Sports
UMass women's lacrosse breezes past St. Joseph’s for Atlantic-10 tournament title
By RYAN AMES
Champions once again.
Hadley’s Beau Elson thriving in first year as Fordham University relief pitcher
By GARRETT COTE
Beau Elson couldn’t feel a thing.
Shawn Durocher beginning first season as Amherst Golf Club head pro
By GARRETT COTE
Shawn Durocher spent her weekend mornings and afternoons wheeling a small gas grill behind the clubhouse at Amherst Golf Club, where she would cook hamburgers and hot dogs for those playing. She was in high school and needed a way to make some money, so Amherst’s head golf professional, Dave Twohig, hired Durocher – an Amherst native – to handle grilling duties.
High school baseball preview 2025: Hopkins Academy optimistic it can continue postseason success
By RYAN AMES
HADLEY – The Hopkins Academy baseball team has hit the field for the 2025 season and head coach Dan Vreeland is cautiously optimistic in this year’s edition of the Golden Hawks.
HS Lacrosse Preview 2025: Defending champ Amherst girls looking to “re-load”
By RYAN AMES
The Amherst girls lacrosse team had the most successful season of head coach Andrew MacDougall’s tenure in 2024. The Hurricanes went 19-3 and won their first ever Western Mass. tournament Class B title in an overtime victory against Belchertown.
High school tennis preview 2025: PVCICS loaded again and ready for another postseason run
By GARRETT COTE
HADLEY — Lee Ferguson didn’t just take Hampshire County and western Massachusetts by storm last spring; try the entire state. Ferguson, now a seventh grader on the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School boys tennis team, wasn’t much taller than the net last year. Just a sixth grader then, he wasn’t as physically developed as his opponents on the court.
UMass Men’s Basketball: Three Minutemen enter transfer portal
By GARRETT COTE
AMHERST — Well, it didn’t take long for Division 1 men’s basketball players to take advantage of the transfer portal opening on Monday. As of Friday morning, there are already more than 1,000 total D1 men’s players in the portal. Some of them are still playing in the NCAA Tournament right now. Three of them have departed from UMass.
Amherst’s Ryan Leonard makes NHL debut for Washington Capitals in 4-3 win over Bruins in Boston
By RYAN AMES
Amherst native and former Boston College hockey star Ryan Leonard helped the Washington Capitals defeat the lowly Boston Bruins, 4-3, during his NHL debut April 1 at the TD Garden.
Div. 3 Women’s Ice Hockey: Amherst College falls to Wisconsin-River Falls 3-1 in national title game
By RYAN AMES
Bailey Olson’s goal and two assists lifted the Wisconsin-River Falls women’s hockey team past Amherst College, 3-1, in the NCAA Division III national championship game on Sunday afternoon in River Falls, Wisconsin.
NCAA Div. 3 Women’s Ice Hockey: Amherst College defeats Colby, 4-1, heads to Final Four
By RYAN AMES
AMHERST — For the second time in three years, the Amherst College women’s hockey team is Frozen Four bound.
UMass basketball: Mullins Center says goodbye to the Atlantic 10 with final league home game before move to MAC
By GARRETT COTE
AMHERST — When the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of the UMass men’s basketball team’s regular season, which ended in a 74-51 loss to Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon at Mullins Center, the arena’s staff immediately began tearing up the floorboards of Jack Leaman Court to get ready for the Minutemen’s hockey game at 7:30 p.m.
“Instilling an expectation of success:” How Greg Carvel became UMass hockey program’s all time winningest coach
By RYAN AMES
‘Winning’ and ‘UMass hockey’ were like oil and water before Greg Carvel arrived in Amherst.
Amherst’s 4x400-meter relay team captures title at 37th annual New England Interscholastic Indoor Track & Field Championships
By GARRETT COTE
BOSTON — The Amherst Regional girls 4x400-meter relay team will go down in history as one of the best units western Massachusetts has ever seen.
Boys basketball: Granby pulls off rally for the ages, stuns Drury in OT to capture PVIAC Class C title (PHOTOS)
By GARRETT COTE
WESTFIELD — It will go down as the greatest comeback in Granby boys basketball program history.
Indoor track: Amherst girls win 2 relay titles at MIAA Division 3 Championships (PHOTOS)
By GARRETT COTE
BOSTON — The Amherst girls were the No. 1 seed coming in, and they left no doubt in a dominant showing in the 4x200-meter relay at the MIAA Division 3 Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center.
Track project at Amherst Regional High School gets green light, work to begin in June
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — Construction of a new track and field at Amherst Regional High School, at a cost of $4.11 million, should begin in late June.
Amherst girls capture 2nd place for second year in a row at MIAA Nordic Ski Championships (PHOTOS)
By GARRETT COTE
WOODFORD, Vt. — The Amherst Regional girls Nordic ski team has seen a plethora of different athletes lead the Hurricanes’ pack throughout the course of this season. Each meet it’s typically someone new at the front, and that’s what makes their team so dangerous in meets with high stakes like the 2025 MIAA Nordic Ski Championships at Prospect Mountain on Feb. 11.
Colleges notebook: UMass women’s basketball showing drastic improvement in head coach Mike Leflar’s second season
By GARRETT COTE
While there are still a handful of fans who haven’t fully bought into the current landscape of college athletics, there’s no question the world of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals and the transfer portal certainly has its benefits.
Former UMass quarterback and coach Liam Coen announced as the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars
By GARRETT COTE
It was an adventurous week for former UMass quarterback Liam Coen last week. It was reported on Jan. 25 that Coen, who served as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator during the 2024 season, would be returning to the organization as the highest-paid assistant coach in the National Football League — turning down a head-coaching offer from the Jacksonville Jaguars in the process.
UMass football: Yale QB Grant Jordan, UTSA RB Rocko Griffin among new transfers signing with Minutemen
By GARRETT COTE
AMHERST — It’s become quite clear that UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak was very busy recruiting throughout the holidays, as he’s signed five transfers since Christmas — four coming in the month of January alone.
