-Star. Despite the accolades, Hart, a catcher at the time, left high school without being recruited.

After not playing baseball his entire freshman year and contemplating giving up the sport entirely, Hart walked on to the Massachusetts baseball team as a sophomore. That 2014 season, Hart appeared in only two games and had just two atbats. He went 0-for-2 with a strike out.

In that first season with UMass, Stone made it clear Hart would have to prove his worth in order play a significant role with the team.

“So at that point, I just kind of realized that if I want to be a [Division 1] athlete, I have to put in D-I work and from there on out I just put in extra, extra extra extra until I got to where I am now,” Hart said.

Though Hart started his collegiate career as a catcher, he transitioned to the outfield following a defensive display he put on during batting practice toward the end of his first season. His diving and sliding efforts in the outfield during batting practice caught the attention of his teammates

and coaches, enough to at least get Hart to trade his catcher’s mitt in for an outfielder’s glove.

But for fellow senior and outfielder, Dylan Morris, it was a pinch-hit opportunity Hart had against Richmond May 3, 2015 that put his name on everyone’s radar.

“The next year, our sophomore year against Richmond, [he came in ] in a pinch-hit and he hit this home run to right-center and the ball is still going now,” Morris said. “When he hit that, I was like, ‘Wow. This kid’s legit and he’s going to be a stud for us.’”

The home run came in the ninth inning and would spark a five-run rally. The Minutemen ultimately lost the game to the Spiders, 10-7.

Stone now admits that when Hart joined the team, he was unsure what player he would become. However, Hart’s attitude and commitment to getting better stuck out. He doesn’t waste a swing, let alone a practice or work out. So while Stone couldn’t predict what Hart could become, he could tell he possessed an attribute that boded well for his future.

“Every kid that we’ve always had, whoever has been the best of the best has had that extra work ethic that he has,” Stone said.

one more season with the Minutemen. To do this, Hart had to take the fall semester off.

Staying in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Hart did not allow being away from Amherst to deter his preparation for the coming season. While working with a hitting coach, Hart worked out with UMass baseball alum, Kyle Adie. Adie graduated from UMass in 2015 and is currently playing in California in the Independent League.

NCAA rules prevented Hart from having much communication with UMass coaches including Stone, but, being a senior, Hart was pretty familiar with the offseason routine.

In addition to the typical baseball training, Hart made it a point to bulk up— *** putting on approximately 20 As a fifth-year student, pounds over the offseason.

Hart only needs a few cred- His official weight is listed its to graduate, and elected at 200, which is a little lower to take them in the spring. than it was at the beginning This allows him to play of the semester. Everyday

practices have caused Hart to shed a few pounds over the course of the last few weeks.

“As a number 3 hitter, we’re always going for average, but we also need that power number, especially when we don’t score as many runs as we did last year,” Hart said. “A couple of extra doubles and a couple of extra base hits may help out.”

Losing catcher and captain John Jennings to graduation means losing nine home runs and 32 RBIs, the Minutemen’s primary source of production last season. This served as an incentive for Hart to put on some weight and hopefully improve his power numbers.

While Stone agrees the additional muscle will improve Hart’s power, he noted Hart is more of a line drive hitter and to ask someone to hit home runs at the collegiate level is unrealissee

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UMass looks to rebound New England baseball teams after disappointing 2016 endure climate disadvantage

By Chris Marino

By Tyler Fiedler Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts baseball team, coming off of a disappointing 2016 campaign that resulted in an 18-27 record, is coming into the season with much optimism and hopes of a fresh start. However, the first two months of 2017 haven’t been all that kind to UMass, as injuries have already begun sprouting with opening day still more than a week away.

For Minutemen coach Mike Stone, who enters his 30th and final season in the dugout, he believes his group of young pitchers are ready to overcome the obstacles of the injuries that have already burdened the pitching staff “We have good, young kids who are going to earn innings early,” Stone said. “Unfortunately, we are banged up with [our] older kids, so they will have to take advantage of them being banged up.”

The Minutemen enter the new season with 10 underclassmen pitchers, each of whom is hoping for an opportunity to see time early this year. Though UMass is returning seven players who pitched last season, only Ryan Moloney, Kevin Hassett, Ryan Venditti and Mike Geannelis are upperclassmen. Moloney was the best of the group, posting a 3.49 earned run average in 11 games. Stone is going to rely on his underclassmen to provide innings. Sophomore Justin Lasko, who Stone ref-

erenced as being in consideration to be the Minutemen’s opening day starter, went 4-1 with a 4.19 ERA in 10 games started a year ago.

On the other hand, UMass’ starting lineup is littered with upperclassmen.

The Minutemen are returning seven of their top 10 players from 2016. Top hitters Mike Hart, Geannelis, Jon Avallone, Dylan Morris and Brett Evangelista are all returning to the lineup. “ I hope it means that they will provide good leadership,” Stone said. “We need leaders and they fill vital roles so hopefully they can be good, positive leaders.”

The infield will consist of Geannelis along with utility players Cooper Mrowka and Matt Hosman, who will get opportunities when Geannelis is pitching.

Second base might be the most questionable position for the Minutemen heading into 2016. Senior Bryce Maher and sophomore Alec Norton appear to be the two guys manning the position this season. Norton went hitless in his 11 his at-bats last season, while Maher hit just .103 in 39 plate appearances.

At shortstop, Ryan Lever looks like he will get the nod, while senior Avallone will start at third base for the second straight season.

The outfield might be the most productive spot for the Minutemen lineup, as power hitter Hart, Morris and Evangelista, barring injuries, will be the top three

outfielders for UMass with sophomore Dylan Robinson filling in when needed.

Catcher and captain John Jennings’ leadership, defensive presence and offensive production will not be easy to replace. Matt Bare and Andrew Noonan have big shoes to fill heading into the season, as neither had much success in 2016.UMass will once again begin the season on a long road trip. Its first game is Mar. 3, as Elon hosts the Minutemen for a threegame set in North Carolina.

The Minutemen’s first home game will be Mar. 28 against Northeastern, as 21 of their first 22 games will be on the road.

“Of course we are [at a disadvantage],” Stone said.

“We won’t be playing for the first two weekends but we don’t dwell on it. We just need to go out and play.”

UMass will play defending Atlantic 10 champion Rhode Island on the road May 5-7 while they play A-10 favorite Saint Louis April 13-15 at Earl Lorden Field. The mixture of youth in the rotation and veteran leadership in the lineup should bring about an intriguing season for a group of returning players eager for a chance to bounce back after a disappointing 2016 campaign. Injuries, however, might hamper the Minutemen from taking that next step forward.

Tyler Fiedler can be reached at tfiedler@umass.edu or followed on Twitter @Tyler_Fiedler.

Collegian Staff

It’s the fourth week in February and Division I baseball kicked off nationwide a week ago. In Amherst, the rest of the Massachusetts baseball team jogs into a hardwood gymnasium to begin practice. UMass’ regular season starts in two weeks, but the team likely won’t step on a baseball diamond before then.

With a foot of snow slowly melting away on the Minutemen’s Earl Lorden Field and limited turf availability, this is largely how UMass will prepare for Opening Day weekend when it faces Elon Mar. 3-5 in North Carolina.

“We practice indoors so we don’t get a chance to

play before we start playing games that count,” Stone said. “In Major League spring training, they play 30-plus games before they’re playing the regular season. It’s a big difference.”

In addition to the confined practice circumstances early season baseball entails in New England, additional reasons outside of the team’s control result in a start to the season 14 days after the first Division I games are played.

“For budgetary reasons, we are not able to play for the first two weekends,” Stone said. “That’s major.

It takes a while for you to catch up. You need atbats as a hitter, you need innings as a pitcher.”

Now in his 30th season as

UMass’ coach, this is nothing new for Stone. While this week Massachusetts will see 60-degree weather, New England isn’t so amiable for pitchers and catchers to work on their craft on the diamond at this time of year.

Although nothing replaces live baseball on a college regulation-sized field, there are supplements the team uses to maximize their preparation for live game action in March.

“We work upstairs in Boyden [Gymnasium], where there are six basketball courts and we do live situations. We also scrimmage at Amherst College at their cage field house so we get live situations there as well without an see

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

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M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

ROAD TO RECOVERY Weeks missed final five games last year

By Jamie Cushman

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Collegian Staff

he Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team entered a midseason matchup in 2016 against Penn State last year with a record of 3-4 after an up-and-down start to the season.

The Jekyll and Hyde nature of the team was illustrated by a convincing 16-9 win over No. 11 Ohio State and an overtime loss to No. 14 Harvard, but also by debilitating losses like a 15-7 defeat against No. 7 Brown and a 16-4 drubbing by No. 15 Albany at Garber Field.

UMass left Happy Valley with a win over Penn Sate, but did not return to Amherst all that happy, as now-senior defenseman Tyler Weeks went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), ending his season and effectively the Minutemen’s season in the process, as UMass lost its five remaining games, missing out on the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament.

“We didn’t win another game without him, so it tells you what kind of influence he has on our team,” Minutemen coach Greg Cannella said.

Now, Weeks is back on the field, healthy enough to play, even if not fully recovered.

With one season of lacrosse left, he’s ready to lead UMass and its young defensive core back to the CAA tournament.

Injury When Weeks went to the ground after trying to move left-to-right following a faceoff, he heard a pop, knowing right then the seriousness of his injury. His teammates could also tell Weeks was in trouble.

“I remember standing on the sideline and I saw it happen and my heart dropped,” senior goalkeeper D.J. Smith said. “I felt terrible, but I knew he’s a very mentally-strong kid and I knew it wouldn’t get him too down and I knew he would recover and he would make a good comeback and be the Tyler that we need.”

The old adage that you don’t really know about something until you experience it yourself apparently does not apply to tearing your ACL, because Weeks said his injury lived up exactly to what he had heard from other players.

“Everything that anyone’s ever told me about tearing their ACL, like the pop and how bad it hurts for 30 seconds and it goes away, it kind of fit [the] bill,” Weeks said of his

injury.

Recovery The recovery and rehab process can be long, and both physically and emotionally draining. While his teammates were out on the practice field preparing for games, Weeks was relegated to the sidelines, working on getting his knee back to full strength.

At times that rehab process can make you feel isolated.

“That’s probably the hardest thing, when everyone’s going out to practice every day and you’re sitting on the sideline just rehabbing the knee, you kind of feel not part of the team at some points. What gets you through it is kind of just staying a part of the team, making sure you’re with the guys,” Weeks said.

Weeks’ teammates definitely took notice of the work he was doing to rejoin them out on the field, and the Andover, Massachusetts native did everything he could to help the Minutemen improve.

“He’s been working like crazy to get back,” Smith said.

“I know it’s tough for him but he’s had a goal since that day down at Penn State that the injury happened that he wanted to get back and play as soon as he could, and he’s been working every single day to get

Minutemen look to improve, grow throughout 2017 season UM dropped first two games of year

By Kyle DaLuz Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team heads into its third game of the 2017 campaign without a victory to its credit.

The Minutemen (0-2) lost their opening contest to Army West Point by a 9-2 margin in an underwhelming performance—totaling just 19 shots with nine reaching the opposing goalkeeper.

UMass responded the way one would expect after a tough defeat, and battled No. 20 Ohio State to the brink at Ohio Stadium over the weekend, but failed to upset the Buckeyes in an 8-7 nailbiter.

The improvement from week one to week two was evident, particularly in UMass’ offensive production. The Minutemen generated 29 shots, 10 more than the previous week and committed five less turnovers.

Sophomore midfielder Ben Spencer tallied a hat trick in defeat—one goal more than UMass scored in 60 minutes in the opener at Garber

Field.

“We’re working,” goalkeeper D.J. Smith said.

“We’re going to be working throughout the season regardless of wins and losses. We’re just trying to get better every single time we get on the field. We’re definitely improving. We’re on the right path right now.”

