CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Three America East men's soccer players received weekly accolades after each led their team to a pair of conference wins last week. Hartford's Carlos Villa (Los Conchas, Guatemala/Arrayanes/San Jacinto College) and Vermont' s Connor Tobin (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins) shared Player of the Week honors, while Boston University's Michael Bustamante (Chelsea, Mass./Chelsea) took home Rookie of the Week accolades for the week ending October 12.
Villa, a junior forward, continued his torrid scoring pace, netting two goals and adding an assist in two Hartford wins last week. Villa tallied three points, including the game-winning goal in a 2-0 victory over UMBC at Wednesday and added his league-leading 11th goal of the season in a 2-0 win over Maine on Sunday. Villa ranks among national leaders with 25 points (2.08 ppg).
Tobin, a senior back, tallied points in each of UVM’s victories last week. He scored the first goal in a 2-1 win over Dartmouth, which was ranked seventh in the most recent NSCAA Northeast Regional Poll, on Tuesday. Tobin, who was named to the College Soccer News Team of the Week, then set up the lone score against UMBC, serving a free kick into the box that Jordan Crasilneck struck home. Tobin also leads a defense that has allowed just two scores during the Catamounts' current five-game unbeaten streak.
Bustamante, a freshman forward, factored into all three goals in a pair of Terrier victories last week. He scored two minutes into the second half in a 1-0 win at Stony Brook on Wednesday and assisted on both scores in a 2-0 victory over Binghamton on Saturday. Bustamante is tied for fourth in America East with five assists and tied for ninth with nine points.
Team Notebooks
Albany (8-3, 2-1 America East) split its America East Conference matches this past week ... The Great Danes suffered a 3-0 loss at home to Binghamton on Oct. 8, but got back on track by posting a 2-0 victory at New Hampshire on Oct. 11 ... The team’s eight wins is the most victories through 11 matches in the program’s Division I era which began in 1999 ... UAlbany was shutout for just the second time this season against Binghamton ... Goalkeeper Steward Ceus (Rockland County, N.Y./North Rockland) made nine saves which matched his career high to earn his fourth shutout of the season and the 16th of his career against New Hampshire ... UAlbany’s eight wins and 25 goals more than doubles their totals from a year ago ... The Great Danes defense has surrendered just two goals in the eight victories ... Sander Anker (Enschede Netherlands/Roc van Twente) recorded his first career goal against New Hampshire ... Despite scoring just 0.65 goals per game last season, UAlbany entered the week ranked third in the nation in goals per game, averaging 2.56 ... Claudio Dantas (Orlando, Fla./Crystal Lake/Jefferson College) entered the week ranked 31st in the nation in goals per game (0.67), 15th in assists per game (0.56) and 17th in points per game (1.89) ... UAlbany, which has won five of its last six matches, hosts Stony Brook at 3 p.m. on Oct. 15 and UMBC at 1 p.m. on Oct. 18.
Binghamton’s (6-3-3, 1-1-0 America East) Oct. 18 game will be televised locally by Time Warner Cable. It marks the first televised game for the program since it moved up to the NCAA Division I level seven years ago ... junior goalkeeper Jason Stenta (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) recorded his school-record 26th career shutout in the Bearcats’ 3-0 win over Albany on Oct. 8. He passes Adam Napell, who recorded 25 shutouts from 1986-89 ... junior forward Cameron Keith now has 14 goals during his career at Binghamton. His one-goal, one-assist performance against Albany on Oct. 8 represents his fourth career game with at least three points ... Binghamton plays four of its final six regular-season games at home, starting with Wednesday’s game vs. Hartford.
Boston University (5-5-2, 2-1-0 America East) shut out Stony Brook (1-0) and Binghamton (2-0) last week to reach .500 for the first time this year ... Started the season 0-3-1 after facing four nationally-ranked teams ... Freshman Michael Bustamante (Chelsea, Mass./Chelsea) scored his first career game-winner at Stony Brook two minutes into the second frame ... Senior Hrafn Davidsson (Reykjavik, Iceland/University of Iceland) and junior Joe Cullaro (New York, N.Y./Clarkstown South) each played a half, recording a total of five saves for the shutout ... The win was the Terriers’ first road and one-goal victories of the season ... Bustamante posted two assists in Saturday’s win over the Bearcats ... Placed a corner kick in the box for junior Tom Strackhouse (Flemington, N.J./Pingry School) to head in for the first goal ... Then helped sophomore Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) set up freshman Stephen Knox (Aarima, Trinidad/Fatima College HS) for the insurance score ... Davidsson only needed one save for his third individual and team’s fifth shutout of the season ... Terriers have now scored at least two goals in five of seven home games ... Bustamante currently sits in second on the team in points with nine off two goals and five assists ... Junior Shaun Taylor (Sandown, England/Sandown) leads with 13 off six goals and one assist ... Team next visits Maine on Wednesday.
Hartford (7-3-2, 3-0-0 America East) remains undefeated in the America East after defeating UMBC on Wednesday and Maine on Saturday ... For the first time since the 2002 season, Hartford has opened up conference play with three victories ... The Hawks have won six out of their last seven games, while extending their winning streak to three games, a feat that has been accomplished for the second time this season ... With Saturday’s victory, the Hawks remain unbeaten at home, boasting a 6-0-1 record at Al-Marzook Field ... Defensively, Hartford has not surrendered a goal in their seven wins ... With a 2-0 victory over UMBC, Hartford handed the Retrievers their first home loss since September 15, 2007 ... After a scoreless first half, Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/Arrayanes/San Jacinto College) struck in the 59th minute of action for his 10th goal in 11 games, recording his fourth game-winning goal of the season ... Sophomore Sam Groves (Sutton, Mass./Worcester Academy) was credited with the assist, his third on the season ... Hartford added an insurance tally when Bojan Delibasic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic Gymnasium) connected on a rebound from a Villa direct kick ... The Hawks got second half goals from juniors Ivan Guarin (Pereira, Colombia/Herkimer CC) and Villa to defeat Maine 2-0 on Saturday ... Junior Cedomir Tomcic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Mid-Continent) earned the assist on Villa’s goal ... In goal, freshman Luke Citrinit (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) earned his second and third complete shutouts in just four starts, while recording three saves in each victory ... Hartford travels to Vestal, N.Y. to face Binghamton on Wednesday evening.
