American East Hands Out Weekly Awards
from press release
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- A pair of first-team all-conference
players from a year ago join a freshman as this week's women's
lacrosse award winners for the week ending March 21. Boston
University senior attack McKinley Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan)
picked up Player of the Week honors, UMBC senior goalkeeper Kate
Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) earned Defensive Player of the
Week accolades and Stony Brook freshman attack Nicolle Moran
(Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) took home the Rookie of the Week
award.
Curro led the Terriers to a 1-1 week, with the loss coming in
double overtime to the hands of #9 Notre Dame. Against Harvard
earlier in the week, the senior tallied seven points, one shy of a
career high, on three goals and four assists, while also adding a
ground ball. Against the Irish, Curro dished out two assists in the
low-scoring, 7-6 affair. Curro ranks 10th in the league leaders
with 2.57 points per game and ninth with 1.00 assist per game
during her senior campaign.
Quick made 15 saves and allowed just nine goals in a pair of UMBC
wins last week. She also added five ground balls and three caused
turnovers. Quick finished the week with a 4.50 goals against
averaged and a 62.5 save percentage. In a 19-2 win over American on
Wednesday, she stopped five shots, picked up four ground balls and
caused three turnovers. Then in a 9-7 win at Delaware on Sunday,
she made a season-high 10 saves. Last year's first-team
all-conference goalkeeper, Quick boasts a 7.63 GAA and .511 save
percentage this year through nine games.
Moran, the second straight Seawolf to win the Rookie of the Week
award, tallied six points in two games last week on five goals and
an assist. Against Hofstra, the rookie notched two goals, while
adding one ground ball and one caused turnover. On Saturday against
Columbia, Moran scored her first hat trick of her collegiate career
and added an assist for four points on the afternoon.
Team Notebooks
Albany (4-1, 0-0 AE) is off to its best start as a
Division I program following a 14-7 win over Massachusetts on March
20... The Great Danes have won four straight, tying their longest
streak at the Division I level... Albany also won four in a row in
2005 and 2007... The Great Danes limited UMass to 18 shots en route
to defeating the Minutewomen for the first time in seven meetings
... UMass is the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10
Conference title... Taylor Frink (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker)
equaled a career best with four goals... Frink is among the America
East scoring leaders (16 g, 7 a)... Melanie Sosnowski (Massapequa
Park, N.Y./Massapequa) recorded her third-highest single-game
scoring total with three goals and two assists... She has 21 points
through five games after accounting for 14 goals and five assists
as a freshman... Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) had two
goals and two assists vs. UMass to extend her goal-scoring streak
to 51 consecutive games... Best climbed to fourth on the school's
all-time scoring list with 166 points, moving past Hall of Famer
Debbie August '96... Nikki Branchini (Guilderland,
N.Y./Guilderland) recorded season-highs in draw controls (6) and
caused turnovers (2) and assisted on the game's first goal with
nine seconds elapsed... Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga
Valley) made seven saves and stopped three free-position shots ...
Ross has a .556 save percentage in her first year as a starting
lacrosse goalkeeper.
Binghamton (0-4, 0-0 AE) continues to look for the first win of the
season after falling to Monmouth 12-10 on Sunday afternoon.
Binghamton outshot Momouth 39-25 but only converted on two of nine
free position shots while the Muhawks found the net in three of
four attempts. The Bearcats are back home Wednesday March 24
hosting LeMoyne at 7 p.m.
The No. 11/13 Terriers (4-3, 0-0 AE) split a pair of non-conference
games, winning at Harvard, 13-9, on Wednesday before falling to No.
9/15 Notre Dame on Saturday at home by a 7-6 score in double
overtime... The Terriers have now won six straight games against
the Crimson... Saturday's loss snapped a nine-game home winning
streak... The double overtime game against the Fighting Irish was
the Terriers' first game to go into double overtime since Feb. 28,
2009, when Boston U. topped William & Mary... All three of the
Terriers' losses this season have come against nationally-ranked
opponents... Senior attack Traci Landy (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford)
scored two goals in each game last week and is the only Terrier to
score a goal in every game this season... Senior attack Jenny Taft
(Edina, Minn./Edina) netted her first career hat trick against
Harvard on Wednesday ... This week, the Terriers host Yale on
Wednesday before opening America East conference play at
Binghamton... The Terriers will be seeking their third straight win
against Yale and are 8-0 all-time against Binghamton.