“You want to be 2-0, but we’ve definitely progressed from the first week to last week and going on the road and playing a really good opponent in Ohio State and playing well enough to win,” Minutemen coach Greg Cannella said. “That’s progress. In terms of the attitude and enthusiasm that the guys had last week and into the weekend, that’s progress.”

Smith stopped 10 Buckeyes shots in Columbus for his second consecutive double-digit save performance after denying 12 shots from the Black Knights in the season opener.

The senior earned his starting spot over his fellow Minutemen goalies in the offseason and has been a vocal leader on and off the field in helping mentor the young defensive unit in front of him, which features

freshmen Dan O’Brien, Dan Tracy, Jackson Suboch and Stephen Megnia.

That leadership, along with competent play of the last line of defense for UMass, will be crucial in securing future victories this season.

“Being a senior in general, being an upperclassman, that [leader] role kind of falls upon you in general,” Smith said. “Our whole team has stepped up leadership-wise. We have leaders in our senior class, junior class, sophomore class and freshmen class. As a whole, we’re doing great in terms of leadership. I think from the beginning of this year, regardless of playing time or not, I realized that I had a leadership role that was important to this team.”

The defense has been steady throughout the Minutemen’s first two games of the season, paced by Tyler Weeks, Shane Rinkus and Luc Valenza, among others.

Weeks and midfielder Isaac Paparo were the lone members of UMass to be recognized by the Colonial Athletic Association as preseason all-conference players. Paparo corralled a career-high six groundballs see

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back there.”

Even with Weeks sidelined and not participating in team drills, Cannella could still see the values that make him such an important member to the team both on and off the field.

“This fall he didn’t play at all in practice but he was out there on the sidelines running and helping (assistant coach) Craig McDonald coach, so you saw good leadership and you saw a guy that was a role model for whomever, anybody that ever got hurt and anybody that had to take time off,” Cannella said.

Leadership As the goalie, Smith appreciates having someone like Weeks out there in front of him who can take charge and teach those around him.

“It’s great because we have a lot of leadership down on the defensive end and he knows the defense inside and out so if a younger guy like Dan O’Brien or someone might have a question, Tyler’s definitely got the answer right away, which is good for ingame adjustments,” Smith said.

Weeks sees himself as just following in the footsteps of those Garber Gorillas who came before him.

“Just [giving] the younger

As the most-experienced senior on a defensive group that features a lot of youth like freshmen Dan O’Brien and Dan Tracy and sophomore Greg Pandise, Weeks has taken on a leadership role among the UMass squad.

Cannella sees this most when Weeks takes charge of the defense out on the field during games.

“He’s an on-the-field guy, leads by example, but also he leads in the small group with the defense, and again that’s a big part of what those guys are doing now is that leadership and making sure those guys are sticking together,” Cannella said.

MURPHY

guys some insight I think is my biggest thing with them,” Weeks said. “I’ve been in their shoes before so what I heard from older guys before me, try to give the younger guys what I heard.”

Now in his final season for the Minutemen, Weeks hopes his hard work will pay off to the tune of a CAA tournament appearance. “[I hope] for the team, success. The team’s working hard.

I just want the boys to come together and do well this season and make CAAs. CAAs is what we’re looking at,” Weeks said.

Jamie Cushman can be reached at jrcushman@umass.edu.

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from unparalleled.

The Minutewomen coach took the program to new heights in her first few seasons, posting the all-time best record for any coach in their first three years with a program (54-8). Her drive to win and ability to motivate players has made UMass a regular in the NCAA Tournament.

“Before I got to UMass, pretty much all I knew about coach McMahon was that she liked winning, which I liked too,” Murphy said. “I resApected her a lot, and as I grew as a player, I feel like we naturally got closer each year. I really learn a lot from her on and off the field.”

Over McMahon’s career as coach, UMass has had five All-Americans—Katie Ferris, Kelsey McGovern, Lyons, Eipp and Murphy.

Murphy was a freshman when Ferris and McGovern, who now coaches the Minutewomen, were seniors, and starred alongside Eipp each of the past two years.

“I really learned a lot as a freshman,” Murphy said. “Obviously people like Katie Ferris and Kelsey McGovern were very successful, and they were very good mentors. On the field, I learned a lot from their skills. And then playing with players like Erika,

WEATHER

who was so smart with the ball and poised in finishing shots, really makes you a better player.”

Murphy has always played alongside premier talent. Now, it’s her turn to carry the torch.

“She’s going to do a lot for us, but she is also an ultimate team player,” McMahon said. “She knows that it’s not a one-woman show, and that the more spread out our possessions and offense are, the more successful we will be. She really works hard for the team to get better.”

After losing several senior starters to graduation in 2016, Murphy’s leadership is needed now more

than ever. While it appears she will add more individual records to her career resume this season, her focus remains on the team’s success. The Minutewomen have made it a step further than the past season in each of her three playoff runs, and with one last shot at the NCAA Tournament looming, the goal is evident.

“We need to stay disciplined on and off the field,” Murphy said. “If we believe in ourselves and are willing to put in the extra work, we’ll get there. We need to stay disciplined and hungry for more.”

Henry Brechter can be reached at hbrechter@umass.edu.

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outfield,” Stone said. “You do all you can to simulate, we go outside and get on the lacrosse field and get fly balls and pop ups on a nice day if it’s not too cold.

We just try to simulate situations that we can.”

However, there are some situations that can’t be simulated. As Stone eluded, live at-bats can’t be replicated in a gym or a tunnel. The hitter’s preseason workouts are confined to the batting cage, meaning the first time the Minutemen will face a pitcher from 60-feet-6 inches will be on Opening Day. In addition to the weather, Earl Lorden’s grass surface makes it more difficult to practice in the early months of the season.

“Being from the north

it would be a lot easier if we had turf,” Stone said.

“We would be on it now.

We’d be on it today if we had a turf field. We would have been on it last week.

It would be a big advantage.”

Stone likens the dynamic this situation creates to playing a game of catchup. Live competition is irreplaceable, and truly the only way to tweak how the team performs in the moment of a game is repetition. To raise the level of competition, the Minutemen put out there time in and time out, they need to take advantage of these early season matchups to improve.

Most importantly, the conditions represent a challenge to remain in

positive conference standing and within striking distance, as the season progresses, not a seasonending roadblock.

“You just try to not make a big deal of it, it’s the way it is, you can’t change it,” Stone said. “We just try not to dwell on it, do what we can to get ready to go from there. We need to be tough mentally and physically.”

UMass won’t play a game outdoors in Amherst until Mar. 28 when it hosts Northeastern. Until then, a gymnasium is the tool Stone and the Minutemen have been provided with to remain competitive.

Chris Marino can be reached at cmarino@umass.edu.

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

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WO M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

UMass defense takes on leadership role Fischer, Ryan lead quest for A-10 title

By Mollie Walker Collegian Staff

Defense is an aspect of the game the Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team has prided itself on season after season. Coming off an impressive campaign in 2016, all eyes are on the upand-coming 2017 defensive unit.

The Minutewomen (1-2) finished last season 20-2, going undefeated in conference play (9-0) and making it all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

Their conference play was highlighted by the team’s ability to keep all but one of their opponents under 10 goals.

“I think that our defense takes a lot of ownership and pride in playing together as a unit,” UMass coach Angela McMahon said. “The younger players really buy into that early on.”

The Minutewomen opened this season with two back-to-back losses against Boston College (18-10) and Colorado (11-7), but earned their first win of the season in a 14-13 win at Jacksonville last Sunday. Coming off a season with two losses in total, this is not the way UMass usually starts.

“We’ve never gone undefeated since I’ve been here, so we’ve lost games,” McMahon said. “Defense is something we’ve always taken a lot of pride in, it’s always been our strong suit no matter who it’s been.”

McMahon’s defensive unit last year, consisting of graduates Amber Tobin, Anne Farnham and Kate Farnham, helped anchor a team that averaged 7.09 goals against per game. The ques-

tion remains if the newest rotation of defenders will be able to maintain such a strong presence.

McMahon described the first couple of games without her former defensive group as “different.” Though the seventh-year head coach made a point to say it was neither a bad nor a good different.

“We have different types of players that are stronger in different areas,” McMahon said. “I’d say yes it’s noticeable, but not that I think we’ve necessarily had any sort of drop off, it’s just a different style of play.”

The Farnham twins left all of their defensive talent to speak for itself in the box scores. Anne finished last season with a team-high 46 groundballs. Kate trailed right behind her sister, tying for the second-most groundballs with 44. Kate also lead the team in caused turnovers, with 33.

Senior defender Taylor Fischer looks at her former teammates graduating as an obvious loss, though her faith in the players who have recently been stepping up keeps her optimistic about the season.

“We definitely adjusted quickly as a defensive unit,” Fischer said. “A lot of underclassman stepped up, which has had a huge positive impact on the team.”

The New York native also pointed out her coach’s decision to shift around their defense formation to adapt to the team’s new strengths and weaknesses.

Fischer appeared in all 22 games last season, earning starts on six different occasions. She finished her junior year with 11 groundballs, five caused turnovers and one draw control.

“I definitely felt pressure [during] my first career

start,” Fischer recalled.

“Our team is really good about blocking out the noise and just focusing on what’s in front of us in that game and in that moment.”

McMahon also looks to senior defender Allison Ryan to take control of the nationally ranked defensive unit.

Ryan started all 22 games in her junior season while simultaneously transitioning from a midfielder to a defender. She finished last season with 13 ground balls, 16 caused turnovers and 10 draw controls while also scoring a goal.

“Transitioning was a very interesting experience,” Ryan said. “People like Taylor, Amber Tobin and the Farnham twins made it really easy. They helped me, pulled me aside and made things a lot easier for myself.”

Ryan described Tobin and the Farnham twins’ absence having been “difficult at points,” but the players who have been stepping up have been “finding a role for themselves and doing unbelievably.”

“What we’ve already seen from them is them stepping up as leaders both on the field and off the field,” McMahon said of Fischer and Ryan. “Vocally, they’re just always getting the team together and getting them going, but also just being vocal in their support of all their teammates.”

McMahon referred to the pair as “on-field coaches” that have the respect from all of their teammates because of their respective careers at UMass.

“The team respects them as leaders,” McMahon said. “I’m just really excited for them and hope they have their best year yet as seniors.”

Fischer made a point to praise the Minutewomen’s overall fitness. She believes last season there were individuals on the team who were more athletic than others, but now the whole team has reached the same level.

“That’s really big when it comes to ground balls and ball controls, those 50/50 things that matter and could be the game-changer,” Fischer said.

McMahon mentioned UMass’ focus is on “the game within the game,” referring to improving draw controls, possessions and the team’s shots. She believes that given the length of the season, improving and developing players along the way is what’s crucial to their suc-

cess.

“I think since the Boston College game, we’ve done just that,” McMahon said of the player progression. “We’ve steadily improved each and every time we’ve stepped out on the field.”

With that being said, both Ryan and Fischer hope to see the Minutewomen go the furthest in the postseason the program has ever gone.

“That’s always the goal,” Ryan said. “Final Four, National Championship, that’s what we’re aiming for.

That’s what we’re always aiming for.”

Fischer believes in not thinking too far ahead and taking each game one by one as they come. Though she admitted the Atlantic 10 championship was in the

back of her mind.

“We’re definitely chasing for nine [A-10 championships],” Fischer added. “Our slogan right now is ‘nine is fine.’”

Before the Minutewomen come anywhere close to the A-10 championship, the new defensive unit will have to uphold its reputation.

“Critical,” said McMahon, when asked how important defense will be this season.

“It’s about putting the focus on everyone contributing, all seven players in the unit, we always have to play as a team.”

Mollie Walker can be reached at molliewalker@umass.edu, and followed on Twitter @MWalker2019.

SOFTBALL

TENNIS

Coach Judy Dixon readies for Early tournaments final season with Minutewomen present challenge

By Jake Mackey Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts tennis program will look drastically different at this time next year, with the departure of long-time head coach Judy Dixon, who’s entering her 25th and final season as the Minutewomen’s coach.

