University of Massachusetts - Amherst Men's Lacrosse

Kyle Smith ’14, a former standout attack for the University of Massachusetts, was named the fifth head coach in program history on August 29, 2025. He return...

Cannella has coached his Minutemen to eight NCAA Tournaments, claimed seven New England Championships, won five conference titles and guided the Minutemen to a No. 1 national ranking. Cannella was named the CAA Coach of the Year in 2012, his sixth conference coach of the year honor with the Minutemen, has been named the ECAC Coach of the Year on four occasions and earned the New England Coach of the Year five times. In 2006, Cannella was chosen as the USILA National Coach of the Year after he led UMass to its first-ever lacrosse NCAA Championship Game appearance. A 1988 University of Massachusetts graduate, Cannella took the reigns of the UMass lacrosse program in the fall of 1994 with a great understanding of the program's storied history. He was a two-time letterwinner for legendary program leader Dick Garber in the mid-to-late 1980s and an assistant coach for two seasons with the Minutemen prior to taking over as the head coach. Under Cannella's tutelage, UMass has enjoyed some of the program's highest levels of success on and off the field. With a history as one of the top teams in New England, the reputation of UMass lacrosse has spread out across the country thanks in part to his leadership. Since taking over as head coach, the team has enjoyed success as a whole and among individual players. Cannella has produced three Tewaaraton finalists, 45 USILA All-America selections, 100 All-New England picks, 68 all-conference honorees and nine positional league players of the year. For the work accomplished by Minutemen in the classroom, the program has earned 14 Academic All-Americans, 38 New England Scholar-Athletes and 31 academic all-conference picks. Since 2001, UMass has been one of the most successful programs in the country thanks in part to the friendly confines of Garber Field. During that span, Cannella has led UMass to a 77-27 record at Garber while the Minutemen are 143-82 since 2001, with six seasons featuring 12 or more wins. With only 12 upperclassmen on the 2015 roster, the inexperienced Minutemen struggled during the regular season before the squad compiled a strong close to the campaign. Cannella guided the team to its third CAA Championship Game appearance over five seasons in the league as the squad fell one game shy of earning an NCAA Tournament bid. Following the season, Ryan Izzo tallied USILA All-America for the second consecutive campaign and became the 11th Minuteman under Cannella's tutelage to earn multiple all-America laurels from the USILA. Cannella led a young Minuteman squad featuring 24 underclassmen among 37 total players to a 7-6 record during 2014. UMass earned wins over a pair of nationally ranked programs in No. 5 Penn State and No. 14 Ohio State during the year, before it ended the season receiving votes in the national polls. Following the end of the campaign, freshman Nick Mariano took in the CAA Rookie of the Year Award while he was honored on the All-CAA listing alongside teammates Kyle Karaska and Connor Mooney. Cannella was also inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame for his accomplishments within the game of lacrosse spanning nearly 30 years as a competitor and coach. Two of the most historic campaigns in the program's history have occurred under Cannella's watch. The 2006 squad became the first-ever New England-based team to reach the NCAA Championship Game, while the 2012 squad went undefeated during the regular-season with a program-best 15 wins and a No. 1 national ranking. The 2006 season will go down as one of the best for any athletic program at UMass. As an unseeded team, the Minutemen had the most difficult path to a lacrosse championship game in history, beating the second, third and fourth-ranked teams in the nation. UMass topped No. 2 seed Maryland, 8-5 in the semifinals after advancing to its first Final Four with a stunning 11-10 overtime win against Hofstra on May 20, 2006. The difficult comeback saw the Minutemen rally from a 10-5 deficit with 8:03 left in the fourth quarter as UMass won its quarterfinal game at Stony Brook. During the 2006 campaign, Cannella also had a personal milestone as he recorded his 100th career win after a 12-7 victory at Harvard on March 11. Individually, that season saw UMass produce two First-Team USILA All-Americans for the first time in school history with Sean Morris on attack and Jack Reid being honored on defense. Jake Deane was also named an honorable mention All-American. For the second year in a row, Morris was named a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy as the top player in all of NCAA Division I college lacrosse. During the 2012 regular season, week-by-week, UMass continued to win games - some in dramatic fashion and others through a relentless fury of goal scoring and a stifling defense. As each week of the regular-season went on, the Minutemen continued to climb higher and higher in the national polls. On April 16, 2012 it became official, the Minutemen were the No. 1 team in the country, marking the first time a UMass athletic program held the top spot in the country since the 1995-96 NCAA Final Four men's basketball team. Cannella led the Minutemen to an undefeated regular-season, the program's first-ever CAA Tournament Title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the 19th time in the history of the Minutemen. Individually, UMass produced six USILA All-Americans, including Will Manny being selected to the first-team. Manny also earned CAA Player of the Year, New England Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award. Cannella was recognized as the CAA Coach of the Year and the New England Coach of the Year. Other milestone seasons for Cannella include 2005 and 2003, where the Minutemen won 13 games and made an NCAA Tournament appearance in each campaign. The 2005 season saw the Minutemen tie the then-school record for wins with a 13-3 overall mark. UMass advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the 10th time in program history while winning the ECAC and New England Championships. The season was historic as UMass knocked off Syracuse twice in a three-week span, including a 16-15 win in the NCAA Tournament First Round to end the Orange's 22-year run of reaching the semifinals. UMass was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter as well as in Sports Illustrated after the monumental win. Cannella continued to coach some of the nation's top players as attackman Sean Morris was selected as UMass' first-ever finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy. Morris was one of four all-Americans on the 2005 team, which also featured seven All-New England choices. The 2003 UMass squad also tied the previous school record with 13 victories, advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for only the fifth time in school history and was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country, the then-highest ranking for the Minutemen. Prior to returning to his alma mater, Cannella spent four years as an assistant coach at Stony Brook from 1988-92. Cannella masterminded the offense and served as the recruiting coordinator on John Espey's staff. He earned a master's degree in liberal studies while coaching at Stony Brook. Cannella earned a bachelor's degree in physical education while playing at Massachusetts from 1986-87. He was a two-year starter for the Minutemen and a member of two NCAA Tournament teams. Cannella scored 64 points (33 goals, 31 assists) in his UMass career. Before playing at UMass, Cannella spent one year at Nassau (N.Y.) Community College, where he was a first team All-America selection and led Nassau to the 1985 Junior College National Title. A native of Lynbrook, N.Y., Cannella played for three years at Lynbrook High School. One of the most prolific scorers in Lynbrook history, Cannella was a high school All-America selection and still ranks among Lynbrook's all-time leading scorers. Cannella served as the President of the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and served as the Vice President in 1997. Cannella is currently the chairman of the annual NEILA Scholar Athlete Team, which he started in 1999. He has also served on the NCAA Championships Regional Advisory Committee that selected the teams for the NCAA Tournament in 1997, 1998 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Cannella was a regional voter in the USILA/STX weekly poll from 1997-2001 and has served as a USIlA regional voter for all-American selection since 2003. He now serves on the prestigious committee to help select the Tewaaraton Award, a honor given to the nation's top player. Cannella is a native of Rockville Centre, N.Y. He and his wife, Laurie, reside in Hadley with their son, Vance, and daughter, Virginia. Greg Cannella's Milestone Head Coaching Wins 1st Win 13-4 over Boston College; March 25, 1995 23rd Win 6-4 over Hofstra; May 10, 1997 First NCAA Tournament 38th Win 17-5 over Boston College; March 28, 2000 Moved into second place on UMass all-time wins list 50th Win 11-5 over Harvard; April 18, 2001 75th Win 11-8 over Georgetown; April 19, 2003 100th Win 12-7 over Harvard; March 11, 2006 110th Win 8-5 over Maryland; May 27, 2006 Sends UMass to first-ever NCAA Title Game 150th Win 12-9 over Army; February 10, 2012 161st Win 14-13 over Hofstra; April 21, 2012 First-ever win as No. 1 nationally-ranked team 162nd Win 17-6 over Delaware; April 27, 2012 First undefeated regular-season since 1969 164th Win 18-12 over Drexel; May 5, 2012 First CAA Title & program-record 15th win of season 175th Win 15-2 at Brown; March 1, 2014 Greg Cannella's Year-By-Year Head Coaching Results Greg Cannella's Head Coaching Honors Greg Cannella's Head Coaching Highlights Greg Cannella's Milestone Head Coaching Wins

