UMBC's Andy Gallagher (Rockville, Md./DeMatha) has been named America East's Player of the Week for men's lacrosse, while Binghamton freshman Drew Wichmann (Syracuse, N.Y./Corcoran) has earned the first America East Rookie of the Week award of his career. The awards were announced Monday (March 26).
Gallagher scored four of his game-high five goals in the second half, including the game-winning goal late in the fourth quarter as UMBC held off Ohio State, 11-9. He tied his career high with six points in the victory. In three career games versus the Buckeyes, Gallagher has nine goals and four helpers. The senior now has 117 career points (77 goals, 38 assists) and has vaulted into 17th place in school history.
Wichmann dished out a career-high five assists in Binghamton’s game at No. 14 Syracuse on Saturday. He continues to lead the Bearcats with 13 total points (4-9-13). In his last two games, Wichmann has scored three goals and recorded seven assists.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
ALBANY GREAT DANES
Albany (6-0, 1-0 America East) is off to its best start since 1993 following a 16-4 victory over Hartford on March 24 to begin the America East Conference schedule... The Great Danes have won six consecutive conference openers... Mike Ammann (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) keyed a seven-goal second quarter that broke the game open... Ammann, a junior midfielder, had a career-high three points (2 goals, 1 assists), all in that second period... Corey Small (St. Catharines, Ontario/Holy Cross) and Merrick Thomson (Stoney Creek, Ontario/Albany Academy) found the net 28 seconds apart for a 7-1 lead... Thomson, who had four goals and one assist, scored three times in the first half... Thomson tallied five or more points for the 18th time during his collegiate career... He ranks fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 191 points (145G, 46A)... Craig McDonald (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) played a role in two third-period goals... The junior long-stick midfielder broke up a clearing attempt that led to a fastbreak goal, and then netted the first of his career off a rebound in front of the cage... Frank Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) had three assists to extend his scoring streak to 37 consecutives games... Resetarits moved into fifth place among the school’s career scorers with 186 points and is sixth on the all-time assists chart (68)... Jordan Levine (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had two goals and a season-high eight ground balls against Hartford... Derek Dale (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem) and Small each scored twice as 12 Great Danes put up offensive numbers... Dale has reached the scoring column in all six games this season... UAlbany was second nationally in the USILA coaches’ poll for the second straight week (March 19), the highest-ever ranking in the program’s history... The Great Danes are No. 5 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media rankings... UAlbany is third among NCAA Division I teams in scoring offense at 13.99 goals per game.
BINGHAMTON BEARCATS
After struggling offensively in its first three games of the season, Binghamton (1-4, 0-0 America East) has scored 21 goals in its past two games... Freshman attack Drew Wichmann (Syracuse, N.Y./Corcoran) dished out a career-high five assists in Saturday's game at No. 14 Syracuse. He continues to lead the Bearcats with 13 total points (4-9-13). In his last two games, Wichmann has scored three goals and recorded seven assists... Sophomore attack Jake Boyce (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford-Sutherland) turned in his fourth career hat trick with three goals in the game against the Orangemen. He is tied with freshman midfielder Steve Carlson (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan) for the team lead with six goals... Including Syracuse, the Bearcats have gone up against three nationally-ranked opponents in their first five games this season.
HARTFORD HAWKS
Hartford (1-5, 0-1 America East) dropped a 16-4 decision at second-ranked Albany on Saturday in its only action of the week. Junior Brian Tilley (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./St. Anthony's) scored two goals to lead the Hawks, the third multi-goal game of his career. Freshman Rob Steffens (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) also added a goal and an assist while senior Jason Whitehouse (Gilmanton, N.H./Western New England) tacked on a goal... Sophomore Daniel Clough (Piedmont, Calif./Dematha) leads the team in scoring with four goals and a team-high six assists for 10 points. Steffens leads the team in goals with seven. Sophomore Jon McMahon (Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) has started every game in goal and had made 67 saves... Hartford returns home to face Yale on Tuesday, March 27 before hitting the road again for a conference matchup at Binghamton on Saturday, March 31.