After winning a pair of games last week, UMBC is 6-3 and off to its
best start since 1994, and its current four-game winning streak is
its best since winning four straight from March 21-April 4, 2006...
The Retrievers used a 12-0 run that spanned both halves and lasted
more than 35 minutes to defeat American, 19-2, on Wednesday...
Junior midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) scored
four goals and was named America East Player of the Game...
Sophomore attack Emily Coady (Westminster, Md./Westminster) tied
her career high with five points on three goals and two assists...
In all, nine Retrievers found the back of the net, with seven
scoring multiple times... Then at Delaware on Sunday, UMBC fell
behind, 4-2, but scored seven of the game's final 10 goals to
defeat the Blue Hens, 9-7... Sophomore attack Alicia Krause
(Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) broke a 7-7 tie with the
game-winner with 7:22 remaining... Coady led the Retrievers with
three points on two goals and an assist... Senior goalie Kate Quick
(Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) made a season-high 10 saves... She
boasts an outstanding 7.63 GAA and .511 save percentage through
nine games this season... Braerman leads the Retrievers with 33
points and 14 assists... She is tied with Pappas for the team lead
in goals with 19 apiece... UMBC opens America East play on Saturday
at Stony Brook.
UNH (4-3, 0-0 AE) played just one game last week while the
University was on spring break, and the Wildcats were defeated 15-3
at Florida on March 20... Freshman goalkeeper Kathleen O'Keefe
(Chatham, N.J./Chatham) made 13 saves and surrendered 13 goals
against Florida in her second career start; the 13 saves was one
less than her total in the previous game at second-ranked
Maryland... O'Keefe was also credited with three caused turnovers
and three ground balls vs. the Gators in 55 minutes, 47 seconds of
action; both the GB and CTO totals were team highs... Hayley Rausch
(Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) tallied a goal and an assist...
She and JoJo Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) have recorded a point
in all seven games this season; Rausch has an assist in every
game... Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) saw her
18-game point-scoring streak come to an end at Florida... UNH
trailed 7-1 at halftime, but goals by Jenny Simpson (New Canaan,
Conn./New Canaan) and Curro trimmed the deficit to four goals...
The 'Cats continued to pressure with two more shots on goal in the
next three minutes, but UF pulled away with eight goals in the last
20:37 of the game... UNH returns to action March 28 against
Fairfield at home, where the 'Cats are 3-1 this season ... The
Wildcats have a 2-0 lifetime record vs. the Stags; these teams
played in the '04 and '05 seasons.
Stony Brook (2-6, 0-0 AE) lost both of its games last week... The
Seawolves trailed Hofstra, 5-4, at halftime, but the Pride
outscored them, 12-3, in the second half... Junior Courtney
Bertolone (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem East) and freshman Nicolle
Moran (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) each scored two goals for the Seawolves,
who forced Hofstra into 25 turnovers... Stony Brook got within 8-5
with junior Trish Molfetta's (Carmel, N.Y./Mahopac) goal with 26:34
left in the game... The Seawolves rallied from a five-goal deficit
against Columbia, but lost to the Lions, 15-13... Junior Melissa
Cook (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) led all scorers with four goals...
Down 10-4, Cook scored all four of her goals in the second half as
Stony Brook came back to make it a 10-9 game... Columbia made it
12-9 before goals from Moran and Cook made it 12-11... Moran's
three goals were a career-high... The Seawolves conclude
non-conference play on Wednesday when they travel to face Loyola at
2 pm... America East play starts with UMBC at LaValle Stadium at 1
pm.
Vermont (2-4, 0-0 AE) went 1-1 in a pair of home games last week.
The Catamounts dropped a 14-11 decision to Siena on Wednesday, but
bounced back with a 14-7 victory over Marist on Saturday. Senior
Sara Buxton (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) recorded a hat trick to
lead Vermont against Siena. She also added an assist and reached
the 100-point milestone, becoming the eighth player in the
program's history to reach the 100-point plateau. In the win over
Marist, Samantha Stern (Cherry Hill, N.J/Cherry Hill East) scored a
team-high four goals and Natalie Jones (Saratoga Springs,
N.Y./Saratoga Springs) chipped in a hat trick to pace Vermont.
Teammate Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) also contributed
five points in the win. Vermont returns to action on Wednesday
(March 24) when it travels to Boston College for a 4 p.m. game. It
is the lone game of the week for the Catamounts.
