CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Vermont's Danielle Collins (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) and Boston University's Kim Kastuk (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) earned week one's America East Field Hockey Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively. Click here for full release.
Collins began her senior campaign by jumping out to an early start in defending her conference scoring title. In the first four games of the season, the forward tallied 12 points on five goals and two assists. Collins scored the game's only goal in a 1-0 win over #17 Providence on opening weekend, marking the Catamounts' first win over a ranked opponent. She became the UVM's all-time career points leader on her first of two goals against conference foe Fairfield, a 3-0 win for the Cats. Collins also notched one of her two game-winning goals and an assist in a 3-1 victory over Brown on Saturday.
Kastuk has stepped up early in her career and started in each of B.U.'s first four games. The rookie posted the league's second-best goals-against-average (1.14) and has recorded a .750 save percentage. Kastuk's first collegiate shutout came in a 1-0 win over Miami of Ohio on Saturday. The next day, Kastuk made seven saves in a 0-3 loss to #19 Michigan State.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (2-2, 0-0 America East) started the season with three ranked opponents in the team’s first four games... The Great Danes defeated Appalachian State, 2-0, to start the year, before dropping a 2-1 decision to #11 James Madison on August 26... UAlbany then defeated #15 Indiana, 2-0, on August 31... The win over the Hoosiers marked the third time the Great Danes have defeated a ranked opponent... UAlbany was victorious against 11th-ranked American last season and defeated #18 Boston U. in 2005... Sophomore forward Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) leads the Great Danes with two goals scored... She tallied her first goal of the season to score UAlbany’s only point in a 2-1 loss to JMU... Savage then helped UAlbany defeat Indiana, scoring the Great Danes’ second goal of the game on a penalty corner... Junior goalkeeper Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) has played every minute in the cage for UAlbany in four games this season, recording a .760 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average... The Great Danes are receiving votes in the NFHCA poll this week... UAlbany will host its home opener on Friday, September 7 against Temple at 3:30 p.m. and will host Ohio on Sunday, September 9 at 1 p.m.
Boston University (3-1, 0-0 America East) opened a season with three straight wins for the first time since 1993, posting home victories over Quinnipiac and No. 17 Providence before adding a win over Miami (OH) in a neutral-site game... The Terriers' attempt for a 4-0 start - which last happened in the team's first varsity season in 1978 - came up short in a 3-0 loss to No. 19 Michigan State... In the season opener against the Bobcats, seniors Sarah Shute (Lincolnville, Maine/Somers (N.Y.)) and Pam Spuehler (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) each set career highs in points with eight (3g, 2a) and six (2g, 2a), respectively, in an 8-1 rout... Against the Friars, Spuehler scored the game's first goal and assisted on the game winner in the closing minutes of a 2-1 triumph... Sophomore Gabby Hajjar (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) scored the decisive goal against Providence and also added a tally versus Quinnipiac... Sophomore Suus Dekker (Rotterdam, Holland/Insula College) scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Miami on an impressive individual effort and assisted on Spuehler's goal against Providence... Juniors Hayley Hamada (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual) and Hayly Ross (North Yarmouth, Maine/Greely) each scored a goal in the season opener... Freshman goalkeeper Kim Kastuk (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) started all four games and recorded her first career shutout in the win over the Red Hawks... Her goals against average stands at 1.14, while she also boasts a .750 save percentage... Boston U. will welcome cross-town rival #13 Boston College to Jack Barry Field on Friday, September 7.
Fairfield (1-3, 0-1 America East) began the season with a road trip to Virginia to face VCU (1-4 loss) and William & Mary (0-5 loss). The Stags also played their first conference game since joining America East as a field hockey associate member at Vermont on August 30, which they dropped, 0-3. The Stags posted their first win of the season in a 1-0 decision over St. Joseph's in the home opener on September 1... Newcomer Jill Piacquadio scored the game winner against Saint Joseph's in the first half, her first career points...Senior Liz Thomas made eight saves for the Stags, including a penalty stroke stop with 12 seconds remaining in regulation...Thomas tallied 29 saves through the first four games of the season...Fairfield returns home for a September 5 game against Lehigh University at 4p.m. in non-conference action.