Dixon joined the UMass program in 1992, pulling double-duty and coaching the now defunct men’s tennis team from 1993–2001. She will leave behind a legacy that includes an Atlantic 10 championship in 2001, an NCAA Tournament berth, two New England championships in 1996 and 2001 and over 300 career wins.

“I am proud of the success of the men’s and women’s team, both on and off the court. However, what has meant the most to me is the opportunity to engage daily with young adults, to help guide them through their four years of college and to stay connected with them as they move into productive lives,” Dixon said in a press release in September. “As I look back on my 25 years, what stays with me the most

is the camaraderie, caring and commitment I have witnessed. Truly, I have been a lucky person.”

Dixon also had an illustrious playing career. She won the National Junior Indoor Championship at age 17, and then moved on to play at the University of Southern California. She also had a successful professional career that included a pairing with the number one player in the world at the time in Billie Jean King, in addition to appearances at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

“Judy does a really good job of getting a really good balance between when to be hard on us and when we need some encouragement,” senior Anna Woosley said.

“For example, after our loss against Georgetown she was really good at evaluating the match afterwards and not being too tough on us because it was a really tough loss for us, but the next day she was really tough on us against George Washington, and she got us really motivated for that match and we came out with a win. She just finds a really good balance.”

“I don’t want a Kobe Bryant or a Big Papi farewell tour. I’m well aware that every day is the last day of this, but I want to put it aside and revist it at the end of the season.”

UMass coach Judy Dixon ` While much of the focus from the outside will be on Dixon’s swan song as a coach, inside the locker room and on the court, the primary focus as always is on winning a championship. The Minutewomen’s 2015-16 campaign came to a crashing halt last April in the A-10 Championships in Mason, Ohio. UMass was the second seed in the tournament after a 14-6 regular season.

Nevertheless, in the first round it fell to No. 7 George Washington 4-3. The sour taste from that loss has stuck with Minutewomen players and coaches going into this season.

“The reason we feel like we didn’t do as well as we could have in A-10’s last year is because we took it for granted. We were seeded two and we had done really well the previous year, and

we kind of felt like we were doing so well we took it all for granted,” said Woosley, who will be playing her last matches for UMass this spring.“We are really trying hard to emphasize how much we really want to win A-10’s this year but also not doing what we did last year,” Woosley added. “We don’t want to say ‘when we win A-10’s,’ we want to take it one step at a time. If we win a match great, if we lose a match we learn from it and move on.”

When asked if she had any extra incentive to try and win this season given the fact that it is both her final season as a player and her coach’s final year, Woosley said, “I just think [about] freshman year, I really thought we would have a chance to see

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By Liam Flaherty Collegian Staff

At the collegiate level, the difficult task of making it through an entire season and walking away at the end with a championship begins before the first pitch is even thrown.

For the Massachusetts softball team, the offseason has come and gone. After a 24-22, 15-6 Atlantic 10 record last season, its opportunity to start this year’s journey and put the hours of work in the gym and batting cages to use has arrived.

But the early stretch of the 2017 season won’t be an easy one for the Minutewomen, as they travel to take on non-conference opponents in three states— Texas, Mississippi and California—in a month’s time.

The first games of the season are already behind the team, as they concluded their first tournament over the weekend.

UMass returned from Florida on Monday, where it competed in the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational, garnering a 2-3 record while playing teams like Central Michigan, Oakland University and Robert Morris.

It is safe to say that getting the first one out of the way is a good feeling for the players.

“I was so happy to be playing again,” junior ace Meg Colleran said. “There’s really nothing that beats it.”

Even though they’ll be

flying all over the country, Minutewomen coach Kristi Stefanoni isn’t concerned with the amount of traveling the early season is going to entail and believes that more good can come from the trips than bad.

“Road trips build a lot of great things because you’re around each other all the time,” Stefanoni said. “We make sure that wherever we go, [the players] leave their cell phones on the bus so they can actually engage with each other.”

With so many games played in such a short amount of time, it will be imperative to the long-term success of the UMass team that it maintain the health of its players, giving pitchers and catchers specifically enough opportunity to rest when the need presents itself. “[Health] is extremely important to us. [The players] are always told to take care of themselves with treatment when they get back and then my staff and I talk about what the next couple of days will be for them in order to get ready for the next weekend,” Stefanoni said.

In the pitching circle, the Minutewomen’s starting rotation will relish the tournaments as an opportunity to get back into the groove of the regular season. With so many games to work out the early-season kinks, Colleran is looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

Thursday, February 23, 2017

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SOFTBALL

Young defense up to task UM prepares for long season

Weeks, Luc Valenza set to lead defense B y T homas Johnston Collegian Staff

It’s never easy losing three starters on any defense. It’s even tougher when those players were team captains.

The Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team graduated three defensive captains last year—Kyle Karaska, Bob Fahey and Kevin Porzelt— leaving a large void to be filled in the back end for the Minutemen.

“It’s hard to replace any really good leaders, but you hope that Tyler [Weeks] and D.J. [Smith] really paid attention to those guys and how they led,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said. “It certainly has helped them now and will help them throughout the year here.”

Typically, it is asked of the seniors to lead a team. The Minutemen (0-2) are sticking to that idea this year, appointing close defenseman Tyler Weeks, goalkeeper D.J. Smith and attackman Grant Consoletti as team captains.

Having two players at the back end of the defense holding authority over the team gives stability to the younger, less experienced players who have been thrust into action.

Senior Dylan Gruder, a short-stick defensive midfielder, feels he needs to step up and help the younger guys out, but is comfortable knowing there are multiple guys in the back end ready to lead.

“As a senior, you have to be a leader,” Gruder said.

“But, at the same time there’s other leaders on the defense

DIXON

who all help each other out.

You have Tyler Weeks, D.J. Smith and even sophomores like Isaac Paparo… everyone leads. I think the defense does a great job leading each other.

It’s not just one leader, it’s multiple.”

After missing half of last season with a knee injury, Weeks has returned to anchor the defense, and is joined by junior Luc Valenza and freshman Dan O’Brien.

Smith takes over in cage after earning six starts last season, while Gruder starts at shortstick defensive midfielder.

Valenza, who played sparingly during his first two seasons at UMass, sat behind former veterans and is finally applying the lessons he learned in his first year as a starter.

“For someone like Luc, when you look at where we are in our society, especially in athletics, this is hard,” Cannella said of Valenza’s patience. “So for a lot of these guys, where they were the top guy at their high school, their county, their state, they come here and suddenly it’s different.”

“For someone to persevere through two years and finally see the fruits of that, that’s an awesome role model. Luc is a great role model for our younger players who may not be playing right now.”

For O’Brien, everything is new. It is not easy for a freshman to start from day one for a Division I program, but that was what Cannella asked him to do. Cannella understands O’Brien may get lost out there at times, but loves the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the team. He hopes that if O’Brien, or any member of

the team, makes a mistake, they are doing it at 100 miles per hour.

As with any inexperienced group learning to play together, there will be growing pains. So far, the Minutemen defense has shown flashes of solid play, but they are still far from a finished product.

Valenza gave the unit a “B” grade for the season thus far.

“I think we’ve definitely improved a lot from the fall season,” Valenza said. “Each week we progressively get better and better, and we’re not the best so I’d say we’re a good ‘B’ right now.”

Assistant coach Craig McDonald, who works primarily with the defense, has been impressed with the unit, noting how hard they work to continue to improve each day.

“It’s been good so far,” McDonald said. “They’ve had a good attitude every day in terms of coming out, working extremely hard and having a lot of energy.”

With the young group, there is a lot of room to grow, and Cannella doesn’t want the group to stop growing.

“You hope that their potential is at the ceiling and we’re at the baseboard and we can continue to grow,” Cannella said. “The second they reach their potential, you have to set the bar further for the next one. You just hope that they all, more importantly than continuing to play well, they play well together. That will be the key.”

Thomas Johnston can be reached at tjohnston@umass.edu,and followed on Twitter @TJ__Johnston.

Minutewomen to play 50-plus games

By Amin Touri Collegian Staff

One weekend into the 2017 season, the Massachusetts softball team already has five games under its belt. But with more than 50 games on the schedule this year, there’s still a long way to go.

The Minutewomen (2-3) play one of the busiest schedules of any team at the University, routinely playing five games in one three-day tournament and double-headers as a part of three-game series during A-10 play, all making for one quick turnaround after another.

With such a grueling schedule, conditioning is huge.

“In the offseason, [conditioning] is our number one priority besides getting better at this game skill-wise,” UMass coach Kristi Stefanoni said. “If you are not in shape, physically, there is no way that you’re going to be able to make it the length of the season. Not just the length of the season, but an entire game. You’d be surprised how exhausted you get by being in a tough game, maybe an extra-inning game or a close game, and if you’re not in shape, you’ll never make it.”

Junior pitcher Meg Colleran agreed with her coach.

“When we’re out of season we lift and we condition like three times a week,” Colleran said. “But now that we’re in season we only lift usually twice a week. As a pitching staff we’re usually doing some extra running, because in

Amin Touri can be reached at atouri@umass.edu.

Freshmen fill voids of graduating seniors

By Zander Manning Collegian Staff

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

After 24 seasons at UMass, tennis coach Judy Dixon (304 wins) is ready to depart Amherst following this season. players who will be with the Minutewomen next season after her departure to carry the load this season.

Those three are junior Ana Yrazusta, sophomore Ruth Crawford and freshman Janja Kovacevic.

“I am particularly pleased with the effort and results of [those] three,” Dixon said. “They have all put extra time into their games to leave it all out there. They are moving better, learning how to play the score, when to apply pressure, and when to take their foot off the gas.”

Dixon knows each day she comes to work at UMass this season will be one of her last. She just coached her final match at the Bay Road Tennis Center in Amherst this past Sunday afternoon in a 6-1 win over Army. Nevertheless, she would not allude to it after the match, keeping the focus on the season.

“Our team goal is to win the conference,” Dixon said.

“Anything less than that will be a disappointment to the team I am sure. I am committed to the jour-

the early part of the season devoted solely to tournaments hosted by warm-weather schools. UMass spent last weekend in Florida, and will head to Texas, Mississippi and California before a pitch is thrown in Amherst.

After the tournaments, the Minutewomen play almost exclusively A-10 opponents, before the postseason rolls around in May. “If you look at 50 games, it’s a lot, but you break it up into, almost, three different seasons. We have our pre-season, our tournaments we go into— it’s like 10 or 20 games—which is more manageable,” senior outfielder Caitlyn Hickey said.

“Then you go into A-10 play, about 20 or 30 games, then you have postseason. When you divide it up that way, once you get to the postseason you’re not even tired, you’re pumped and ready to go.”

The busy schedule, with four to six games per week being the norm, can also make the season feel much shorter than the 55 games listed on the schedule.

“The season flies by,” Colleran said. “You blink, and it’s March, it’s April, it’s May. It flies by.”

55 games may seem daunting, but with their conditioning taken care of and Stefanoni at the helm, the Minutewomen look poised to make a run at A-10 title number 23, and the first of the Stefanoni era at UMass.

“I just want their eyes on the prize,” Stefanoni said, “which is an Atlantic-10 championship.”

SOFTBALL

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win [A-10’s] and we were close a few times, but I am really desperate to win and I know the other seniors are as well.”

Dixon will not speak about her retirement this season.

“I don’t want a Kobe Bryant or Big Papi farewell tour,” Dixon told the Massachusetts Daily Collegian in September.

“I’m well aware that every day is the last day of this, but I want to put it aside and revisit it at the end of season.”

The message Dixon has been trying to impart on her team this season has been to simply take things one match at a time.

“The message to the team this year is that we take nothing for granted,” Dixon said. “The schedule is much tougher so I do not expect our win-loss record to be as strong as prior years. The schedule was put in place to make sure that we are match tough for the conference championships, then at the end of April in Orlando.”

