UMass football: Breaking down the Week 1 depth chart ahead of Minutemen’s 2024 season opener

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — After weeks of spring football, summer workouts and preseason camp, the UMass football team starts its season with a home opener against Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. It’s the first time the Minutemen are opening their season at...

UMass football: Head coach Don Brown, QB Taisun Phommachanh reflect ahead of Minutemen's season opener against Eastern Michigan

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — It’s year No. 47 for Don Brown as a football coach, but as the head man for UMass came down the hallway for his season-opening press conference at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center, he sounded like a kid ready for their first...

Fight breaks out during Sunday’s UMass women's soccer game against Rutgers; 2 red cards issued

To say it was a chippy game at Rudd Field in Amherst on Sunday would be an understatement. The UMass women's soccer team held its home opener on Sunday against Rutgers, with 29 total fouls called between the two teams. The physical play came to a head...

UMass football: Will Minutemen be faster this year? ‘We’ve brought so much speed back into the equation’

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — As UMass continually reshapes its roster in year No. 3 of the Don Brown era, players and coaches both say that the Minutemen will be faster this year than last year.“I’m going to tell you what we do better right now than at any time I can...

UMass football: Minutemen hope experienced FCS transfers can help secondary

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — Last season, the UMass football team struggled with injuries at defensive back, something head coach Don Brown said hurt the team.In the offseason, the Minutemen used the transfer portal to recruit a host of defensive backs with lots of...

New Williston Northampton School Athletic Director Jade Morris settling in ahead of first fall on the job

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

EASTHAMPTON — For just the third time in over 70 years, Williston Northampton School has a new athletic director, following Mark Conroy’s retirement from the position after 24 years.Jade Morris, a Hampshire Regional alum, stepped in as Williston’s new...

Hampshire County's toughest golf holes: Cherry Hill Golf Course, Amherst

By GARRETT COTE

(NOTE: This is the eighth installment in a weekly series featuring some of the toughest golf holes across Hampshire County. The series will run each Saturday in print throughout the summer.)AMHERST — There’s a certain charm about Cherry Hill Golf...

UMass football: WR Anthony Simpson details the new role he'll play for Minutemen this year

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Last year, the UMass football team had 10 players catch a total of 212 passes. Anthony Simpson is the only one of those 10 still on the Minutemen roster.He was last year’s leading receiver – his 57 receptions and 792 yards nearly doubled No. 2...

The Real Score: From Paris, with Love: 2024 Olympic Games Strike Gold

The next time we tune in to hear the drums of NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage, the torch will be lit in California for the first Summer Olympics in the United States in 34 years. And from the perspective of those studying the business of sports, the...

UMass football finally has a full running back room. What can Houston transfer Brandon Campbell add to the Minutemen?

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — In Damian Mincey’s 16 years of coaching college football, he said he’s never had a player come into camp as late as UMass’ newest addition, running back Brandon Campbell.Campbell, a graduate transfer from the University of Houston, was still...

UMass to induct four athletes as part of Hall of Fame 2024 class

The University of Massachusetts announced this week that four athletes have been selected to be inducted as the Class of 2024 in its George “Trigger” Burke Hall of Fame. Jeff Deren (men’s soccer, 1999-2002), Dennis Fenton (football, wrestling...

Carrington scores 19 as Connecticut Sun top Sparks in first WNBA game played in Boston

BOSTON (AP) — DiJonai Carrington scored 19 points, and the Connecticut Sun used a late 14-0 run to defeat the Los Angeles Sparks 69-61 on Tuesday night in the first WNBA game to played at the Boston Celtics’ TD Garden.A franchise record sellout crowd...

UMass football: Why are Minutemen using Trackman technology for kicking and punting?

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — As performance-driven data has gained more and more use in sports over the past decade, Trackman has become a hot name.It’s most popular in baseball, where its ball-tracking data is primarily used by pitchers. Red Sox hurler Tanner Houck...

Amherst native Vanessa Chakour brings women’s boxing classes to Franklin County's YMCA

By LUCY POSTERA

GREENFIELD — Vanessa Chakour didn’t always want to be a boxer. If you asked the Amherst native what she wanted to be when she grew up she may have said a National Geographic photographer, an author or an illustrator, but never once did being a...

High school football: An opening-day tour of Hampshire County camps ahead of 2024 season

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY — Ear-ringing whistles, low grunts and wide smiles marked the first day of high school football camp on Friday, as Hampshire County teams held their first practices in advance of the upcoming season.Full-contact practices don’t begin...

UMass football: Minutemen's defensive line should be smaller but quicker in 2024

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — In today’s era of college football, there are holes to fill every offseason considering the overwhelming number of transfers. UMass football head coach Don Brown has welcomed the transfer portal with open arms, and he almost didn’t have a...

Hampshire County's toughest golf holes: Westover Golf Course, Granby

By GARRETT COTE

(NOTE: This is the seventh installment in a weekly series featuring some of the toughest golf holes across Hampshire County. The series will run each Saturday in print throughout the summer.)GRANBY — Westover Golf Course hosted a qualifier on...

Western Mass. Summer Field Hockey League reaches new heights with nearly 250 players from 18 different schools

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

SOUTH HADLEY — When Katie Hopp and her fellow volunteer organizers started the Western Mass. Summer Field Hockey League in 2019, the league contained seven schools and about 70 players.Five years and six seasons later, they’re at 243 players from 18...

Springfield CC’s Dan Fanion, 2 others share medalist honors at Westover Golf Course’s Mass. Mid-Am qualifier

By GARRETT COTE

GRANBY — Dan Fanion’s round looked as if it was about to turn upside down on the par-3 10th hole during Wednesday’s qualifier for the 2024 Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Golf Championship at Westover Golf Course.After carding a 1-under 35 on the front...

Frontier School Committee declines to dedicate volleyball court to longtime coach Sean MacDonald

By CHRIS LARABEE

SOUTH DEERFIELD – Citing precedent set last year, the Frontier School Committee declined to dedicate its volleyball court to longtime coach Sean MacDonald, who retired after the 2023-24 school year, capping off 21 years and a whole slew of sectional...