Track and Field
Beacon Track and Field athletes have been putting together an incredible start to the season since the beginning of 2016. In the most recent track meet, both the women and men placed in the top  three. The men finished in second, while the women finished in third. Hulerie McGuffie has performed exceptionally once again this season, receiving the Little East Conference Athlete of the Week award once already. With her resume, she will likely be competing once again for a National Title in the 4 x 100, the 100, and potentially the 200.
Upperclassman aren’t the only people to excel this season. Sophomores Taylor Driggers and Dom Nda were both voted LEC Athlete of the Week. Both of these young stars expect to receive countless awards throughout the rest of their time at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Women’s Basketball
The lady Beacons are once again having an outstanding season. Following her arrival, the new Interim Head Coach, Kristina Baugh, helped redefine the standards for women’s basketball at UMass Boston. In the past, the Women’s Basketball program has struggled to finish their seasons with just over a 500 record, but under the guidance of Baugh, the team was able to have to best start in the history of the program.
In the first six games, Baugh helped lead her Beacons to six wins, four of which were by double digits.  However, since the early magic, UMass Boston has immensely struggled with their most important games against divisional LEC opponents. Since the six game winning streak, the Beacons have gone 3-7 and 2-4 within the division. With any hope of making the playoffs, the Beacons need to fight off this slump and find their rhythm again. If not, the postseason may be out of the question.
Despite the struggles, Senior Captain Olivia Murphy seems confident that things can be turned around. In a recent victory, Murphy was able to reach an individual milestone when she snagged her 1,000^th rebound of her Beacon career. Murphy now sits in the program’s history with 1,377 career points and 1,002 rebounds. Having said that, Murphy is less concerned with individual accolades, and is more focused on team goals. “We just need to turn things around as a group,” said Murphy. “We have played some great basketball at times, but if we want to reach the tourney we have to execute consistently.”
Men’s Basketball
The new skipper, Head Coach Jason Harris, is struggling to find success in his most recent games. In their past six matches, the Beacons have been unable to pull out a single win. Out of the six matches, four were scheduled against Little East Conference opponents. Things aren’t looking great for the Beacons’ remainder of the season, but it’s been expected during their rebuilding year. Unlike the lady Beacons, the Beacons lost most of their core last year to graduation. Coach Harris is tasked with the challenge of finding some top level recruits to bring in for the 2017 season.
The LEC tournament is beginning to look like an unrealistic goal for UMass Boston. Despite the struggles, Harris continues to push his squad for winning results, but the team doesn’t have enough depth to compete deep into games. In their most recent match against Southern Maine, the Beacons lost in overtime due to several mistakes from substitutes.
Having said that, the Beacons are hoping to bring home some wins during their stretch of games in February. The team announced that they will be playing “Pink Games” in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. The games started earlier during the month of January.
Women’s Hockey
UMass Boston’s Women’s Hockey Program is having a solid season under the guidance of new Head Coach, Lindsey Berman. Berman was a graduate of the DI program at Northeastern University, where she played during her college years. Following graduation, Berman went to Brown University to serve as the top assistant coach.
Since her arrival, Berman has proved that she is the perfect replacement for Colleen Harris. During Harris’ time as coach, the team was always just shy of being a great team, constantly falling in the middle of the pack. While under Berman, the team is only 9-8; they are 7-2 in conference and in their past four games they have three convincing wins. Berman has the Beacons playing some great hockey, and it looks like they will have a late push during their final seven games of the season (which are all NEC opponents).
It appears that Berman is around to stay. Her guidance has really helped the Beacons reestablish themselves in the final stretch of the year. With a great divisional record, it looks like these final seven NEC games should be a breeze.
Men’s Hockey
Once again the Men’s Hockey program is a front runner in New England. Overall, the team has a 13-3-2 record, with a conference record of 9-1-1. The Beacons are now ranked sixth in the nation.
In their most recent game, UMass Boston was able to pull out a win against the ninth ranked team. The final score of the game was 3-2. The Beacons fell behind late in the second period after a Skidmore player was able to find the back netting on a slap shot. Shortly after, David MacGregor and Albee Daley (UMass Boston) were able to score in the same period to position themselves for the victory.
MacGregor had an incredible night with the tying goal, while Derek Colucci was able to add three assists to his season stats. Under Head Coach Peter Belisle, the team has experienced endless success for the past 10 years. Even when outsiders have low expectations for the year, somehow the skipper is able to make some magic and develop his boys into top contenders. The Coach is Hall of Fame type material and it’s amazing to see him build a winner year in and year out. Hats off to the program.