Repeat Winners Abound in America East
from press release
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A trio of student-athletes picked up
their second women's lacrosse weekly awards of the season on Monday
as announced by the league office. UMBC junior Amanda Pappas
(Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) earned her first Player of the Week
award since February 22, Albany senior Ashley Ross (Lancaster,
Pa./Conestoga Valley) claimed her second Defensive Player of the
Week honor in three weeks and New Hampshire freshman Jenny Simpson
(New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) garnered her second Rookie of the
Week award of the season. All awards were for the week ending March
28.
Pappas led the Retrievers to an extra session win in their
conference opener against Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon. The
junior midfielder recorded four points on three goals and an
assist, including the gamewinner in overtime. With the game tied at
9-9, Pappas notched the winning goal with just four seconds
remaining in the overtime period to send UMBC to its fifth-straight
victory. The junior also added three draw controls, a ground ball
and a caused turnover. It was her fifth hat trick of the season and
her 22nd goal of the season to tie for the league lead.
Ross made 20 stops during two games in net last week for the Great
Danes, who are off to their best start as a Division I program. The
senior netminder made a career-high 12 saves in an 11-10 victory
over Denver on Sunday. She stopped three free-position shots in the
game, and came up with a caused turnover and a ground ball with
6:04 remaining and her team leading 10-9. Five of her eight saves
earlier in the week against Colgate were on free-position attempts.
In the 12-7 victory, Ross added a career-high six ground balls. She
is among the league leaders in save percentage (.550) and GAA
(7.17) on the year.
Simpson tallied career highs in both goals (five) and points (six)
to propel UNH to a non-conference victory over Fairfield on Sunday.
The rookie was also credited with a ground ball, a caused turnover
and a draw control. Simpson scored the game's initial two goals and
set up the fourth tally to spark the Wildcat to a 6-0 lead. Her
three second-half goals helped fend off the Stags. Simpson scored
five goals on six shots for an .833 shooting percentage for the
afternoon.
Vermont will host Albany in both teams' conference openers on
Wednesday at 3 p.m., while New Hampshire will open its America East
play at home against UMBC on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
Team Notebooks
Albany (6-1, 0-0 AE) will take a six-game win streak, its longest
as a Division I program, into Wednesday's America East Conference
opener at Vermont... The Great Danes edged Denver, 11-10, Sunday in
Owings Mills, Md.... Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland)
broke an 8-8 tie with a pair of goals in a one-minute-and-46-second
span... Best totaled three goals for the 26th time in her career
and extended her goal-scoring streak to 53 consecutive games...
Best is fourth on the school's career scoring list with 171 points
(141 G, 30 A)... Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst,
N.Y./Lindenhurst) added three goals, the 13th time she has had
three-plus as a collegian... Grueniger needs four points to reach
the 100-career plateau... Goalkeeper Ashley Ross stopped a
career-high 12 shots vs. Denver... Ross, who has a .550 save
percentage in her first year as a starter, also had eight saves,
including five against free-position attempts, in a 12-7 triumph
over defending Patriot League champion Colgate... Taylor Frink
(Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) accounted for three goals and two
assists vs. Colgate... The junior attack has tallied five-plus
points on four occasions this season... Defender Tricia Primomo
(Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) collected a career-high five
ground balls against Colgate... Junior midfielder Nikki Branchini
(Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) accounted for 11 draw controls, six
ground balls and four caused turnovers in last week's two
victories... The Great Danes are off to their best start in
Division I.
Binghamton (0-6, 0-1 AE) put up a valiant effort before losing its
first America East game of the season, 11-8 to Boston University on
Saturday. Binghamton was up 5-2 against the No. 13 Terriers at the
half... Behind three unassisted goals from junior attack Ali
Castiglie (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood)... Junior midfielder Beth
Moore (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) and freshman Lindsay Angelillo
(Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles Central) each added a pair of
goals... Moore leads the Bearcats with 14 goals while Castigle has
11 goals.
No. 13 Boston University (5-4, 1-0 AE) opened America East play
with an 11-8 win at Binghamton on Saturday after dropping an 11-9
game to Yale on Wednesday in non-conference play... The Terriers
have now won 24 straight games against America East opponents and
17 straight regular-season conference games dating back to 2007...
The Terriers have never lost to Binghamton, going 9-0 in the
all-time series... Senior attack McKinley Curro (Amherst,
N.H./Souhegan) tallied eight points (6g, 2a) on the week, including
a game-high four goals in Saturday's win over Binghamton... The
Terriers overcame a three-goal halftime deficit against the
Bearcats with an 8-1 run in the second that included all four of
Curro's goals... Freshman Danielle Etrasco (Massapequa,
N.Y./Massapequa) netted her second hat trick on Wednesday against
Yale... The Terriers play a pair of non-conference games against
nationally-ranked opponents this week, visiting No. 16 Dartmouth on
Wednesday and hosting No. 6 Syracuse on Saturday... The Terriers
are 4-9 all-time against Dartmouth, but have never lost to the Big
Green under Liz Robertshaw... Boston University lost two games to
the Orange last year, including an NCAA tournament game that ended
the Terriers' season.