Maine (3-6-2, 0-2-1 America East) dropped a pair of America East Conference games on the week... Maine fell to New Hampshire 1-0 on Wednesday afternoon and then dropped a 2-0 decision to Hartford on Saturday night in West Hartford, Conn.... The game against Hartford was just the third time this season that a Maine game has been decided by more than one goal... Maine lost to Yale and Hartford 2-0, while beating Bryant 4-0... Maine has allowed 12 goals in 11 games this season... Last year, Maine had allowed 26 goals over their first 11 games... Maine has allowed just three goals in the first half of games this season... Maine keeper Nemanja Kostic (New Belgrade, Serbia/Virginia Intermont) has a 0.84 goals against average on the season, down from a 2.01 goals against average that he finished with a year ago... Maine returns home to host Boston University on Wednesday afternoon... The Black Bears are 1-0-2 at home this season.
UMBC (5-4-2, 0-2-1 America East) lost home games to Hartford (2-0) and Vermont (1-0) this week, dropping two in a row at home for the first time since back-to-back losses to Stony Brook and Binghamton (America East Championships) to end the 2005 season... The two consecutive shutout losses were a first since setbacks to Delaware and Winthrop at the tail end of the 1997 campaign... UMBC had never suffered consecutive shutout losses in America East Conference play and has been blanked for three straight games for the first time since a four-game scoring drought in the 1994 season... The Retrievers have not scored since sophomore midfielder Dustin Dzwonkowski (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) scored in the 2-1 win over Mount St. Mary’s, a span of 329 minutes without a goal... Both contests this week went to halftime scoreless...UMBC still has not managed to outshoot an opponent through 11 games this season... Hartford and Vermont both won for the first time at UMBC...The Catamounts are unbeaten vs. UMBC in the last four outings (2-0-2) and have squared the series at 2-2-2... Senior goalkeeper Steve King (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) now has 228 career saves and is tied with Kevin Gonzales (1980-83) for fifth place on UMBC’s all-time list... UMBC faces Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Tuesday in its final non-conference game of the season, then resumes America East play at Albany on Saturday... The Retrievers are 0-2 vs. the Great Danes in Albany and the overall series stands at 2-2-1.
New Hampshire (6-3-2, 1-2-0 America East) split two home games this past weeks... The Wildcats earned its first America East victory of the season against Maine, 1-0, to extend an 11-year unbeaten streak against the Black Bears... Sophomore forward Chris Banks (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) tallied the lone goal of the match to mark his team-leading sixth goal of the season... Colin O’Donnell (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) posted four saves in the game to preserve the shutout, his third of the season for the Wildcats... On Saturday, New Hampshire was handed its first home loss of the season with a 2-0 decision with Albany... Kyle Urso (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) recorded four shots on goal for the Wildcats, who outshot their opponent 17-13... The Wildcats will travel to Vermont to play the Catamounts on Oct. 15 before returning home to play host to Boston University on Oct. 18.
Stony Brook (2-10-1, 0-2-0 America East) lost its America East home opener to Boston University, 1-0. The Seawolves had numerous chances to score including hitting the post twice and three headers just going over the crossbar. Juniors Petar Rakovic (Kragujevac, Serbia/St. John’s) and Collin Geoghegan (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) led Stony Brook with five shots. The Seawolves travel to face state rival Albany on Wednesday, October 15 in a 3 pm match before hosting Maine on Sunday, October 19 at 1 pm.
Vermont (6-2-4, 2-0-0 America East) ran its unbeaten streak to five (3-0-2) with a pair of victories last week ... The Catamounts topped Ivy League power Dartmouth, 2-1, Wednesday and blanked UMBC, 1-0, Saturday ... The Dartmouth game was a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament first round tilt where the Cats advanced on penalty kicks ... UVM is now 3-2-1 against teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament ... Back Connor Tobin (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins) was exceptional at both ends last week. In addition to leading the team’s defense, he scored the game’s first goal against the Big Green and his long free kick set up the game-winner Saturday at UMBC ... Tobin was named to the College Soccer News Team of the Week for his effort ... Jordan Crasilneck (Eugene, Ore./Sheldon) set up a goal against Dartmouth and scored the game-winner at UMBC. He is among the NCAA leaders with a conference-best nine assists, one off the UVM single-season record ... Crasilneck with three goals and nine assists, has factored in 12 of UVM’s 16 goals this season ... Goalkeeper Roger Scully (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) recorded his fifth shutout of the season Saturday and the 22nd of his career to move into second all-time at Vermont ... The first career goal for red-shirt freshman Patrick Alonis (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) was the game-winner against the Big Green ... Tobin’s goal Wednesday was 6:16 into the match. Vermont has now scored four times this season within the first 10 minutes of a game ... The Catamounts host New Hampshire Wednesday and are at Binghamton Saturday night ... The two matches are a replay of Vermont’s last two trips to the America East Championship where it has faced UNH in the semifinals at home and played at Binghamton in the title game.