To the UMass Lacrosse Family, Friends, and Supporters:
Umass Pride. Those are two words that just fit. Other words that you can join with those two are family, loyalty, and heart. One Umass man exhibited those traits and themes above all: Eric ‘Soup’ Sopracasa. For many years now, Eric has been a common denominator and unifier as we think about the Umass Way and all that is right with the program and its history. Many of us have heard about Soup and the type of man that he was, and each time that we do it uplifts us. We’ve heard that he was the ultimate epitome of a brother, a son, an athlete, a friend and a man. During my four years at Umass, whenever Coach Greg Cannella and Coach Chris Gabrielli would talk about him their words were often laced with emotion. His former teammates share stories about him with a proud steel in their eyes. We have all seen videos of him and have seen him play with a fire that burns so hot that it is felt beyond the screen and we take note of a passion that is so real and so raw that it inspires us even unto this day. I think about him often and I suspect that you all do as well. He is still leading us today even though we weren’t all honored with the chance to run and play with him on Garber Field.
I was recently in Iquitos, Peru on a health mission Trip. One of the days during the trip we took a boat ride on the Amazon River. That day I was in my Umass 43 t shirt, and as we were approaching the boat unbeknownst to me someone took an image of me walking down the stairs. Very recently I came across that picture. It hit me very suddenly and very hard that not only was I on the Amazon, but Soup was there as well! It hit me that Soup never had the chance to see or visit some of the places in the world that he could have. What if we all collectively had a shirt that honored him and as we travelled around our town, our state, the country or the world we snapped pictures and shared it with each other? I called Brett Garber (’07) up and we started chatting about the logistics and how to make it scalable. New Shirts have been created honoring Soup and we have created a Facebook page for all of us to share pictures when we take photos in these shirts. Our great current coaching staff has been supportive of this idea from the beginning and we ask you all to join us. Consider getting a shirt. All proceeds will go to supporting the program and its current men. With this movement we can honor Soup and strengthen the program. 43 is Forever.
Best,
Efosa L. Guobadia ‘07
I was recently in Iquitos, Peru on a health mission Trip. One of the days during the trip we took a boat ride on the Amazon River. That day I was in my Umass 43 t shirt, and as we were approaching the boat unbeknownst to me someone took an image of me walking down the stairs. Very recently I came across that picture. It hit me very suddenly and very hard that not only was I on the Amazon, but Soup was there as well! It hit me that Soup never had the chance to see or visit some of the places in the world that he could have. What if we all collectively had a shirt that honored him and as we travelled around our town, our state, the country or the world we snapped pictures and shared it with each other? I called Brett Garber (’07) up and we started chatting about the logistics and how to make it scalable. New Shirts have been created honoring Soup and we have created a Facebook page for all of us to share pictures when we take photos in these shirts. Our great current coaching staff has been supportive of this idea from the beginning and we ask you all to join us. Consider getting a shirt. All proceeds will go to supporting the program and its current men. With this movement we can honor Soup and strengthen the program. 43 is Forever.
Best,
Efosa L. Guobadia ‘07