Dixon will rely on three

our position we need to make sure our legs are in decent shape. We usually condition as a team during practice, and most people are doing extra cardio to make sure we stay in shape.”

Despite the season kicking off last Friday, the Minutewomen are still making sure they stay in top shape to get through such a long season.

“I think a lot of people drop conditioning when the season starts,” Stefanoni said.

“They’re like ‘well, you guys have a lot of games, you have quick turnarounds,’ and I don’t believe in that. We condition almost every day; we somehow incorporate it into practice. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s not fun. But it’s something that we do every day, because it’s going to be very important come April.”

Double-headers also make softball unique as—along with baseball—it’s one of the only sports that involve multiple games in a single day.

Preparing for two games, especially during these early season tournaments against different opponents, can be tricky.

“It’s very difficult, because you have to prep for two different games,” Stafanoni said.

“So for us right now, you’re prepping for two different teams in one day, once you get into conference it’ll be really easy, but right now we’re trying to prep to play Saint Francis at 12:30, and Baylor at 5:30, and have them just focus on one game at a time. It’s really difficult to plan for it, and it’s more difficult for the staff than for the team.”

The softball season also has a unique structure, with

ney and to make sure they improve mentally and physically each match. That is my personal goal.”

The future of the program as currently constituted is up in the air.

Players have no idea who their next head coach will be, but Dixon is confident that the Minutewomen will continue to build.

“The team is in good hands with the returners and the additions through recruiting,” Dixon said.

Dixon will always be remembered for her lengthy career as a coach at UMass, and the impact she has had on the tennis community not only in Massachusetts, but around the nation.

However, as is the case with any great coach, Dixon’s primary focus is on the next match, and not reflecting on the past. She knows that there would be no better end to her career than with another championship.

Jake Mackey can be reached at jacobmackey@umass.edu.

Coming into the season, the Massachusetts softball team had holes to fill after seniors Taylor Carbone, Olivia Godin and Lindsey Zenk all graduated after the 2016 campaign.

UMass coach Kristi Stefanoni filled it with seven freshmen.

This is the youngest team Stefanoni has coached at UMass and in order to do so successfully, she says she has had to take a few steps back while coaching them thus far early in the season.

“These kids have not experienced college ball yet,” Stefanoni said. “Having patience with them is key, and knowing it’s their first time out there, they don’t really know what to expect of themselves.”

During fall ball, senior shortstop Jena Cozza tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and will be out for the remainder of the season, but

freshman Candace Davis is ready to take her place.

According to Stefanoni, Davis has the best speed on the team and is looking forward to seeing what she can do for the Minutewomen if she is moved up in the lineup near sophomore leadoff hitter Erin Stacevicz.

“Her base running is absolutely incredible,” Stefanoni said. “On paper it looks like she stole two bases, but she should’ve gotten three. Her ability to read a defense and a pitcher and a catcher and how they sit back and don’t pay attention is unbelievable for such a young kid.”

Freshman pitcher Quinn Breidenbach was one of three pitchers Stefanoni recruited in the offseason. Breidenbach, a native of Enumclaw, Washington, was a 3A South Puget Sound League All-Star and Gatorade Player of the Year in 2016 when she posted a 15-3 record and a 0.74 ERA.

Breidenbach also struck out 789 batters throughout her high school career, and despite receiving numerous offers, she opted to take her talents to Amherst and join the Minutewomen and their high-quality coaching staff .

“I really liked the coaching staff, I really liked the familyoriented feeling,” Breidenbach said. “[They have a] really good kinesiology program here.

I walked onto campus and I just knew. I walked in with the teammates and I knew this is where I wanted to play. The tradition and everything, it felt right.”

All three freshmen pitchers that the Minutewomen recruited are different, and bring unique, individual approaches in the pitching circle.

“All three of them are completely different,” Stefanoni said. “Whether it’s spin, speed, they’re all very differsee

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COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

Senior shortstop Jena Cozza (above) tore her ACL during fall ball and will be out for the remainder of the 2017 season.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

HART

LACROSSE against the Ohio State and caused two turnovers in both contests this season.

The sophomore is taking the advice of his goalkeeper, coaches and fellow teammates and is following by example in trying to improve the play of himself and the team.

“It’s definitely tough losing, but as long as we’re making progress—it’s a long season. It counts in May and it definitely counts now,” Paparo said. “As long as we’re making strides in the right direction, I think everyone’s heads are still up.”

Paparo added: “[Coaches preach] playing fast and playing together. Coaches are harping that. The leadership on the team is harping that—the older guys, the captains. Everyone’s harping playing fast and play together and be tough. That’s kind of what the UMass way is all about—being tough. It

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tic.

“He’s a run producer. I think he’s a clutch guy, an RBI guy, so we see him as somebody who is going to hit third in the lineup and hopefully drive in a lot of runs,” Stone said.

With Earl Lorden drenched in water, if not completely covered in snow, the Minutemen are forced to take swings within the batting cages inside Boyden Gymnasium. Even in the condensed space, Hart’s offseason work has shown.

“The balls he’s hitting in batting practice are just jumping off his bat a little bit more than last year,” Morris said.

While the increased power is noticeable, Stone says the increased quality of his reps is the biggest difference from last year.

Undoubtedly, many of Hart’s improvements can be credited to his time in the Futures League this past summer.

The Futures League consists of nine teams located throughout New England and gives college ball players a chance to play baseball against collegiate talent while maintaining a relaxed environment.

Hart’s numbers in his first season in the league speak for themselves.

Moreover, what he learned about leadership and the mental aspect of the game were just as valuable.

As Yogi Berra famously put it, “Baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.”

Hart is realizing that now more than ever.

“For me, I didn’t have the fall. I didn’t see live pitching so I’m kind of slow getting back into the timing and everything but I know once we get on that field,

Thursday, February 23, 2017

I’m more prepared mentally which is a huge part of the game,” Hart said. “I mean there is only so much you can do preparing physically. [The mental aspect] is a huge part and I’ve been putting that in my game this year.”

*** Not only will Hart be asked to be the number 3 hitter in the Minutemen lineup, he and Morris were named co-captains for the 2017 season.

As Morris put it, the cocaptain’s leadership styles follow a “good cop, bad cop” format. Morris will be the guy that will give you a pat on the back, while Hart is not afraid to get in your face if he feels you’re not putting in the work.

Being 22 years old and playing in the Futures League, Hart took on the role of a leader for the roster, which is predominantly composed of freshmen and sophomores. He learned how to lead his team by example rather than with words.

“I think that has helped me up here, being captain this year and just all the younger guys,” Hart said. “I don’t have to say much but I can show by example and show the hard work that I put in and hopefully they can see what I do and repeat it.”

Not being on campus during the fall meant Hart had to keep tabs on the team through the other veteran players. Once he came back for the spring semester, Hart took a two-week grace period to learn more about this year’s team.

He believes that while he and Morris are labeled “captains,” each player is

responsible for being a leader. He believes that part of his responsibility is “to promote more leaders.”

*** Hart is not ready to give up on baseball. He almost did after high school, but stuck with it and is now slated to hit third this season for the Minutemen.

The confidence he built coming off of his performance in the Futures League has Stone feeling confident he’ll start off the 2017 season well. If he can build off of last season, Stone believes he can make it to the next level.

For Hart, it’s all about working as hard as he can to continue playing the game he loves.

“I’m trying to wear this jersey for as long as I can so if I don’t get picked up after this season, then I’m just going to keep working. If you don’t set a ceiling, then you’re not going to break through it.”

Barring injury, Hart plans to play after college whether he gets drafted or not. Not even overseas leagues are out of the question.

But for right now, his focus is on 2017.

While Garber’s turf isn’t quite the green grass that will soon be alive and well at Earl Lorden, it works just fine for Hart. He was still out there treating the midFebruary practice like it was an A-10 game in April.

Giving it all he can and a little extra. It’s the same way he got here, and the same way he plans to leave.

Philip Sanzo can be reached at psanzo@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Philip_Sanzo.

continued from page a3

may not be the most stylish play, but making the tough play. As long as we’re doing that each day that we’re out there, we’ll see success on Saturdays.”

The Minutemen have 11 games remaining, spanning just over two months, with conference opponents Delaware, Towson, Fairfield, Hofstra and Drexel awaiting at the conclusion of the 2017 slate.

In order for UMass to put together wins throughout the season, the overall execution in games, particularly on offense, needs to continue to improve.

“The hard work is paying off for everybody I think,” Weeks said. “We just have to keep grinding on it. It’s just a process and it takes some time to get into the flow of things but everyday we’re getting better.”

Tyler Bogart (two goals), Jake Lisauskas (goal),

Shane Rinkus (goal), Gianni Bianchin (goal) and Dan Muller (goal) are among the key cogs in the offensive arsenal for the Minutemen, and whose execution and attitudes are crucial to UMass’ success and development.

“It’s energy, enthusiasm and attitude in an approach to what you do each day and that will get you where you want to be on Saturdays,” Cannella said. “I’m a firm believer in that if you don’t practice well, you’re not going to play well. I don’t believe in the ‘gamer’ thing.

We’ve been preaching consistency. We’ve made some really good plays, obviously not enough good plays particularly on the offensive end, but we’re not consistent enough as individuals to be consistent as a team.”

McGOVERN’s HOMECOMING

Former midfielder joins coaching staff

By Ryan Ames

T

Collegian Staff

here comes a time when every athlete has to walk away from a sport they’ve known all their life and pursue other things.

Whether it’s injury, old age, lack of talent or just simply bad luck, everyone’s playing career runs out one way or another.

For Massachusetts women’s lacrosse assistant coach Kelsey McGovern, that reality sunk in pretty quickly.

Following her final season at UMass, McGovern realized she couldn’t let go of lacrosse so abruptly and wanted to stay involved in the game in any way she could. Since her playing career wrapped up, McGovern has looked to coaching to keep her passion for the sport alive.

“The reason I got into coaching was I wasn’t ready to leave lacrosse and the world of lacrosse,” McGovern said. “[I] had a couple of conversations with Angela [McMahon] about it, over the course of my senior year as well. I just decided to try it and now I’m here.”

The Acton, Massachusetts native has a lengthy list of achievements from her time spent duking it out on the turf for the Minutewomen.

In 2013 she was awarded All-American status for her lockdown defensive play. In 2014, her senior year, she was named captain and led UMass to its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament berth. She was also a two-time Atlantic 10 first team selection, a twotime A-10 all-academic honoree and was a four-time A-10 conference champion.

McGovern was a record holder in draw controls with 201 total wins and had 110 wins in her junior season, a school record that was held until Hannah Murphy, a senior for this year’s team, surpassed it in 2016.

Her on-field capabilities were quite sound, however, even before McGovern arrived in Amherst, she spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Bryant honing her craft. McGovern credits that experience as being an invalu-

able step in her development as a coach.

“I learned a lot right away because I was the only assistant at Bryant, it was just me and my head coach,” McGovern said. “Since there were only two of us, I did a lot and I put my hands in a lot of different things.”

“Obviously helping with recruiting, and budgeting, and the on-field stuff, you kind of had to do everything when there’s only two people,” McGovern added. “I would say I learned how to do it all in a sense, and definitely how to run a defense and run drills, and do the on-field coaching for sure.”

McGovern helped the Bulldogs become one of the best teams in the nation in draw-controls (ranked 17th in 2015, averaging 13.11 wins per game) as well as guide an offense that continually improved while she was there.

In July of 2016, McGovern got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to return to her alma mater and coach the Minutewomen.

She gladly accepted.

“It is obviously great to be back, having such close ties with this program,” McGovern said. “It’s been great, nothing’s changed too much, so yeah I like being back.”

McGovern did admit to a little awkwardness at first, coming back to coach the same team in the same place she starred for four seasons, but that feeling quickly dissipated.

“It was a little weird because the seniors now were my freshmen so that was a little weird to start,” McGovern said. “It’s been an easy transition. The [seniors] have been great and they were good friends of mine when I was here. Now it’s fine, but at first it was a little weird.”

