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The Mass Media

January 29, 1985

UMass/Boston's SwimTeam: new kid on the block


by Edith Shillue
When you've only been in NCAA
competition for two years, and you're
trying to juggle effective coaching with
equally effective recruiting, you go
through what UMass/Boston Swim
Team coach Marilyn Reeves calls,
"growing pains."
The UMB Swim Team is currently
suffering from just such painsbut
with a determination and assurance
that make the program destined for
success.
"It hasn't been until this year that
we have been able to make any serious
recruiting efforts," says Reeves.
"There are a lot of competitive high
schools in this area that don't even
know our program exists."
As a Division 3 school, UMB is not
able to offer recruits athletic scholarships. However, Reeves can recruit
through information kits sent to high
school coaches; and, she believes,
UMass/Boston's strong commitment
to individual development is an enticement that helps- offset the school's inability to offer athletic scholarships to
recruits.
Says Senior and Women's Team
Captian Lisa Ferzoco, "What we need
is for people to be aware of us."
According to Reeves, the administration is fully supportive of the
program's development, as well as "all
athletic programs developing here."
Unfortunately, the swimming program
at UMass/Boston has its youth working against it.

"Our record," says Reeves,


"doesn't really tell the story. We're
competing against schools with wellestablished programsBates, Keene
State, MIT." Nonetheless, she noted,
the team has had a lot of individual improvement.
UMass competes in 50, 100, and
some 200 yard events.
'
"Division 1 & 2 are pretty much
competing in events 200 yards and
up," points out Reeves.

"What we need is for


people to be aware of
us."
-Lisa

Ferzoco,

Swim

Team

Coach
"This isn't a scholarship school,"
adds Ferzoco, who competes in the individual medley, the 100 yard Butterfly, and the freestyle relay. "We are
competitive, but we have different
goals."
As Reeves emphasized, personal
development, as well as overall program development are what's vital to
the program's future. The practice atmosphere has little pressure; with the
men's and women's teams working out
together, there is a great deal of overall
support.
"We have a wide variety of people

The Swim Team is out to make a splash at UMB. (Photo by Steve Gyurina)
here," says Reeves. As the only swim
coach for both teams, Reeves' task is
somewhat alleviated by the fact that
she deals with a smaller number of people. Joe Chirito, head of Boston Area
Diving, coaches Carla Quaglia, a
junior from So. Attleboro, and Yoko
Miyata, the teams only other senior, in
both high and low diving.
"I'm hoping," says Carla, "to begin
swimming next year."

For the first time in its brief history,


UMass Swimming, according to Coach
Reeves, will be represented "in some
capacity" at this year's New England
Championships.
It is a slow but steady climb into the
competitive college circuit, but like a
lot of UMass athletes, the swimmers at
the Clark Center have the patience and
willingness to accept the challenge.

and leadership were sorely missed.


Joining Tippett on the bench for
most of the game was team captain Joe
Smoot, the team's third leading scorer
(10.5 ppg) and top ball thief with 40
steals this season. Both Smoot and Tippett hope to return to their normal
starting roles next Saturday when the
Beacons play host to a tough Southern
Maine squad (10-4, ranked #5 in New
England Division III).
The Beacons, who earlier in the
season were ranked #1 in New England
and #15 in the nation in Division III,
after winning their first eight games of
the season, have now lost six of their
last eight games. However, two of
these losses have come at the hands of
Division III rival Colby College (Currently #1 in New England and #5 in the
nation). The Beacons have also lost to
Upsala College, which is ranked #4 in

. the nation. Their latest loss was to a


stronger Division II team. The Beacons .
are also a relatively inexperienced team
(comprised mostly of sophmores and
juniors) and this could be a con-,
tributing factor to some of their recent
losses.
But Coach Titus refuses to explain
away the team's present poor play with
convenient excuses. "Sure, we've been

NYT outshines Beacons


by John Hawkins
A spirited second half rally proved
to be too little too late as the
UMass/Boston men's basketball team
lost to Division II -powerhouse New
York Tech at the Clark Center last
Thursday night, by a score of 80-73.
"It's no secret why we lost,"
lamented Charlie Titus, head coach of
UMB Beacons. "We had 32 turnovers
to New York Tech's 15. If we had converted on just half of the opportunities
we threw away, we would have won the
ballgame. It's as simple as that."
The Beacons had clawed their way
back from a 44-31 halftime deficit to
cut New York Tech's lead to six points
late in the game. Freshman guard Rob
Alexander and 6'7" forward Bill Andrews keyed the Boston rally with 18
second half points between them, while
6'10" center Dan Doherty had 9 of his

game-high 16 rebounds (Doherty also


had a game-high 7 turnovers). But
though the Beacons clearly outplayed
New York Tech in the second half,
they still ended up with one foot in the
grave they had dug for themselves with
their sloppy first half play.
UMB's inability to contain Tech
point guard Benjie Bowman also contributed to the Beacons' loss. Bowman
dazzled the Beacons with a magnificent
13 point, 7 rebound, 8 assist, and 3
steal display of one-man divide and
conquer.
But turnovers and Benjie Bowman
aside, another big factor in the
Beacons' demise was the loss of star
forward Anthony Tippett, the team's
top scorer (13 ppg), who was placed on
academic probation prior to the start
of the game. Tippett's scoring, rebounding (9pg), low turnover rate (1 pg),

"It's no secret why


we lost. We had 32
turnovers to New
York Tech's 15. If we
hatf converted on just
half of the opportunities we threw
away, we would have
won the ballgame.
It's as simple as
that."
-Charlie Titus

Roger Reid drives toward the basket in the closing second* nf ia /


m e r h o t
t e
^

in every game we've played this year.


We could have beat those teams, but
we're just not executing properly. If
you don't execute, you don't win."
Make no mistake about itthe
Beacons are a fine basketball team.
Perhaps even better than last year's
team which made it to the NCAA Division III playoffs. If the Beacons could
return to their phenomenal early
season form as they head down the
stretch (7 games remaining), they could
not only return to the playoffs but go
far in them. They have that much
potential.
"The playoffs would be nice," said
Titus, "but right now we're not thinking about the playoffs. We're just concerned about getting back on the winning track."
Tech at the

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