Maine (0-4, 0-0 America East) played a tough schedule to open the season, opening the 2007 campaign with a 2-0 loss to fifth-ranked UConn... Maine has also played Syracuse and Dartmouth this season, who each received votes in the NFHCA Preseason Poll... The games marked the debut of Maine head coach Josette Babineau who is in her first season with the Black Bears... Maine had a 3-0 lead against Syracuse on Saturday afternoon before losing, 3-4 in overtime... Maine also fell to Dartmouth in overtime, 2-3... The Black Bears played two games on the road this season and two at neutral sites... Amy Zdrojesky (East Greenville, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) leads the Black Bears in scoring this season with a goal and two assists for four points... Nicole Emery (Winthrop, Maine/Winthrop) has a goal and an assist for three points... Goalies Rebecca Giroux (Augusta, Maine/Cony) and Maygan Cassarino (Milford, N.H.) have split time in goal... Giroux is 0-2 with a 2.32 goals against average and a .722 save percentage, while Cassarino is 0-2 with a 2.38 goals against average and a .706 save percentage... Maine has had six freshmen see action in games so far this season... Rookie Courtney Veinotte (Canaan, Maine/Skowhegan) notched a goal against Syracuse, while rookie Brittney Cummings (Belfast, Maine/Belfast) tallied an assist against Dartmouth ... The Black Bears host Northeastern on Saturday, September 8 at noon.
New Hampshire (2-1, 0-0 America East) compiled a 2-1 record in the opening two weekends of the season with wins against St. Louis (3-1) and Colgate (3-2), and a loss to Rider (3-1) ... 17th-year head coach Robin Balducci, the program’s all-time winningest coach, recorded her 150th career victory (all at UNH) with the Wildcats’ victory against Colgate ... UNH opened the season with a 2-0 record for the first time since 1999 ... Dating back to the 2006 season, the Wildcats strung together four consecutive wins, which was the longest streak since October 2003 ... Senior goalkeeper Margaux Shute (Norridgewock, Maine/Skowhegan Area) recorded an eight-save effort against SLU in the season opener and backboned the defense playing all 210 minutes in goal ... Shauna Sellenger (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) and Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H./Concord) have recorded at least one point in all three games this season ... Sellenger recorded a career-high two assists vs. Colgate and has already more than doubled her career assist total with four this season ... Sophie Ostroski (Intervale, N.H./Kennett) recorded her first career assist vs. St. Louis and finished the game with two helpers ... Sam Geary (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) scored her first collegiate goal with a tally vs. Colgate ... UNH has taken a 1-0 lead in all three games ... The Wildcats have recorded the advantage in both shots and penalty corners in each game ... UNH’s seven goals have been scored by six players; the only student-athlete with two goals is Brooke Bercari (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown)... The Wildcats play at Harvard on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. before taking on #14 Virginia and Massachusetts at the Catamount Classic in Burlington, Vt. on Saturday and Sunday.
Vermont (4-0, 1-0 America East) has opened the season 4-0 for only the second time, matching the 1992 squad for the best start in team history ... Vermont started the year with a 3-0 victory over Saint Louis as senior Danielle Collins (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) scored a goal and handed out an assist ... The following day sophomore Kristen Heavens (Harwinton, Conn./Lewis Mills) stopped all six shots she faced as the Catamounts picked up their first win over a ranked opponent, defeating #17 Providence, 1-0 ... Collins scored the only goal of the contest in the first half ... Vermont earned its first conference win of the year and third straight shutout with a 3-0 win over Fairfield on August 30 ... Collins had a pair of goals, with her second breaking the UVM school record for career points (96) ... The Cats wrapped up the opening week of play with a 3-1 triumph over Brown on Saturday ... Collins and junior Maegan Luce (Hartford, Vt./Hartford) each had a goal and an assist ... Luce and Collins each have two game-winning goals this season ... Brown scored with 9:25 left in the game, marking the first goal UVM had given up this season ... Heavens has stopped 21 of the 22 shots she has faced this year, with three shutouts after only recording one last year ... Vermont is receiving votes in this week's NFHCA poll... This week the Catamounts host the second Sheraton Catamount Classic as Massachusetts, New Hampshire and #14 Virginia come to Burlington ... Vermont faces Massachusetts on Saturday at 11 a.m. and then takes on the Cavs on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.