The jump from player to coach is never an easy step to make and many players try to do it and ultimately fail, for one reason or another.

The pressure that comes with returning to the school you suited up for not too long ago can be even more of a challenge.

Yet, much like the difficulties of playing she encountered over the course of her career, McGovern has han-

dled the transition seamlessly.

“I think it’s been an easy transition,” McGovern said.

“Just from being a senior captain you kind of have that leadership role, running your defense on the field, and relaying messages from your coach.”

“It’s different not being on the field for sure, sometimes it’s hard not being on there,” she added. “I was also injured my fall of my senior year so I did have a sideline role. I was exposed to the coaching side of it pretty early on.”

This supposed match made in heaven almost didn’t happen, as McGovern nearly chose an alternate path after her playing days at UMass.

“My plan was to go and be either a physical therapist or go to nursing school,” McGovern said. “I actually applied to nursing school out of college.”

The desire to remain involved in the sport proved to be too enticing to pass up.

Now that McGovern has settled in to her new job on the coaching staff, her duties are almost identical to those when she was a player. As an assistant, she will be in charge of the defense as well as working with players on draw controls, her two specialties during her playing days.

The Minutewomen are off to a 1-2 start this season, and despite the relatively slow start, McGovern has high aspirations for her team.

“I guess to continue to help this university, in terms of our program, to succeed.

Hopefully [we] win more Atlantic 10 championships, and hopefully [we] make another jump in the NCAA tournament,” McGovern said.

When it comes to her own personal goals, McGovern is simple and straightforward.

“Just to get better as a coach and learn more and do more and help this program succeed really,” McGovern said.

If her coaching career mirrors her playing career in any fashion, McGovern should have no worries about vacating the game of lacrosse anytime soon.

Ryan Ames can be reached at rames@umass.edu or on Twitter @_RyanAmes.

Kyle DaLuz can be reached at kdaluz@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Kyle_DaLuz.

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

Former two-time Atlantic 10 First-Team selection Kelsey McGovern (2) joins coach Angela McMahon’s staff for 2017.

continued from page a5

ent. Basically how we used them this weekend was based on what type of offense we were facing and then who we thought was in a really good mind set.”

Breidenbach looks to get most of the action in the circle behind junior ace Meg Colleran, an idol of Breidenbach throughout her senior year of high school.

“Megan is literally my idol,” Breidenbach said.

“Watching and following her pitch as the only pitcher here last season, I have such high regards for her. She has done so well for this program and she is definitely a person you want to follow.”

With Carbone graduating in 2016, there are now positions that need to be filled in both the starting lineup as a power-threat and in the field

at first base.

Sophomore Mellissa Garcia could fill the role with her seniority on the team, but a more likely possibility is a five-year varsity star from Merrick, New York, Nicole Imhof.

Imhof was her high school team’s most valuable player from 2014-16, all-county player from 2012-16 and all-long Island player in 2016. She was also a Top 100 player on Long Island 2014-16.

“Putting on that jersey was one of the greatest moments of my life,” Imhof said of becoming a Minutewomen.

“Being able to go out there and work hard with my teammates is something I could never have imagined.”

Coming into the season, UMass uses the phrase “Grit, Intimidation and Hustle”

as its motto that guides the Minutewomen through the season and helps them to play up to their potential every game.

Each player has a different take on what the words mean, but Stefanoni, perhaps, put it best out of anyone.

“I told them they needed to come up with our code, our mission, the way we’re going to walk around, the way people are going to remember us,” Stefanoni said. “When they go out to play, those are the words they want people to think about when they left the field or if someone was just watching them. “I’m hoping those three words will carry over into the next few weeks and help us out a lot.”

Zander Manning can be reached at alexanderman@umass.edu.

TOURNEY

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“The most important part of the preseason is to make sure we’re getting the team ready and using these games to feel things and each other out; getting to know the team better, getting to know the coaches better and just meshing as a unit,” she said.

In her 2016 season with the team, the North Attleboro native tossed seven complete-game shutouts and had 125 strikeouts.

When asked about her ace, Stefanoni conveyed Colleran’s irreplaceable importance to the team.

“She’s a work horse and the glue that’s going to keep our staff together. I’m just

happy that we have her for another season,” Stefanoni said.

Contrastingly, Madison Gimpl, a freshman outfielder starting her first season with the team, is ready to do anything in the preseason that she can to make an impact on the field and prepare for the regular season.

“I want to compete,” Gimpl said. “I just want to help my team out in any way possible and bring whatever I can to the table.”

As an athlete from California attending school in Massachusetts, Gimpl is no stranger to copious travel and thinks that playing a

variety of opponents will be beneficial for the team.

“I think it’s good to branch out and play different teams, go to different areas and really get the UMass name out there,” Gimpl said.

When UMass finishes its early test of tournament play, the team will begin conference action with three games in Amherst against St. Bonaventure, opening the regular season with a doubleheader Mar. 25.

Liam Flaherty can be reached at lpflaherty@umass.edu.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Thursday, February 23, 2017

News@DailyCollegian.com

Foreign policy and coffee

PHENOM to host Advocacy Day at Mass. State House Advocacy Day set for March

By Hayley Johnson Collegian Staff

AAKANKSHA GUPTA/COLLEGIAN

Nihal Warawdekar, Noosha Uddin and Bryan Atwater of the International Relations Club facilitate foreign policy coffee hour Wednesday night.

Panel responds to art exhibit Professors held talk on racial violence B y Alvin B uyinza Collegian Correspondent Professors of AfricanAmerican history spoke on the racial, sexual and psychological violence of slavery toward black women in response to the Kara Walker art exhibit in the Commonwealth Honors College event hall on Wednesday. The panel featured Traci Parker, assistant professor of Afro-American studies, Barbara Krauthamer, associate professor of history and Elizabeth Pryor, Smith College associate professor of history. The panel was hosted by Whitney BattleBaptiste, associate professor of anthropology.

The panel discussion began with Parker, who described her feelings seeing Walker’s art work as “overwhelming.”“I started to have a visceral reaction to Walker’s artwork,”

Parker said.

Parker described how the work resonated with her personally, describing her experience as a black woman as “objectified” and “silenced.”The conversation then shifted to Pryor, who spoke on the piece titled “The Emancipation A p p rox i m at i o n . ” P r yo r began by talking about how she has a “muscle” to bear the horrifying stories of slavery and how Walker’s exhibit weakened that muscle.She then commented on a piece which depicts a female slave being hoisted up by her genitals from a white swan, to which Pryor to compares to the feeling of your stomach churning at the top of a roller coaster.

“I felt like Walker was trying depict to me that rape feels like losing your stomach,” Pryor said.

The panel discussed the sexual violence depicted in Walker’s work. BattleBaptiste referenced a piece which shows a female slave “performing” on a white slave master, to which she

said it showed a level of sexual power in the female slave due to her being in charge of his pleasure.

Pryor said she would recommend the exhibit to her students, but only if they went to “experience” the work and not simply to see it.

Krauthamer spoke on her experience of the exhibit as something she “forced” herself to go to.

Krauthamer described Walker’s work as multi-faceted, detailing the complexities of black women during slave times, and talked about how Walker’s work forces people to question if there are more horrifying narratives of slavery than what we are already told.

“Think about how the American mythology has normalized Black historical slave trauma,” Krauthammer said.

Krauthamer also commented on a piece which shows the silhouette of a female salve leaving a baby behind to which she asked, “[what] if black motherhood was not the best

thing to happen to a female slave?”

When questioned on the picture’s depiction of black motherhood, Krauthamer says she believes it shows both the complexities and personal agencies of female slaves.

The panel then collectively related this to the agency of black women, allowing them to be in charge of their own bodies.

After the panel, members of the audience were allowed to ask questions, and were then able to purchase books from both Krauthammer and Pryor.

“I liked the fact that they started with their own emotional response to Kara Walker’s work,” said Hazel Gedikli, a doctoral candidate. “It’s not something you hear often in scholarly conversation so I really liked the fact they did [so].”

Alvin Buyinza can be reached at abuyinza@umass.edu.

Divest UMass holds teach-in People mobilized for economic justice

By Sarah Robertson Collegian Staff

The UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign partnered with the Social Thought and Political Economy Department to host a teach-in titled “Visions Beyond Trump: Building Solidarities and Solidarity Economies” Wednesday night in the Commonwealth Honors College events hall.

Esteban Kelly, the executive director for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, opened the talk with a group addressing the discussion’s key terms: solidarity, equity, democracy, sustainability and pluralism.

“The people who have mobilized for all these social, racial and economic justice movements, need to be plugged in and know that this is all connected,” Kelly said.

The audience of over 130 students and community members participated by writing things they associated with each term on a sticky note and passing them

Natalia Linares (communications manager for the New Economy Coalition), Kiran Asher (associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies) and Kelly, spoke about the movement toward a new economy that prioritizes people, cooperative businesses and equity over profits. They also discussed the “solidarity economy,” the failings of capitalism and the self-defeating prophecy of neoliberalism.

Emily Kawano, the coordinator and a founder of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network, was scheduled to speak during the two and a Esteban Kelly half hour the panel but had to cancel at the last minto the front. Slips of paper ute. Linares, who replaced with phrases like “a life-sus- Kawano, spoke about her taining culture,” “redefining work with the record label enough” and “critical empa- collective, Sol Collective, thy” floated to the front of the from Sacramento.“If social room. justice is absent in the art we The panel, which con- are producing, then we are sisted of Aaron Tanaka going to be exploited by cor(director of the Center for porate media,” Linares said.

Economic Democracy), Collective problem solv-

“The people who have mobilized for all these social, racial and economic justice movements, need to be plugged in and know that this is all connected.”

ing and controlling capital in an equitable way are key elements of the solidarity economy, according to the panelists. They stressed the importance of supportive, healing communities and being conscious of the space one occupies.

“We live in a culture of violence,” Maya Gaul, worker/owner of Cooperative Energy, Recycling and Organics, said. “I’m not just talking about physical violence, but mental, emotional, and spiritual.”

In his closing remarks, Kelly said, “One things the Trump election has taught us is to slow down, stop judging and take care of each other.”

Kelly will host a followup workshop on racism today from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge in the Student Union.

Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @srobertson__.

The Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) will host the sixth annual Advocacy Day at the Massachusetts State House in Boston Wednesday, March 1.

The day consists of students and faculty advocating for public higher education. Students and faculty of the University of Massachusetts are encouraged to attend.

Zac Bears, executive director of PHENOM, explained some of the main points that will be addressed at Advocacy Day, including that legislatures commit to a debt-free future, increase investments in faculty and campuses of public higher education institutions and protect immigrant students.

The Student Government Association

and Student Affairs and Campus Life are funding transportation, according to Bears.

“We are very thankful, because we think the biggest thing here is the need to get institutional support,” Bears said.

Attendees will advocate for a tuition and fee freeze, which will keep tuition and fees at a set amount for a specified number of years.

Attendees will also rally for a Finish Line Grant, which would cover the cost of tuition and fees for one year for students struggling to complete their degrees at public colleges and universities. “[We’re] asking for people to commit to going debtfree, that adjunct or nontenure track faculty, which are called lecturers here, making sure that they have pay parity,” Bears said. “And we’re also asking to protect immigrant students in the communities.”

All of these requests see

ADVOCACY on page B2

Trump deputies plan to bond with Mexico

By Tracy Wilkinson and Patrick J. McDonnell Tribune Washington Bureau

MEXICO CITY — Few international relationships have gotten off to a rockier start for the Trump administration than the one with Mexico.

Days after he took office, President Donald Trump argued on Twitter with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto over Trump’s demand that Mexico pay billions of dollars to build a massive wall along the border. The Mexican leader angrily rebuffed Trump by canceling a planned visit to the White House.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly arrived in Mexico City to try to repair the once-close relationship, which nose dived when Trump used Mexico as a political pinata during the presidential race, and has yet to recover.

