CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- Fairfield University's Liz Thomas (Wakefield, R.I./Leominster (Mass.)) and Boston University's Pam Spuehler
(Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) share America East Field Hockey Player of the Week honors for the week
ending September 16. University at Albany's Christine Hoffman (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) captured
the Rookie of the Week honors after earning her first collegiate
victory over the weekend. Click here for full release.
Thomas is the first Fairfield player to receive a weekly accolade since the Stags joined America East as an associate member in field hockey prior to this season. The senior made a season-high 15 saves in helping the Stags stay with #4 Iowa on Sunday afternoon. She allowed just one goal in 60 minutes of play before giving up two quick goals off penalty corners in the final 10 minutes. Earlier in the week, Thomas made six saves in a 2-0 loss to Columbia. She averaged 10.5 saves per game and a .808 save percentage in the two games.
Spuehler led the Terriers to three road victories on the week, combining for three goals and three assists. She set a new career-high of seven points (2g, 3a) against Dartmouth and netted the gamewinner in a 2-0 win vs. Massachusetts earlier in the week. Spuehler's successful week vaulted her to the top of the conference stats, as she now leads America East with 19 points on the season.
Hoffman earned her first collegiate victory, a 7-0 shutout win over crosstown-rival Siena on Friday night. Hoffman started in the cage for the Great Danes, playing all 70 minutes and making two saves.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (5-3 overall record,0-0 America East record) split two games last week... The #18 Great Danes defeated crosstown-rival Siena, 7-0, on Friday night before falling to #11 Boston College, 2-1, in overtime on Sunday... Sophomore forward Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) recorded her first career hat trick in the Great Danes’ 7-0 win over Siena... Savage scored the first goal of the game against the Saints... She scored her second tally in the 43rd minute off an assist from senior midfielder Michelle Simpson (Middlesbrough, England/University of Teesside)... Savage added her third and final goal of the day on a reverse-stick shot in front of the cage after a centering pass from Kristen Holder (Toronto, Ontario/ASE #1)... The sophomore forward also recorded an assist on UAlbany’s lone goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to #11 Boston College on Sunday... Savage is currently tied for the team-lead in points with five goals and three assists for 13 total points... Simpson finished the week with two goals and two assists for six total points... Simpson recorded one goal and two assists in the Great Danes’ win over Siena,and scored UAlbany’s lone goal against the Eagles on Sunday... Simpson is tied with Savage for the team-lead in points... America East Rookie of the Week goalkeeper Christine Hoffman (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) earned her first collegiate victory with a 7-0 shutout win over Siena... Hoffman started the game in the cage for the Great Danes and played all 70 minutes, making two saves... UAlbany will visit Colgate on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. before hosting Holy Cross on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.
Boston University (6-2, 0-0 America East) put together its most successful week so far this season, recording three road wins in five days... After shutting out UMass, 2-0, on Wednesday, the #20 Terriers posted weekend victories at Northeastern (3-2) and Dartmouth (8-3)... The trend throughout the week was dominant second halves from the Terriers, as they outshot their opponents, 38-5, and held a 9-2 advantage on the scoreboard after halftime. By comparison, Boston U. and its opponents combined for 15 shots each in the first half... America East Co-Player of the Week senior Pam Spuehler (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) registered a career-high seven points (2g, 3a) in the win over the Big Green and added the game-winning goal in the victory against the Minutewomen... Junior Holly Wiles (Harare, Zimbabwe/Arundel School) scored her first two goals of the season, including the gamewinner, against Dartmouth and added an assist versus UMass... Senior Hayley Hamada (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual) notched a goal and an assist in the victory at Dartmouth and also scored the game's first goal in the win over cross-town rival Northeastern... Senior Hadley Adams (Barre, Mass./Quabbin Regional) and sophomore Gabby Hajjar (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) each scored two goals on the week... Senior Sarah Shute (Lincolnville, Maine/Somers (N.Y.) tallied a goal and an assist against the Huskies... Junior Tamara Becker (San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) capped the scoring against the Big Green with her first career goal... Redshirt freshman Amanda Smith (Avon, Conn./Avon) earned her first career win in goal, picking up the shutout against UMass.
