CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University at Albany forward Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) and Boston University
goalkeeper Kim Kastuk (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) led their respective teams through the opening
weekend of field hockey's conference play. Savage earned the America
East Field Hockey Player of the Week for her part in the Great Danes'
2-0 week, while Kastuk's career-high nine saves against Duke was enough
to claim the Rookie of the Week. The awards are for the week ending
September 30. Click here for full release.
Savage scored three goals in two games last week, including the gamewinners in both victories over Maine and Massachusetts. The sophomore forward recorded the first goal of the game against Maine to lead the Great Danes to a 3-0 America East win in their conference opener. She then scored Albany's first goal of the game against UMass, and added her second, in a 3-1 defeat of the Minutewomen.
Kastuk made a career-high nine saves in Boston U.'s 3-2 overtime loss to #15 Duke. The freshman made five stops in the first half to keep the Terriers in the game before adding four more the rest of the way. She also earned a win in goal in the Terriers' 4-1 victory over New Hampshire in the conference opener on Friday. This is Kastuk's second rookie of the week award from the conference office. The freshman also received the same recognition for the week ending September 3, the first week of the 2007 season.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (9-3 overall, 1-0 America East) went undefeated in two games last week... The Great Danes, ranked 17th in the most recent NFHCA/STX poll, defeated Maine, 3-0, on the road on Friday in their America East Conference opener before claiming a 3-1 win over Massachusetts at home on Sunday... America East Player of the Week Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) scored the gamewinners in both games, recording one goal versus Maine and two in the UMass contest... Savage is currently tied for the team lead in points with ten goals and three assists for 23 total points... Michelle Simpson (Middlesbrough, England/University of Teesside) finished the week with two goals and two assists, scoring once in each game for the Great Danes... Simpson is tied with Savage for the team lead in points... Junior goalkeeper Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) earned her fourth shutout win of the season against Maine... Ross, who made nine saves in the two games, is recording a 1.01 goals against average and a .817 save percentage on the season... Freshman goalkeeper Christine Hoffman (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) earned the start against UMass, making two saves in the first half... UAlbany will continue America East Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 6, hosting Vermont at 1 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 7 as Fairfield visits Alumni Turf Field.
No. 14 Boston University (9-3, 1-0 America East) split its two games on the weekend, posting a 4-1 home victory against New Hampshire in the conference opener on Friday before dropping a hard-fought 3-2 overtime contest against No. 15 Duke at Boston College on Sunday... The Terriers outshot the Blue Devils by a 21-15 margin and held an 8-7 edge in penalty corners, but Duke scored on three of its corners, including the gamewinner at 75:35, to snap the Terriers' win streak at six games... Senior Pam Spuehler (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) scored Boston U.'s first two goals against the Wildcats to increase her team-high point total to 23 (8g, 7a)... Senior Hayley Hamada (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual) scored an unassisted goal in each game, capping the scoring against UNH with a tremendous individual effort and also recording the Terriers' first tally against Duke... Senior Sarah Shute (Lincolnville, Maine/Somers (N.Y.)) sent the Duke game into overtime with her eighth goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2 in the 44th minute... Senior Hadley Adams (Barre, Mass./Quabbin Regional) scored her third goal of the season in the win over UNH before assisting on Shute's tally on Sunday. She has recorded eight points (3g, 2a) in the past six games... America East Rookie of the Week Kim Kastuk (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) made a career-high nine saves against the Blue Devils and had her shutout skein snapped at 177:48 following the lone UNH goal... In the past seven games, the Terriers are outscoring their opponents 15-2 in the second half... The Terriers will play Fairfield on Friday at 4 p.m. and challenge second-ranked Maryland in College Park Sunday at 2 p.m.
Fairfield (2-9, 0-1 America East) posted a 1-1 week on a two-game road trip to Pennsylvania...Fairfield opened the weekend with a 3-2 win over St. Francis Pa., as junior Molly Byrnes scored two goals to pace the team. Byrnes registered her first multiple-goal game of her career...Byrnes has 10 total points for the year, one of two Fairfield players to have 10 or more points for the season...Emily Janis tallied an assist against Lock Haven to give her a team-best 12 points on the season...Senior goalkeeper Liz Thomas needs four more saves to hit the century-mark for the season. Thomas moved into the top five for career saves at Fairfield with 349 total. She needs 25 more saves to break into the top three on Fairfield’s career list... Fairfield will host Boston University on Friday at 4 p.m. before taking a road trip to Albany to take on the Great Danes at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Maine (4-7, 0-1 America East) dropped a pair of games on the week to ranked teams... Maine fell to #17 Albany 3-0 on Friday afternoon in the America East opener for the Black Bears... Maine followed that up with a 5-0 loss to #15 Boston College on Sunday afternoon in Newton, Mass... Rebecca Giroux (Augusta, Maine/Cony) started the game against Albany and made five saves... Maygan Cassarino (Milford, N.H./Milford) earned the start against the Eagles on Sunday and made six saves... The Black Bears return to action on Saturday, Oct. 6 when they travel to New Hampshire for an America East game with the Wildcats starting at 5 p.m.
New Hampshire (6-6, 0-1 America East) concluded its stretch of four consecutive road games last week with losses to 14th-ranked Boston University (4-1) and Northeastern University (2-1 in double overtime) ... The Wildcats have been a streaky team this season ? after opening the year with two wins, they lost three in a row, won four in a row and have now dropped three straight ... With the loss at Northeastern, UNH is now 1-1 in games decided beyond regulation in 2007; the ?Cats defeated UMass in OT in early September ... Leah Boody (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) scored her first goal of the season ? second of her career ? with a first-half tally at Northeastern that tied the game, 1-1 ... Shauna Sellenger (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) moved into a tie for the team lead in points (12) with a goal vs. Boston U; she has a team-high six assists while Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H./Concord) tops the team in goals with four ... UNH has a 3-2 record in games decided by one goal this season ... New Hampshire is winless in three games against nationally-ranked teams ... In the other nine games, UNH has outscored the opposition 17-12 in posting a 6-3 record ... The Wildcats have a 4-1 mark at home this year and they play host to Maine (Oct. 6; 5 p.m.) in their only game of the week.
Vermont (8-4, 1-0 America East) won its only contest of the week, defeating Harvard 3-1 at home on Sunday ... Junior Maegan Luce (Hartford, Vt./Hartford) scored a pair of goals while sophomore Megan Maynard (Waterbury Center, Vt./Harwood) added a goal and an assist ... Maynard scored the opening goal as the Cats earned a penalty corner and junior Kim Striegler (Whitney Point, N.Y./Whitney Point) took a shot that Maynard redirected for the goal ... With her two goals, Luce moved into sole possession of eighth place all-time at Vermont in scoring as she now has 61 points for her career ... UVM has now won four straight games against Ivy League teams ... Vermont is 4-1 at home this season ... In seven of Vermont’s eight wins this season the Catamounts have scored exactly three goals ... Striegler now has at least one point in five of the team’s last six games ... The Catamounts continue to receive votes in the national coaches' poll... Vermont has a pair of contests on tap for this week as the Cats will host Dartmouth on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and then travel to Albany for a league game on Saturday (1 p.m.).