McDonald teaches the defensive side of the game and works with the UMass goalie unit as well. "I am honored to have the opportunity to work under Greg Cannella as a member of the UMass lacrosse staff," McDonald said. "I have great respect for Coach Cannella and the program that he has built here and I am thrilled to be part of the UMass lacrosse family." An up-and-down 2015 saw McDonald help the Minutemen earn a berth in to the CAA Championship, where the side advanced by host and No. 1 seed Fairfield, 9-8, for a spot in the finale. Under McDonald's tutelage, short-stick defensive midfielder Ryan Izzo earned his second career USILA All-America honor while close defenseman Kyle Karaska secured CAA First Team All-Conference. McDonald spent the 2012-14 seasons at Rutgers, where he coached the defense and also served as the team's recruiting coordinator. In 2013, McDonald mentored Big East Goalie of the Year Kris Alleyne while the squad pulled in four all-conference selections following the 2014 campaign. Prior to working with the Rutgers men's lacrosse program, McDonald was on-staff at Siena to help the team win the Mid-American Athletic Conference and advance to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. McDonald joined the collegiate coaching ranks in 2008 when he was named an assistant at Union College under 1999 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee Paul Wehrum. While at Union College, McDonald filled roles as the defensive and recruiting coordinator. In 2010, under McDonald's tutelage, the Dutchmen ranked second among all NCAA Division III programs for scoring defense and fifth for man-down defense while goalie Sean Aaron earned the lowest goals-against average nationally at 5.69 given up per game. "We are thrilled to have Craig McDonald on our staff," Cannella said. "His experience as a player, coach and mentor serves our players and program extremely well. I have known Craig for more than a decade now and have had the opportunity to watch him excel in aspect of his life. Playing for Scott Marr, then working for coaches Paul Wherum and Brian Bretch has provided Craig with great role models and teachers to emulate. All of his experiences will continue to help him at UMass as he guides our defense." McDonald played four seasons at Albany from 2005-08, totaling three all-conference selections as a starter on close defense for the Great Danes. The native of Geneva, N.Y., helped the squad make NCAA Tournament appearances in 2005 and 2007 while the program won 41 games during his playing tenure, an average of more than 10 victories per season. Craig McDonald's Year-By-Year Coaching Results Year School Position W-L Season Notes 2009 Union College Assistant Coach 7-7 Liberty League Semifinalists 2010 Union College Assistant Coach 11-4 Liberty League Semifinalists 2011 Siena Assistant Coach 13-5 MAAC Champions; MAAC Tournament Title; NCAA Tournament 2012 Rutgers Assistant Coach 6-9 - 2013 Rutgers Assistant Coach 2-13 - 2014 Rutgers Assistant Coach 8-8 Big East Semifinalists 2015 Massachusetts Assistant Coach 5-10 CAA Championship Game Appearance Craig McDonald's Year-By-Year Coaching Results