Tillerson and Kelly will sit down with Pena Nieto on Thursday as well as with Mexico’s ministers of foreign affairs, interior, finance, national defense and navy. In addition to the wall, they are expected to discuss trade, counterterrorism, immigration and other key bilateral concerns.

The talks take place under a fresh cloud, however, since the Trump administration this week released aggressive new guidelines on immigration enforcement, signed by Kelly, that could lead to deportation of millions of undocumented Mexicans from the United States.

The administration policy calls for using local and state authorities to enforce federal immigration laws,

deporting people who committed only minor crimes, jailing more people while they await deportation hearings, and trying to send illegal border crossers back to Mexico even if they aren’t Mexican.

The meetings are the first since Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray came to Washington in late January and met in private with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key adviser to the president on foreign affairs.

Videgaray later said the U.S.-Mexico relationship is at a crossroads.

“This is a moment of definition: The decisions we make in the coming months will determine how Mexico and the United States coexist for the next decades,” Videgaray said last week at the margins of the G-20 economic summit in Bonn, Germany.

The overnight trip to Mexico City marks the third fence-mending foray this month by Trump’s top deputies as they seek to shore up relations with longtime allies alarmed by Trump’s often confusing signals on foreign policy and by tumult in the White House.

Last week, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, as well as Tillerson and Kelly, fanned out in Europe to reassure allies that the administration remains committed to the NATO military alliance and to maintaining sanctions on a resurgent Russia, issues where Trump had raised doubts.

Mattis previously had visited Japan and South Korea to reassure them that the White House does see

MEXICO on page B2

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mexican migrant falls to death after deportation B y K ate L inthicum Los Angeles Times

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican man who had just been deported from the United States fell to his death Tuesday from a bridge near the TijuanaSan Diego border crossing.

A Mexican official with knowledge of the case, but who was not authorized to speak to the media, said it was unclear whether the man accidentally fell or intentionally jumped, but Mexican media cited bystanders and a Tijuana prosecutor who said the death appeared to be a suicide.

News of the death, which coincided with this week’s announcement that U.S. authorities are planning a major crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally, sparked outrage in Mexico, with some tying the incident to President Donald Trump.

Guadalupe O l ive s Valencia, 44, tried to cross into the U.S. illegally on Monday, the Mexican official said. Olives was

detained by U.S. immigration authorities, who deported him Tuesday morning.

Shortly after, Olives’ body was found on the ground near the El Chaparral border crossing.

Next to it was a plastic bag, issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that contained some of his possessions. Olives was pronounced dead at a hospital.

At least one Mexican newspaper reported that Olives had screamed about not wanting to return to Mexico before leaping to his death. The website of the newspaper Excelsior ran a story on Olives on a page labeled “the Trump era.”

Olives had worked illegally as a gardener in California for years to help provide for his three sons back in Mexico after his wife died, according to his niece, Yuriba Valles de Espinoza. In a telephone interview, she said Olives had been recently deported, and was intent on crossing back to the U.S. to work.

Valles de Espinoza said she believed her uncle threw himself off the bridge “in desperation over the deportation” because he had had trouble finding work in Mexico.

“He was doing this to take care of his children,” she said. “They were his entire life.”

Another family member, who asked not to be identified, said Olives tried to cross into the U.S. not to find work but because he was fleeing problems in Mexico.

After being deported on Tuesday, Olives was debriefed by Mexican immigration agents, who offered him food and transportation to a migrant shelter.

But Olives decided to leave the immigration office on his own, the official said.

The agents who spoke to him said he showed no signs of distress or mental illness, the official said.

On Facebook, family members of Olives’ mourned his death.

“We miss you so much,” wrote a niece, Jennifer Diaz. “You’re an angel.”

ALEJANDRO TAMAYO/THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/TNS

A view south on the bridge from which Guadalupe Olivas jumped on Tuesday morning, Feb. 21, 2017 near Tijuana.

MEXICO

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not plan to pull back from its security commitments in northeast Asia, as candidate Trump had suggested.

U.S. ties with Mexico normally are little noticed far from the border, but Trump’s harsh anti-Mexico rhetoric and policies have changed all that.

During the campaign last year, he blamed Mexico for sending rapists and criminals across the border, and excoriated Mexico for what he said were unfair trade practices.

One of his first actions at the White House was to order construction of the border wall and insist that Mexico will pay the bill despite the country’s angry refusals.

Trump has cited a $12 billion price tag while a Homeland Security estimate pegged the total at $21 billion.

Trump has threatened to slap a punitive tax on imports, including cars, that are made in Mexico and sold in the U.S. He also has vowed to scrap or renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a 1994 deal that eliminated almost all tariffs among the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

NAFTA is credited with vastly expanding trade about $1.4 billion in goods now cross the U.S.-Mexico border every day - but at the cost of some U.S. jobs because the agreement made it easier for U.S. companies to move factories to Mexico.

In response, some Mexicans have called for national boycotts of U.S. brands and goods, using hashtags including #AdiosStarbucks, # A d i o s Wa l m a r t ,

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#AdiosCocacola and #AdiosProductosGringos, while lawmakers introduced a bill to stop buying American corn. Protesters formed human chains last weekend along parts of the border where Trump has vowed to build a wall.

Some Mexican officials also have countered with threats to end cooperation on joint efforts that target drug trafficking, illegal immigration and organized crime.

In recent years, Mexico has prevented thousands of Central Americans from flooding U.S. border crossings and has allowed extradition of drug lords, including Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, to the United States.

Mexico also is pouring an estimated $50 million into its 50 diplomatic consulates in the United States to support its citizens who are under threat of deportation.

Delaying removals could wind up clogging U.S. immigration courts and jails.

There seems to be little space for common ground.

Even if Tillerson and Kelly are able to calm Mexican tempers, Trump seems unlikely to back down from his demands for Mexico to pay for a border wall, a cornerstone of his campaign.

For Pena Nieto, there is little political capital to work with the White House given widespread umbrage in Mexico at the new American president.

“We know that damage has been done to the bilateral relationship in the last few months,” Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said after an official trip to Mexico City last weekend.

But Cardin voiced optimism for the future of U.S.Mexico relations while taking a swipe at Trump’s tweets.

“I’m confident the strength of our partnership and friendship with Mexico is dynamic enough to withstand 140-character broadsides or unrealistic demands,” he said.

Trump’s handling of relations with Mexico so far has largely relied on his inner circle, including Kushner, and not on the Latin America veterans at the State Department and National Security Council.

Craig Deare, who had been named National Security Council director for Western Hemisphere affairs and was one of the most senior Trump appointees to occupy a post involving Mexico and Latin America, was fired late last week after he criticized how the administration was handling foreign policy.

Deare had complained to scholars during a private session at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington that foreign policy was too tightly controlled by Kushner and Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, according to one of the people who attended the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion was private.

Deare said the president’s top aides fostered dysfunction in the White House and blocked access to Trump to the detriment of actual policy making, the person said.

ADVOCACY will be explained in papers, a short video and speeches before the event, according to Bears.

Maija Hall, a senior sociology major and policy and legislation coordinator for the Center for Education Policy and Advocacy, has been in charge of coordinating recruitment efforts in anticipation of the event. She argued that while change would not happen immediately, the goals of the event were to make legislators aware of PHENOM’s concerns. “[The] point of Advocacy Day is for state legislatures to know that there are constituents who care about higher education and care about rebuilding the past,” Hall said.

According to Bears, PHENOM had big successes with Advocacy Day in 2013.

That year, the UMass President, Robert Caret, worked with the higher education community and former Governor Deval Patrick to establish a policy that would increase funding from the state so that it would provide half the costs of tuition and fees, with students and their families providing the other half.

“Advocacy Day really pushed the idea of a 50/50 tuition and fee kind of split between the state and the students, and that was a huge win in 2013, but that ended last year,” Bears said.

Bears added, “In December, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center really started to report on the state of higher education in Massachusetts in 16 charts, and that shows that the state has cut funding

DailyCollegian.com

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by 31 percent per student over the past 15 years, and directly related to that, student tuition and fees have doubled across the system. The data and the trends are clear. The state has massively disinvested from public higher education, and that means for a lot of people, getting a high education isn’t available to them.”

Bears explained that as a result of rising higher education fees, in addition to the 10 to 20 years after college in which people find themselves deeply in debt, there has been an increase in hunger and homelessness around college campuses.

“I hear stories every day of students who are basically saying ‘I can either choose to buy food or pay my tuition bill’ and a lot of them choose to pay their tuition bill,” Bears said.

Andrea Nyamekye, a senior natural resources conversation major and campaign and advocacy coordinator for CEPA, explained that there are currently a little over 250 students signed up to attend the event.

She will be attending Advocacy Day for the first time this year and has been involved with much of the planning of the 2017 event.

“I have been on the Advocacy Day working group meetings,” Nyamekye said. “So that happens every Thursday, and that’s pretty much where we plan the logistical stuff of the transportation, and then I have also been planning the week of action, which just started [Tuesday] and that’s pretty much planning all of the events to really mobilize students to come to

Advocacy Day.” “I really hope that our representatives listen to us and put pressure on Governor Baker to allocate more funding for higher education, because one of the huge things when it comes to tuition and fees is that, the more we lose funding for this university, then the brunt of the money falls on the students,” Nyamekye said.

“And that’s why you have those tuition and fee increases, because the money can’t come from anywhere else.”

Tyler Barron, UMass alumnus and community organizer at PHENOM who attended Advocacy Day two years before, said that from past experience he feels that “people who go have a sense of empowerment.”

“I think I have a sort of funny view of the whole thing, the State House is sort of a strange place for me, it seems overly formal, but I think something I’ve appreciated from it is being able to more confidently talk to my legislators, call them up and really have a conversation, and not feel like what I was doing was completely insignificant,” said Barron.

Advocacy Day events will run from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. There will be buses to transport people from UMass to the State House for free, and attendance will also make for an excused absence from classes that day. Students are encouraged to register by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

Hayley Johnson can be reached at hkjohnson@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @hayleyk_johnson.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Thursday, February 23, 2017

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‘Stand Your Ground’ shift Several rocky Earth-sized could impact Florida cases planets found by nearby star

By Kristen M. Clark Miami Herald

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — An NRA-backed proposal to shift the burden of proof in “Stand Your Ground” cases appears to be on the fasttrack for approval in the Florida House, echoing similar recent endorsements in the Senate - and with continued vehement opposition from state prosecutors and gun control advocates.

After the proposal abruptly failed on a deadlocked vote in the same Florida House committee last session, members of the Republican-heavy Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 9-4, along party lines, on Wednesday to advance the legislation (HB 245). It faces only one more committee hearing before it could reach the floor.

An identical measure in the Florida Senate (SB 128) quickly cleared its two committees - despite similar concerns raised - and became the first bill from either chamber that was sent to the floor for the 2017 session, which begins March 7.

Through the legislation, conservative Republicans want to require state attorneys to prove in a preliminary hearing and beyond a reasonable doubt - a triallevel standard - why a criminal defendant should not get immunity from prosecution under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. That law allows individuals to use deadly force in self-defense with no obligation to retreat or flee.

Current judicial practice is to have criminal defendants prove at a pretrial hearing why they deserve

the immunity.

The Florida Supreme Court held up this procedure in a 2015 ruling, but advocates for the bill - including the gun lobby and Florida’s public defenders - say it is unfair to defendants and contradicts what the Legislature wanted in enacting “Stand Your Ground” 12 years ago.

“This levels the playing field between the government and the citizen,” said Bob Dillinger, the public defender in Pinellas and Pasco counties, who spoke on behalf of the Florida Public Defender Association.

“Anytime the state charges you with a crime, they have the burden of proof - all the way from arrest through trial,” agreed Marion Hammer, the National Rifle Association’s Tallahassee lobbyist.

But prosecutors warn the proposal would create an unheard-of standard, make it harder for them to prosecute “Stand Your Ground” cases and force them to try the case twice, once before trial and again at the trial itself.

