Three UMass spring sports teams were beneficiaries of several specialty Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Atlantic 10 (A-10) awards recently.
Minutemen lacrosse goalie Owen Salanger took home the Goalkeeper of the Year award in the A-10, Minutewomen lacrosse head coach Jana Drummond was named Coach of the Year, Bridget Valentine obtained the Defensive Player of the Year award and Cate Marshall received the Freshman of the Year award in the MAC. All four honors were revealed on Wednesday.
Salanger was stellar for UMass in between the pipes as the sophomore posted a MAC-best .566 save percentage, plus 13.79 saves-per-game, which was good for third-best in the NCAA.
The Minutemen lost to top-seeded Richmond in the A-10 semifinals on Thursday.
Drummond racks up her fourth straight conference COY award, with the previous three being awarded in the A-10. The Minutewomen are 17-2 this season and 7-0 in MAC play.
Valentine was a two-time MAC Defensive Player of the Week this season and lead the conference in caused turnovers (32) and was second in ground balls (40).
Marshall was excellent in draw controls for UMass, totaling 141 throughout the regular season, which was sixth-most in program history.
The Minutewomen earned the top seed in the MAC Tournament, and will face Akron in the MAC Championship on Saturday.
Last week, the UMass women’s tennis team earned two awards as head coach JuanCarlos Nunez grabbed Coach of the Year while Ella Faessler won Player of the Year in the MAC.
Nunez led the Minutewomen to a regular-season MAC title with a 16-4 overall record and 7-1 clip in conference play.
Faessler won all but one conference match at No. 1 singles during the regular season, and took down Boston College in non-conference play, a nationally competitive program earlier in the year.
UMass lost to No. 4 Miami (OH) in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament, 4-3, last week.