Schneider served as a volunteer assistant during 2014-15 after five years as an assistant coach from 2010-14 and four more as a starting goalkeeper for the Minutemen prior to that. He will work on the offensive end of the field while he will also tutor the UMass goalies. "It is great to have Doc (Schneider) back here with our lacrosse program," Cannella said. "Doc will continue to bring a great wealth of knowledge and energy to all of us every day. Having been around Doc for the last 10 years here at the University of Massachusetts, we have someone who is extremely loyal to the ideals and mission we set back in 1995. I couldn't be happier for our present and future players to be around an outstanding coach and mentor." After four years between the pipes from 2006-09, Schneider joined the coaching staff as an assistant ahead of the 2010 season. He maintained his role working on the defensive side of the game through the 2014 season, after which he chose to pursue an opportunity outside of the coaching realm. However, Schneider rejoined the staff as a volunteer coach prior to the 2015 season. The 2016 campaign will mark his 11th consecutive year with the program and seventh as a coach. "I would like to thank Coach (Greg) Cannella for the opportunity to come back to UMass," Schneider said. "This program has molded me into the person I am today and I could not be more grateful and excited to be back at a place I care so much about. I have no doubt that I have grown tremendously as a person from my experiences this past year and I believe this will lead me to become a better coach." Schneider worked with the offense while he served as a full-time volunteer in 2015 and simultaneously assisted in all aspects of on- and off-field preparations. Prior to the most recent season, Schneider was responsible for various components of the direction of the defense and goalie units during the 2010-14 campaigns. Through Schneider's tutelage during his tenure as the defensive coordinator, three-year starter Tim McCormack developed into a USILA All-American and First Team All-New England selection at goalie in 2012. Schneider simultaneously coached the Minutemen defense, including the man-down unit, which featured all-America selections Jake Smith (2012-13), Tom Celentani (2012) and Diogo Godoi (2010). As a student-athlete at Massachusetts, Schneider was a four-year starter from 2006-09, racking up the second-most saves in program history (753). Schneider owned a 7.98 goals-against average and .611 save percentage for his career while earning 34 victories in net. A 2009 USILA All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist, the Massapequa, New York, native, also received all-New England honors on four occasions, competed in the USILA North-South All Star Game and was named the ECAC Goalie of the Year as a senior. Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Schneider was the highest drafted goalie in Major League Lacrosse during 2009, when he eventually helped the Toronto Nationals win the MLL Championship alongside former Minuteman Jeff Zywicki. In the championship game, Schneider backstopped the Nationals with 12 saves after he picked up the semifinal victory over Long Island. Doc Schneider's Year-By-Year Coaching Results Year Position W-L Pct. Season Notes 2010 Assistant Coach 8-6 .571 CAA Tournament Semifinalists 2011 Assistant Coach 10-5 .667 CAA Championship Game Appearance 2012 Assistant Coach 15-1 .940 NCAA Tournament Appearance, CAA Champions 2013 Assistant Coach 7-8 .467 CAA Tournament Semifinalists 2014 Assistant Coach 7-6 .538 - 2015 Volunteer Assistant Coach 5-10 .333 CAA Championship Game Appearance Totals Six Seasons - - 1 NCAA Tournament Berth 2 NEILA New England Championships 1 CAA Championship Doc Schneider's Year-By-Year Coaching Results

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