“That has never, ever been done in the state of Florida’s history. It’s never been required anywhere in this country,” said Phil Archer, the state attorney in Brevard and Seminole counties and an executive board member of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

House Democrats on Wednesday aimed their criticism at how the legislation would create an exception for “Stand Your Ground” cases that wouldn’t be afforded to other “affirmative defenses,” which need to be proven by the defendant.

“So we’re taking what is now an affirmative defense - which usually has to be asserted - and we’re making it automatic, and the prosecution has to un-prove an affirmative defense?” asked Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs.

“Yes,” replied the bill sponsor, Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, although he could not offer examples of other “affirmative defenses” treated like that.

An analysis has not been done to determine the fiscal impact of the legislation, and it won’t be vetted by any appropriations committee in either chamber.

Yet prosecutors warn the proposal would increase their workload exponentially, because “Stand Your Ground” defenses would then be claimed in “thousands and thousands” of cases whenever use of force is involved. That’s not just gun-related crimes but also “any kind of fistfight, every battery case, every domestic violence case, a verbal threat or when someone gets arrested for assault,” Archer said.

“If you flip this burden of proof, there will be zero risk to those defendants” to assert a “Stand Your Ground” defense, he said.

“This is not a vote about some of the hyperbolic things we’ve heard today,” Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, said. “This is a simple question of: Do you believe in due process? Do you think it should be harder to lock people up, or easier?”

By Amina Khan Los Angeles Times

Astronomers using powerful space telescopes and ground-based observatories have discovered seven Earth-sized planets in orbit around a star just 39 lightyears away. Several of these exoplanets are in the habitable zone, where water could exist in liquid form.

The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, described Wednesday in the journal Nature, marks the first time so many terrestrial planets have been found around a single star.

Although scientists believe the planets are rocky and Earth-sized, too little is known about their atmospheres and other factors to say whether they are truly Earth-like.

“They could have some liquid water and maybe life, by extension, on the surface - especially three of these planets that are in the so-called habitable zone on the star,” said study leader Michael Gillon, a researcher at the Universite de Liege in Belgium.

The TRAPPIST-1 star is an ultracool dwarf star. It’s about 80 times more massive than the gas giant Jupiter and roughly 200 times fainter than the sun.

Even so, ultracool dwarf stars can be pretty hot places to look for potentially life-friendly planets.

In this case, that’s partly because all seven worlds orbit so close to the star’s surface, closer than Mercury is to the sun. With that kind of proximity, even the dwarf star’s dim light may provide enough warmth to support living things.

On top of that, the planets’ tight orbits make them very easy for certain telescopes to find.

The European Southern Observatory’s TRAnsiting

Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST for short) in Chile uses the transit method to hunt for planets. As a planet passes, or transits, in front of its host star, it blots out a little bit of starlight, causing a dip in overall brightness that scientists can measure.

If such a dip happens once, it could be a fluke. If it happens three or more times at regular intervals, it’s probably an orbiting planet.

If there are multiple planets, scientists can find them by looking at how they distort each other’s orbits.

If a planet seems to transit a tad too early or too late, for example, it means that something else besides the star - such a fellow planet - is tugging on it. This information also allows astronomers to make a rough calculation of the other planet’s mass.

Astronomers announced the discovery of three planets around TRAPPIST-1 last year, but even then they suspected there might be a few more.

So they observed the star for 20 days with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, which is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif.

The space telescope captured 34 transits of seven different planets. (Because the outermost planet only passed by the star only once, the scientists could not determine its exact orbit.)

All seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system are probably rocky, with masses in a range of 20 percent more to 20 percent less than that of Earth, give or take.

The dwarf star and exoplanets actually resemble an oversized Jupiter with its many moons, Gillon and his colleagues said.

Like the Jovian satellites, TRAPPIST-1’s planets are in such tight orbits that they are probably tidally locked.

If so, that means they show the same face to the star at all times, rather like the moon does to the Earth.

The seven planets also seem to be orbiting in resonance with each other.

These gravitational interactions could mean that the planets are being heated by tidal forces.

Whether that’s good or bad depends on what kind of world you are. For Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, a little tidal heating goes a long way, powering polar geysers more powerful than all the hot springs in Yellowstone.

For Jupiter’s moon Io, tidal forces caused it to become covered in inhospitablelooking volcanoes.

“In the past few years, evidence has been mounting that Earth-sized planets are abundant in the Galaxy, but Gillon and collaborators’ findings indicate that these planets are even more common than previously thought,” astronomer Ignas Snellen of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands wrote in a commentary that accompanied the paper.

Of course, whether these planets have the right conditions and chemical ingredients for life remains a question for future study. Observatories like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2018, could analyze these planets’ atmospheres, perhaps providing important clues.

“Could any of the planets harbour life? We simply do not know,” Snellen wrote.

“But one thing is certain: in a few billion years, when the Sun has run out of fuel and the Solar System has ceased to exist, TRAPPIST-1 will still be only an infant star.

It burns hydrogen so slowly that it will live for another 10 trillion years ... which is arguably enough time for life to evolve.”

White House shows signs of making path on health care

By John T. Bennett CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON — The White House declined Wednesday to rule out that President Donald Trump will push his own plan to replace the Affordable Care Act rather than pursue one course with congressional Republicans.

When asked if there will be a single White Housecongressional GOP plan, White House press secretary Sean Spicer left open the door that the president might roll out his own plan - no matter what lawmakers do. Minutes later, Spicer referred to “the president’s plan” when discussing how the administration intends to achieve one of its top campaign goals.

On Capitol Hill, since Trump was elected and the party kept the House and Senate, Republican lawmakers have celebrated an era of “unified” GOP governance.

Spicer’s comments suggest the party lacks a unified approach to how to dismantle the health care law and replace it.

Trump, during a meeting with senior aides about the federal budget just minutes before Spicer’s briefing, repeated his pledge to produce a health care plan next month. He said it should be rolled out “maybe mid-to-early March,” saying his White House will be “submitting something” to Congress “that I think people will be very impressed by.”

It’s unclear how GOP leaders like Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will approach such a submission. Will they develop their own plans, blend congressional ones with the White House’s or simply work from the proposal of a president whom they need for other parts of their own agenda.

Trump also signaled he favors deep federal budget cuts, saying the government “must do a lot more with less.”

“The finances of this country are a mess, but we’re going to clean that up,” Trump told reporters, according to a pool

report. He vowed to hold “everybody accountable for that,” although it was unclear exactly what that meant.

Trump also deflected any blame for the country’s finances, despite being all too willing to take credit for any positive economic signs.

“We’re going to take this budget, which is, in all fairness, I’ve only been here for four weeks so I can’t take too much of the blame for what’s happened, but it is absolutely out of control,” the president said.

Trump again vowed to renegotiate federal contracts, saying his administration already has “saved a lot - billions and billions of dollars.”

Trump met with chief of staff Reince Priebus, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, senior adviser Jared Kushner, chief strategist Steve Bannon, T reasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and OMB officials Russ Vought and Emma Doyle over lunch to discuss the federal budget.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Thursday, February 23, 2017

“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” - Maya Angelou

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

Trump’s election and the end of a socialist dream

At 18 years old, I moved to Norway and port students’ living expenses. Political fell in love with the Norwegian way of participation is widespread and encourlife. While others spoke of the American aged from a young age, with each major party supplemented by a youth branch.

Laura Handly One friend explained Norwegian political discourse as “many voices advocating difDream, I learned that equality and jus- ferent paths to the same goals.” tice were relegated to the cold climes of Donald Trump ran his political camScandinavia. Ideologically, socialism is paign on a populist fiction. He promised the best solution to the problem of human to return power to “the people” and to governance. It is a system that advocates “drain the swamp” for government regulation and promises a of elites in relatively high quality of life to everyone. Washington. Like In practice, that means that people pay Bernie Sanders, higher taxes but things like healthcare Trump challenged and education are free and virtually no the concentraone is homeless. tion of govern Socialism works in Norway. With its rel- ment elites and atively small and homogenous population appealed to voters and its massive oil wealth, the Norwegian who felt excluded or ignored by the curgovernment has the ability and the incen- rent system. Using rhetoric inspired by tive to provide extensive social benefits to socialism, Trump spoke of redistributthe people. The country is surrounded by ing power, creating new jobs and, infasimilarly governed countries and separat- mously, “making America great again.” ed from conflict due to the ocean and the People responded to these promises. The arctic. It offers free higher education and populism of this Presidential Election even provides low-interest loans to sup- reshaped the political landscape. In the

end, the division between establishment and outsider proved just as important as party affiliation for the candidates.

Since coming to office, Trump has demonstrated he has no plans to remove the Washington establishment from positions of power. Trump’s cabinet is the most affluent in United States history, with members regulating agencies they would prefer did not exist. He has abused his executive power to undermine the system of checks and balances and to push through a hateful and unconstitutional immigration ban. He has announced that he will cut funding to arts programs, which will save just 0.0625 percent of the projected federal budget, while moving forward with his plans to elect a border wall with Mexico for $21.6 billion. His regular weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago cost taxpayers an estimated $3 million each, while security to protect Trump Tower

“I have learned that we cannot overly depend on our government or the structures that value the interests of elites above the rest.”

The benefits of a clean room If you look at my dorm clean room does have longroom right now, it looks like term benefits. a hurricane came through. But just because you enjoy a mess when you work Emilia Beuger doesn’t mean you can’t make choices to combat the messiClothes are everywhere and ness after your creative books are strewn about, but time. Putting things away if you looked at my room a after you take them out can week ago, it was extremely give you a sense of compleclean with the books and tion and fulfillment as you clothes put away and my bed clean up your study space. neatly made. I like to keep According to the National my room clean so that I can Sleep Foundation, de-cluthave peace of mind every tering your room and cretime I come back from a long ating a dark, clean space day of classes or extracur- allows you to sleep better. ricular activities. Coming Papers and clutter can make back to a clean room reduc- you feel restless and affect es my anxiety as well as your sleep. Also, people who improves my mood, but why make their bed every mornshould I keep it extremely ing are “19 percent more clean even if I do not study likely to get a good night’s there? sleep every night.” If you When I first started writ- are prone to allergies, coning this piece, I thought I sider picking up your room would find a lot of information about why messy rooms were bad and clean rooms were good.

I feel strongly a clean room allows me to think more openly about my work, and allows me to feel and dusting. Allergens, such as dust, can affect your sleep less cramped and anxious.

A recent study by and comfort in your room. the Association for Sleep, a college student’s Psychological Science best friend, is impacted showed that messiness and by the state of your dorm cleanliness have different room, so if you’re having benefits in terms of edu- issues sleeping, try tidying cation and productivity. up before you sleep.

Participants who worked Clean rooms can also in messy rooms were more have physical benefits. A likely to have more creative study found that people with and interesting ideas com- the cleanest homes were the pared to their clean-room healthiest and most active. counterparts. On the other Things such as walkability hand, participants in clean of a neighborhood do not rooms were more likely “to have as significant of an do what was expected of effect on health as much them.” I find this research as cleanliness does. This to be particularly interest- applies far past college and ing and it shows that messy into adult life. rooms can be good, but a Most of all, as college

students, mental health is extremely important. As you probably could guess, a messy and cluttered room contributes to anxiety and stress. Clutter makes you feel like your work is never done and makes you anxious when thinking about all of the things around you. You are unable to focus and it is harder to process information.

There is a link between the stress hormone cortisol in the brain and living environment in women. When your room is messy, you have more cortisol. Women are also more likely to be depressed if living in a cluttered space.

Many people have heard the advice to not study in your room because it is your place to rest and relax, not the place to work. I know some people enjoy the comfort of their room for studying, and that is perfectly fine too.

I believe maintaining a clean room is to benefit relaxation, not to benefit studying. Your living environment, even if you do not study there, is an essential part of your life and health, especially while at school.