Fairfield (1-6, 0-1 America East) hosted #4 University of Iowa last Sunday and came up a little short, losing 3-1. Fairfield held its own and was tied with the Hawkeyes for 60 minutes at 1-1 before the visitors tallied two goals off penalty corners in the closing minutes...America East Co-Player of the Week goalkeeper Liz Thomas made a season-high 15 saves against Iowa, which helped her average 10.5 saves per game for the week. She made six saves in a 2-0 loss to Columbia last Wednesday...Emily Janis returned to the lineup and scored Fairfield’s lone goal against Iowa. The junior converted two passes off a penalty corner just two minutes after the Hawkeyes took the lead...Fairfield returns to action this weekend with a home game against Monmouth on September 22, and an away game with Yale on September 23.
Maine (3-4, 0-0 America East) won both of its games on the week to extend its winning streak to three games... Maine won three games in a row just once a year ago... Maine shut out Brown 2-0 on Saturday afternoon... The shutout was the first of the season for the Black Bears... Rebecca Giroux (Augusta, Maine) made a pair of saves in the game to earn the shutout... It was the 10th career shutout for Giroux who improved to 2-2 on the season... Erin Reusch (Salem, N.H./Salem) had a goal in each game on the weekend for the Black Bears.... Amy Zdrojesky (East Greenville, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) had a goal and an assist on Sunday against Quinnipiac... She recorded six shots in the game to go along with her goal and assist... Maygan Cassarino (Milford, N.H./Milford) made eight saves in goal on Sunday to earn her first victory of the season... Maine had four freshman in the starting line-up in each game on the weekend... Eight rookies have seen action for the Black Bears this season... Maine, which has played just one game at home this season, will return home for a season-long three-game home stand starting on Saturday... Maine will host Rhode Island on Saturday at 11 a.m. before hosting Providence on Sunday at 12 noon.
New Hampshire (5-3, 0-0 America East) shut out University of the Pacific (1-0) and College of the Holy Cross (2-0) to extend its winning streak to three games ... The Wildcats won all three games by shutouts to mark the team’s longest shutout streak since 1997, when they held four consecutive opponents scoreless ... UNH improved to 4-1 at home with the pair of victories ... Senior goalkeeper Margaux Shute (Norridgewock, Maine/Skowhegan Area) recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time in her career with the blanking of Pacific, then extended her streak to three games (214:57 overall) against Holy Cross ... Shauna Sellenger (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) leads the team with five assists; that total was the team high last season ... Sellenger has recorded a point in five of eight games this season, as has Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H./Concord) ... Craigue, who wears #24, scored at 24:24 to give the ?Cats a 1-0 lead vs. the Crusaders; she also tallied an assist in that game for a personal single-game high of three points ... Kara Napolitano (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) has proven incredibly efficient with two goals on two shots, including the game-winning tally against Pacific ... UNH has scored the game’s first goal in six of eight games ... The Wildcats are receiving votes in the most recent NFHCA coaches' poll... New Hampshire concludes September with four road games.
Vermont (6-3, 1-0 America East) went 1-2 on the week in three games away from home, with two coming against ranked opponents ... The Catamounts opened the week with a 3-2 victory against Pacific on the UNH campus ... Sophomore Megan Maynard (Waterbury Center, Vt./Harwood) scored the gamewinner with exactly one minute remaining to help the Catamounts improve to 6-1 on the year ... Vermont also got goals from senior Kelly McClintock (Williston, Vt./Rice) and junior Kim Striegler (Whitney Point, N.Y./Whitney Point) ... The Catamounts are 3-0 on UNH’s Memorial Field this season ... On Saturday Vermont fell to #15 Michigan, 5-0, after giving up four first half tallies ... On Sunday #16 Louisville jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the first 26 minutes of play, but the Catamounts outscored (2-0) and outshot (7-2) the Cardinals in the second half, before falling 4-2 ... McClintock and Striegler each scored for UVM ... With her goal, McClintock moved into fifth place all-time in school history and now has 28 for her career ... All three of Vermont’s losses this season have came against ranked teams ... The Catamounts are receiving votes in the most recent NFHCA coaches' poll... The Catamounts have a pair of contests this week, wrapping up a five-game road swing at Temple on Friday (2 p.m.) and then at Rutgers on Sunday (1 p.m.).