Sports Notebook
UMASS TRIO HONORED -- It was a big week for University of Massachusetts athletic director Dana Skinner, women's basketball coach Kathy O'Neil, and men's and women's cross-country and track-and-field coach Gary Gardner.
First, Skinner and O'Neil were inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the University of Rhode Island's Institution for International Sport. A day later, Gardner was named the Division 2 Women's Track and Field Coach of the Year by the New England Intercollegiate Track Coaches Association.
Skinner, now in his 10th year as athletic director, was a standout at Merrimack from 1975 to '78 and was drafted by the Boston Celtics his senior year. He scored 1,746 career points to rank sixth on the all-time Merrimack list, helped Merrimack earn two NCAA Tournament invitations, and was an All-American his senior year. In 1985, he became just the fourth men's basketball player to be inducted into the Merrimack Hall of Fame. Skinner is also a member of the Danvers High Athletic Hall of Fame.
After a brief playing career in the Continental Basketball Association, Skinner coached several years with the New England Gulls of the Women's Professional Basketball League, Bishop Fenwick High, and Salem State College before coming to UMass-Lowell in 1988.
O'Neil has compiled a 328-219 record in 19 years with the River Hawks. During that time, she was named New England Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year in 1991, 1995, and 1997. O'Neil assumed the head coaching role in 1985, and within four years had turned the River Hawks into a consistent regional power. Over the past 14 years, her teams have averaged 20.7 wins and have played in eight NCAA tournaments.
O'Neil played college ball at St. Michael's, where from 1977 to '81, she scored 1,261 points with 357 assists and 475 steals. She still holds the record for points in a game (36), average points in a season (22.1), and consecutive games scoring 25 or more points (10). She was the first women's basketball player inducted into the St. Michael's Hall of Fame and is one of only two players to have their jerseys retired.
The honor accorded Gardner was one of several he earned during the 2003-2004 season. Previously, he had been named Northeast-10 Conference and NCAA Northeast Region Coach of the Year and NE-10 men's and women's track and field Coach of the Year. The UMass women highlighted the season by finishing a school-best second in the New England Outdoors Championship, which includes all three NCAA divisions. UMass also won its third straight NE-10 indoor and second straight outdoors titles. Gardner coached three relay teams -- the indoor 4x400 and the outdoor 4x100 and 4x400 -- into the NCAA Championships.
SCHOLASTIC ODDS 'N' ENDS -- Stoneham (8-0) continued to hold onto the top spot in the latest Globe Top 20 soccer poll. Winchester moved into the Top 20, all the way to No. 8 with its 6-1-1 record, and Woburn (5-1-2) moved from No. 11 to No. 9. Medford (4-2-1) dropped from No. 4 to 14th and Arlington (5-1-1) cracked the Top 20 at No. 16. Belmont (8-0-1) moved from ninth to first in the girls poll, and Winchester (5-0-4) dropped from first to fourth. Andover (6-0) climbed from No. 17 to No. 10. Mark DeSantis, with 10 goals and 8 assists has been Stoneham's spark, while Michelle Sheehan has led Belmont with 14 goals and 12 assists, including three in a 4-0 win over Melrose. Jackie Powers had a big day for the Andover girls with four goals in a 7-0 win over Haverhill. North Andover's John Wentworth has had five multiple-goal games in seven outings for the Scarlet Knights. He had three against Wilmington and two against Amesbury to raise his total to 13 . . . . Special teams were pretty special for Lowell's football team in a 21-14 win over Central Catholic. Corey Donovan blocked a punt, and teammate Patrick Martin recovered it in the end zone for the winning score with 51 seconds left in regulation. . . . Congratulations to Barbara Harrison Burke, class of 1956, field hockey, softball, and basketball; Albert Centner, 1971, football, basketball and track; Lisa Trickett Stevens, 1985, track and field; and Tammie Bowlby Prudente, 1987, gymnastics, field hockey, and track. The four were inducted into the Salem/Woodbury (N.H.) Hall of Fame recently.
CAMPUS CORNER -- Former Tufts basketball coach Tom Penders received the school's Distinguished Service Award. He coached at Tufts from 1971 to '74 before moving on to Columbia (1974-78), Fordham (1978-86), Rhode Island (1986-88), Texas (1988-98), and George Washington (1988-2001). He had a .593 winning percentage (527-361), and 16 of his teams earned postseason NCAA berths. Previous winners of the award, which recognizes extraordinary contributions to sports by individuals with Tufts and/or New England ties, include Patriots owner Robert Kraft, former Celtics coach Arnold ''Red" Auerbach, and figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. . . . Merrimack bounced back big time from its humbling loss to Southern Connecticut with a 41-20 thumping of American International. Freshman kicker Ryan Kelly of Woburn had field goals of 27 and 23 yards and converted five points after for an 11-point afternoon. . . . Bentley senior Lisa Tisbert of Andover scored the game's only goal in a 1-0 soccer win over St. Anselm. Tisbert also scored a goal in a 3-0 win over Holy Family University.
LOCK MONSTER BITES -- Lowell pries the lid off its 2004-2005 campaign Saturday when it entertains the Providence Bruins at Tsongas Arena. Face-off is 7 p.m. Lowell then hosts Wilkes-Barre Sunday at 4 and Portland Wednesday at 7 before wrapping up the week Friday at Providence and Saturday at Portland. . . . After last weekend's exhibition games, the Lock Monsters assigned Craig Kowalski, Damian Surma, Matt Hendricks, Tom Reimann, Brian Sullivan, Brad Church, and Greg Hornby to the Florida Everglades and Sebastien Centomo, Patrik Nilson, Chris Stanley, Adam Huxley, Regan Darby, Darren Lynch, and Dan Tudin to the Las Vegas Wranglers. Florida and Las Vegas are in the East Coast Hockey League.
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