But if you’re going to be messy when studying, be sure to pick up your clutter and papers later. Do your homework, try to clean up afterward (even if it is stacking papers) and take care of yourself, because a clean room doesn’t just impact your studying and learning, but it also impacts your health and wellness.

“Your living environment, even if you do not study there, is an essential part of your life and health, especially while at school.”

drains the budget of $500,000 every day.

This election has given us all a lot to consider. It has taught us that “truth” can be subjective, and that those in power may seek to redefine reality to serve their own interests. It has shown that our democracy is fragile at best and that elected politicians can threaten our freedoms of religion and speech. I have learned that we cannot overly depend on our government or the structures that value the interests of elites above the rest. Socialism works when people have faith in their institutions and their leaders. The Trump administration has done little to abate the fears of many Americans.

Trump’s abuse of power demonstrates that the American people must guard their rights vigilantly. When a president explicitly lies to their people, foreign powers intervene in our elections and scientific truth is disregarded for a more profitable fabrication, we must seriously reconsider the powers we grant to our government.

Laura Handly is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at lhandly@umass.edu.

The most beautiful present Ever since I became inter- when asking what two ested in math, I’ve always Möbius loops would look wanted a Klein bottle. It like if you sewed their edges together. Möbius loops themJeffrey Ayers selves are fascinating things that are created when you therefore comes as no sur- take a strip of paper, give it a prise that ever since receiv- half twist and tape the edges ing one, I’ve been completely together, creating an object enthralled with it. I stare at with one surface and two it every day and marvel at edges. Klein knew that when the glasswork and incredible you take a piece of paper and mathematical concepts behind it. To me, the Klein bottle represents everything I love about math: Beautiful shapes, confusing results and a connection with other subjects and seemingly opposite areas of math. make a Möbius loop, you I realize that what appears turn something with four to be a glorified water glass edges into two. Logically, if may seem like a weird thing you took two Möbius loops to get so excited about, but and sewed their edges togethtrust me, it’s much more er, you’d get something with than that. The Klein bottle no edges, right? Well, that’s is a three-dimensional rep- exactly what a Klein bottle resentation of a four-dimen- is! If you’re still unable to sional object with no edges. picture what a Möbius loop Technically, we would need looks like, find any bottle and to live in four spatial dimen- look at the recycling symbol sions to observe a true Klein of three twisted arrows in bottle, but since we don’t, a triangle. That’s a Möbius we’re relegated to the not as loop in action. precise, but still mathemati- This incredibly nifty cally and aesthetically pleas- object has no edges and ing three-dimensional object. only one side. When I say no The Klein bottle, named edges, I mean that with a traafter its inventor, German ditional bottle, you have a lip mathematician Felix Klein, where there is a distinct sepwas created in the 1800s. aration between the inside Klein thought of his bottle and outside of the bottle. If

you squished the bottle to make the lip very sharp, a little ladybug would cut itself before crossing to the inside of the bottle. But that ladybug doesn’t have to worry about that with the Klein bottle. It can travel on the surface and then move in the hole of the bottle, through the tube and into the inside of the bottle without crossing an edge. And another little fun fact is that a true Klein bottle has no volume.

The Klein bottle is just one of so many incredible creations from an area of math called topology, defined as “the mathematical study of the properties that are preserved through deformations, twistings, and stretchings of objects.” Did you know that a coffee cup and a donut are the same shape topologically? They both have only one hole.

Crazy, right? And that’s just the beginning of the wonderful world of topology.

This Klein bottle reminds me why I fell in love with math in the first place. Every time I look up at it in my room I can’t help but smile and think about the first time I saw one and how amazing I thought, and still think, it is.

“I realize that what appears to be a glorified water glass may seem like a weird thing to get so excited about, but trust me, it’s much more than that.”

Jeffrey Ayers is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at jayers@umass.edu.

Emilia Beuger is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at ebeuger@umass.edu.

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Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Thursday, February 23, 2017

“Plenty of hope - an infinite amount of hope - but not for us.” - Franz Kafka

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

FILM REVIEW

‘Hidden Figures’ is brilliantly inspirational A historical tribute to Black excellence

By Ariya Sonethavy Collegian Correspondent Based on the true story, “Hidden Figures” is a historical drama that puts into perspective the importance of three Black women who were integral to NASA’s mission in putting John Glenn into orbit.

The narrative is inspiring, invoking the kind of awe that we’ve all felt in watching intellectual brilliance unfold onscreen.

The significance of this particular film—based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly—is found in the characters’ struggles with racism and sexism in a time period in which segregation was still in effect.

Through these hardships, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) excels in an allwhite and all-male Space Task Group.

Johnson uses her talent in science and mathematics to be the brains of NASA’s operations, checking the men’s calculations.

Her two friends, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), are just as unapologetic in their talents, with Vaughan taking on a supervising role (despite not being able to get the official title or raise in pay that comes with it) and Jackson aspiring to become an engineer by fighting for her rights to go to all-white classes.

In early 1960s Hampton,

HOPPER STONE/20TH CENTURY FOX/CNS

Phenomenal performances drive ‘Hidden Figures,’ the incredible untold story of three brilliant black women set in the backdrop of the American - Soviet arms race.

Virginia, we see the effects of the then-normalized Jim Crow laws in the separation of people by the color of their skin, which greatly affects the day-to-day lives of these women. Important plot points document the journey of their success, showing the struggle that these women face in the workplace.

Johnson is assigned to check the math of Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons), who continually dismisses

her abilities. Her work is made more difficult as she has to walk half a mile to go to the colored ladies room, an effect of segregation, and eventually her testimony of frustration (a stunningly emotional performance from Henson) to Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) gains her better treatment.

What’s so moving about the execution of this film is that Johnson’s struggles only contribute to her bril-

liance—she’s most likely the smartest person in the room—and her abilities heighten her importance in launching Glenn into space. It is with her brain that the team is able to work around a threat to the mission, and the grand scheme of the plot unravels a tale of incredible scientific breakthroughs.

The heart of the story is made up not just of the experiences of Johnson moving up the ranks in

isn’t substantial in terms of cinematic visuals or camera tricks. Instead, it’s the plot that drives the film for the entirety of its two hours. The film’s colorful setting and costumes evoke the mood of the times, while the charming leading ladies take the casual racism that constantly gets thrown against them and take unapologetic pride in themselves.

This is best seen in the beginning of the film, where their car breaks down, attracting the attention of a white cop. Upon learning that they they work for NASA, he offers them a police escort, a turn of events that prompts Jackson to quip “Three Negro women are chasing a white police officer down the highway in Hampton, Virginia, 1961. Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle!”

This feel-good biographical drama of the three African-American women who were crucial in launching a man into space is powered by the actors’ outstanding performances, who portray characters who are fiery with confidence, spirit and poise. These ladies’ roles as human “computers” show the integrity in being a woman of color advancing in the STEM field during a time when the color of their skin put them against all odds.

a male-dominated field, but also the narrative of friendship and perseverance between her and the counterparts of her trio.

Jackson fights in court to attend classes at an allwhite school, making the point to the judge that his decision would make her one of the “firsts”: NASA’s first Black female engineer. Vaughan eventually becomes a supervisor for the West Area computers.

Ariya Sonethavy can be reached at “Hidden Figures” itself asonethavy@umass.edu.

FILM REVIEW

Quiet beauty and fearsome ambition roar in ‘Lion’ A lovely, splendid adoption drama

B y D onnie C adman

Collegian Correspondent

Kolkata, West Bengal, India. A man eating soup meets eyes with a small, lone child outside, imitating him with a dirty spoon, and he smiles.

This child is Saroo (Sunny Pawar), the protagonist of Garth Davis’ film “Lion,” and his story is more than meets the eye. The film introduces him with his brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), scavenging whatever goods they can find to help their single mother (Priyanka Bose). Saroo, too tired to help Guddu work while on a trip, is left on a railroad platform to wait for his brother’s return. Alone, Saroo boards a seemingly abandoned railcar and falls fast asleep.

He awakens to a nightmare: the train is moving, and Guddu is nowhere to be found. Saroo is stranded 1,000 miles from home for two months, vainly asking passers-by for help, despite speaking a completely different language from them.

This failure of verbal communication is a boon

for “Lion,” as our primary forms of communication in the film are the faces, the gestures and the silences.

Saroo cries for help to a hermit beside the tracks, who stares blankly like other passers-by. Later, we recognize the hermit through his stark eyes, as he gives Saroo a piece of cardboard as a bed. The suffering, yet unextinguished humanity whispers without a word.

Thus, we return to our spoon scene. Without hearing a word (not like he would understand it) the man recognizes Saroo’s acknowledgement of hunger, and takes Saroo off the streets to the police. Like the man, we as an audience find words irrelevant. The movie’s language is what we see, the bare soul of the film.

20 years pass, and Saroo (now Dev Patel) has been adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). He is accustomed to his new world, yet not entirely removed from the old. When he discovers Google Earth, Saroo begins browsing India until his search becomes a full-blown hunt.

But Saroo’s ultimate Google search is not your

not achieve their full potential, individual moments are still moving, such as a scene when Saroo questions his mother about why she adopted him and his brother despite the emotional strife it has given her.

Oscar moment, perhaps?

Maybe, but the scene is straightforward and powerful enough to overcome how overwrought it can seem to some.

While this second act breaches the pure cinematic experience we were introduced to at the beginning, the strife we experience with Saroo nonetheless makes us empathize all the more for his decades-long journey, even in the later scenes.

GREIG FRASER/LONG WAY HOME PRODUCTIONS They would not nearly be as Dev Patel, pictured above, shines in ‘Lion,’ an ambitious, stirring story of a man trying to reconnect with his lost family. investing or moving if we were not able to see them at typical click-and-find: It ing home is not that of the already near-impossible Saroo’s level. takes him nearly two years physical terrain, but the search for a life that is long “Lion” succeeds by to find anything that match- consequences of separating behind him. resisting to rely on senties his home. Similar to the from the family he has been These conflicts add depth, mentality, opting for barecraftsmanship shown ear- given. His adoptive parents yet they feel at times a bit bones emotion that is unilier, the film stands beside whom he has known lon- too ambitious, with enough versally human. Once we him during his tedious ger, an aggressive and men- plot points in the second have seen what Saroo went quest, from his pin-point- tally unstable step-brother half to carry a film on its through, the film’s characing of possible locations (Divian Ladwa), who causes own. These feel more like ters, as well as the audience, on wall-covering maps, to his mother much torment, add-ons that complicate the have earned the right to be his random, rapid clicking and a girlfriend (Rooney main narrative than com- watery-eyed. across India as he slowly Mara) who vainly forces plete story-arcs in their own loses hope.

Saroo to accept his real- right.

Donnie Cadman can be reached at His other conflict in find- ity, further complicate an While these scenes do dcadman@umass.edu.

B6

Thursday, February 23, 2017

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Q uote

of the

D ay

“Capitalism?

More like CRAPitalism, am I right?”

- Karl Marx, Probably aquarius

Half

HOROSCOPES Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

To be or not to be, that is the question.

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

pisces

Jul. 23 - Aug. 22

virgo

Feb. 19 - Mar. 20 Aug. 23 - Sept. 22 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles Make with a bare bodkin? Who would fardels And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep. bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, No more - and by a sleep to say we end. but that the dread of something after death,

The Page I Used

aries

Mar. 21 - Apr. 19

taurus

Apr. 20 - May. 20

gemini

May. 21 - Jun. 21

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

To Be

To die, to sleep - To sleep - perchance to dream: Ay, there’s the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come, must give us

XKCD

leo

The law’s delay, the insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of th’ unworthy takes, when he himself might his quietus

B y R andall M unroe

Pause. When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.

cancer

Jun. 22 - Jul. 22

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely the pangs of despised love,

libra

Sept. 23 - Oct. 22

scorpio

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns, puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution.

sagittarius

Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, and enterprise of great pitch and moment with this regard their currents turn awry

capricorn

Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

And lose the name of action. Soft you now, the fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy prisons be all my sins remembered.