UMBC RETRIEVERS
Senior attackman Andy Gallagher (Rockville, Md./DeMatha) scored four of his game high five goals in the second half, as host UMBC (4-3, 0-0 America East) edged rival Ohio State, 11-9 before 1,724 sun-drenched fans at UMBC Stadium. on Sunday... Gallagher added an assist and in three career games vs. the Buckeyes, he has nine goals and four helpers... He tied his career high with six points in the victory... Now has 117 career points (77 goals, 38 assists) and has vaulted into 17th place in school history... The previous two games between the Retrievers and Buckeyes went more than 60 minutes, as UMBC prevailed, 8-7 in double overtime in 2004 and Ohio State won on a then-freshman Kevin Buchanan score in the 66th minute in 2005... The Retrievers have won their three home games (3-1) by a total of four goals... They went ahead to stay at 9-8 on a score by freshman attackman Cayle Ratcliffe (Victoria, Brit. Columbia/Western Reserve (Ohio) at the 5:50 mark of the fourth quarter... Despite losing all seven fourth-quarter draws, UMBC’s defense tightened and Gallagher took over late in the game... He came out front from the left of the goal to score an unassisted tally with 3:15 remaining, then beat a double-team to score into an unguarded net 59 seconds later... Senior attackman Drew Westervelt (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) added three goals and two assists, while Ratcliffe had two and one, as the UMBC attack amassed ten goals and four assists... UMBC outshot Ohio State, 35-34 and cleared successfully 22 of 24 times. Gallagher scored both Retriever extra-man goals (2/4) and the sixth-ranked unit in the nation stayed at 50 percent (12/24) on the season... Westervelt moved into seventh place on UMBC’s all-time scoring list with 162 points on 89 goals and 73 helpers (tied for eighth all-time)... The Retrievers open America East Conference play at fifth-ranked Albany on March 31... UMBC leads the series, 4-1, but this is just the second game at Albany.
STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES
Stony Brook (4-1, 0-0 America East) picked up a pair of victories over Marist and Lehigh over the week and moved to 4-1 on the season... On Tuesday, the Seawolves were paced by three goals from senior midfielder Larry Cerasi (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach)the 20th ranked Seawolves topped Marist, 11-7. Brendan Callahan (Hanover, Md./Gonzaga) kept the Seawolves in the game as he made 16 saves, including nine in the fourth quarter... Owen Adams (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) provided a spark from the midfield as he finished two goals and an assist... On Saturday, Callahan's save with five seconds remaining preserved the Seawolves 10-9 victory over Lehigh on Saturday afternoon... Stony Brook held a 10-7 advantage with 3:38 remaining in the game after Cerasi buried his third goal of the game... The Mountain Hawks mounted a furious rally, tallying two goals in a 25-second span to cut the lead to one... Ryan Hughes (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) was spectacular in the midfield for the Seawolves as he finished the day with five points off three goals and a pair of assists while Cerasi had his second-three goal game in a row to go along with an assist... Bo Tripodi (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) had two goals and an assist while Rhys Duch (Victoria, British Columbia/Baggataway) and Bobby Trenkle (Commack, N.Y./Commack) added a goal and an assist... Callahan finished with 13 saves in the game... The Seawolves open up their conference slate on Saturday at Vermont against the Catamounts.
VERMONT CATAMOUNTS
Vermont (3-4, 0-0 America East) dropped a pair of non-conference games last week... On Tuesday Dartmouth defeated Vermont 16-7 in Hanover, N.H... . Then on Saturday Siena defeated Vermont 7-6 in overtime at Moulton Winder Field in Burlington, Vt... Senior midfielder Pete Hein (Greenwood Village, Colo./Cherry Creek) scored four goals on the week... Hein has a team-high 16 goals on the season... He also has a team best 19 points... Sophomore Andrew Kelleher (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem) scored a total of four goals in the two losses last week... Senior Dan Zwirko (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) had one goal and three assists in the loss at Dartmouth... Junior Andrew Pierson (Havre de Grace, Md./St. Paul’s) notched three assists last week and he has a team-high 10 helpers on the year... Senior Daryl Swarts (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) made 30 saves in two starts last week and he has a .564 save percentage on the season... This week Vermont plays Brown on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Moulton Winder Field... Then on Saturday the Catamounts open up America East conference play at home against Stony Brook at 1 p.m... On Saturday it’s Rally's Round Up Day ? UVM Kid's club members are invited to the game and there will be a special halftime promotion with Rally... The first 50 fans will also receive free “We Are Vermont” wristbands... Admission is free to all Vermont men's lacrosse home games in 2007.