In its only game of the week, UMBC (7-3, 1-0 America East) defeated
Stony Brook, 10-9, in overtime in the America East opener... Junior
midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) scored the
game-winner with just four seconds remaining and finished the game
with four points on three goals and an assist for her fifth hat
trick of the season... Junior attack Erika Braerman (Fallston,
Md./Fallston) tallied three points on two goals and an assist,
while sophomore attack Alicia Krause (Ellicott City, Md./Mount
Hebron/Duquesne) also scored twice... The victory was the
Retrievers' fifth in a row, their longest winning streak since
taking six straight from April 17-May 3, 2003... It was also the
third straight win in an America East opener for UMBC and its fifth
in seven seasons in the conference... The Retrievers are off to
their best start since 1986, when they won eight of their first 10
games... Pappas leads UMBC with 22 goals, while Braerman follows
close behind with 21... She also boasts team bests of 15 assists
and 36 points... In all, 13 Retrievers have found the back of the
net this season, with six in double digits... Senior goalie Kate
Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) has been outstanding between the
pipes, boasting a 7.69 goals-against average and a .486 save
percentage... The Retrievers take on Manhattan on Monday before
traveling to America East rival UNH on Saturday.
UNH (5-3, 0-0 AE) improved to 4-1 at home this season with a 14-10
win against Fairfield on March 28... Jenny Simpson (New Canaan,
Conn./New Canaan) recorded career highs in both goals (five) and
points (six) to lead the attack... She has scored 10 goals on 15
shots for a .667 shooting percentage... Ilana Cohen (Andover,
Mass./Andover) scored a career-high three goals to match her
personal best of three points... Kathleen O'Keefe (Chatham,
N.J./Chatham) recorded her first career victory with a nine-save
effort vs. Fairfield; she also had five ground balls in that
game... Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) extended her
assist streak to eight games with two vs. the Stags; the second
assist marked her 50th career point... Rausch also tallied three
ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control in that
game... JoJo Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) extended her
point-scoring streak to eight games with a goal... Allie Duclos
(South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) tied O'Keefe with a game-high
five ground balls; Duclos also had two caused turnovers... Jess
Cassotis (York, Maine) had a solid defensive game and was credited
two ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control... UNH
has a 4-0 record when scoring 10+ goals this season... The 'Cats
are also 4-0 when holding the edge in ground balls, 3-0 when
scoring the game's first goal and 4-0 when leading at halftime.
Stony Brook (2-8, 0-1 AE) lost both of its games last week... The
Seawolves dropped an 18-7 decision to #15 Loyola on Wednesday...
Junior Melissa Cook (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) led Stony Brook
with two goals... Junior Mickey Cahill (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore)
started the second half and made 10 saves, allowing only four
goals... SBU returned to LaValle Stadium, but fell to UMBC, 10-9,
in overtime... Junior Samantha Djaha (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip)
and freshman Jessica Romano (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) each
scored two goals... Cook added a goal and three assists against the
Retrievers... The Seawolves tied the game at seven and took their
first lead of the game when Romano scored at 3:09 of overtime...
Cook's goal tied the game after UMBC took a 9-8 lead... The
Retrievers scored the game winner with four seconds left... America
East play continues on Saturday against Vermont at 1 p.m.
Vermont fell to 2-5 on the year after dropped a 14-10 decision at
Boston College in its lone game of the week. Sophomore Samantha
Stern (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and senior Kaitlyn Johnson (Meriden,
N.H.) each scored hat tricks for the Catamounts against the Eagles,
but it wasn't enough to pull out a victory. Stern has scored nine
goals in the last four games for Vermont. The Catamounts will be
taking donations at the ticket window in Gutterson Fieldhouse for
the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation
(FOJ) is a non-profit, charitable organization that was created and
dedicates itself to raise public awareness regarding pediatric
brain tumors. The foundation's goal is to improve the quality of
life for children suffering with pediatric brain tumors and help
fund research. The Foundation was inspired by Jaclyn Murphy, an
11-year old, who was diagnosed with a medullo blastoma, a malignant
brain tumor, in March 2004. Jaclyn was adopted by the Northwestern
women's lacrosse team in 2004 and has been an honorary member of
the Wildcat team ever since. The Catamounts, who have raised money
for the Foundation, will wear special warm-up jerseys for their
next three games. Vermont opens up America East Conference action
on Wednesday (March 31) when it hosts Albany at 3 p.m. at Moulton
Winder Field. UVM will also travel to Stony Brook for a 1 p.m. game
on Saturday (April 3).
