ALBANY, N.Y. ? Three members of the University at Albany field hockey team, the 2008 regular season champion, were honored with individual awards at the America East Field Hockey Championship Banquet on the Albany campus Thursday evening. The Defensive Player of the Year went to Great Danes senior Michele Polizois (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional), Midfielder of the Year went to senior Michelle Simpson (Middlesbrough, England/University of Teesside) and the Coach of the Year trophy was handed to Phil Sykes.
Also honored was University of New Hampshire senior forward Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H./Concord) with the Offensive Player of the Year, Boston University sophomore Kim Kastuk (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) with the Goalkeeper of the Year and University of Maine midfielder Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbai/Crofton House School) with the Rookie of the Year. All four teams participating in the upcoming America East Field Hockey Championship were represented in the night’s major awards, which were voted upon by the league’s head coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for themselves or their own players.
Polizois, a midfielder, was a three-time America East Player of the Week who led the conference in shots (109), points (32), goals (13) and game-winning goals (5), many of which came off her work on the penalty corner unit. Her defense contributed to a Great Danes squad that finished second in the league allowing only 1.63 goals per game and producing five shutouts. Twice Polizois recorded hat tricks this season, against Hofstra and league-foe Fairfield, and she scored the game-winning goals against Stanford, Michigan and Boston University.
Simpson returned from last year’s All-Conference and All-America season to post 30 points this year from the midfield position. She finished third in America East in points per game, second in points and tied for first with 12 assists. The senior recorded multi-goal games twice and multi-assist games three times on the year. Earlier this season, Simpson was named to the National Field Hockey Coaches’ Association Senior All-Star Game at the final four in Louisville, one of three seniors chosen from the conference.
Craigue finished the season with 27 points on 10 goals and seven assists in 18 games, leading the Wildcats, the top-ranked offense in the conference. She ranks second in America East in goals and is tied for third in assists, eclipsing her previous career point total in just her senior season alone. Three of her goals tallied were gamewinners against Radford, Holy Cross and Maine. Against the Black Bears Craigue scored a hat trick for a season-high six points.
Kastuk, the 2007 Rookie of the Year, continued to have a successful collegiate campaign in 2008, earning a 10-9 record and leading America East in goals-against-average with a 1.56 mark. In 19 games, the sophomore goalkeeper shut out the opponent five times, including then-sixth-ranked University of Connecticut on October 22. Kastuk made a season-high 13 saves twice, doing so against then-eighth-ranked Virginia on September 28, playing all 100 minutes of the overtime affair and then penalty strokes.
Newton led the Black Bears with 23 points during her freshman season, going on to win America East rookie of the week twice. The rookie registered two goals, including the gamewinner, in her first collegiate game against Sacred Heart, and didn’t look back, recording multiple point games five more times. Newton went on a seven game point-scoring streak in the middle of the season sparked by an eight-point game against Bryant on September 20. In 14 games, she notched the gamewinner, including league matches against Boston University and Vermont.
In his fifth season leading the Great Danes program, Sykes led Albany to the America East regular season title and a 4-1 record in conference play for the third-straight season. His program went on to a 10-9 overall record and was either ranked or receiving votes in the national poll every week of the season. Six of Sykes’ athletes were honored on the all-conference and all-rookie teams and two received major hardware for their individual efforts. He enters the upcoming America East Championship with the top-seeded team.
Polizois, Simpson, Newton, Craigue and Kastuk were joined on the All-Conference First Team by Albany’s junior midfielder Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin), Boston University’s senior back Lizzie Perreault (Teaticket, Mass./Falmouth), senior back Holly Wiles (Harare, Zimbabwe/Arundel School), Maine’s sophomore back Maire Dineen (Toronto, Ontario/Michael Power-St. Joseph), New Hampshire’s junior forward Meg Shea (Melrose, Mass./Melrose), and Vermont’s senior back Kim Striegler (Whitney Point, N.Y./Whitney Point). Polizois, Savage, Simpson, Wiles and Craigue were unanimous selections by the coaches.
The second team consisted of Albany’s senior back Ashley Carr (Hilderstone, England/Newcastle-Under-Lyme), Boston University’s senior midfielder Sheena Berry (Edinburgh, Scotland/Edinburgh University), junior back Haley Robinson (Houston, Tex./The Kinkaid School), Fairfield’s junior midfielder Carly McCullough (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), freshman forward Marit Westenberg (Netherlands/Maeriant Lyceum), New Hampshire’s junior back Cally Cooke (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport), freshman forward Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy), Maine’s freshman midfielder Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School), Vermont’s senior midfielder/back Jen Angers (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) and senior forward Maegan Luce (Hartford, Vt./Hartford). The second-team goalkeeper was Albany senior Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley).
Westenberg, Gardiner, Newton and Frates also made the All-Rookie team, which consists of 11 players regardless of position. Joining them were Albany’s Christina Patrick (Reading, Pa./Reading Catholic), Boston University’s Kiley Allosso (Virginia Beach, Va./Cox), Giovanna Monaco (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex), New Hampshire’s Kendall Deck (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), Jenna Lehman (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West, Kate Collins Smyth (Parteen County Claire, Ireland/Crescent College Comprehensive) and Vermont’s Mackenzie Williams (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy).
Twenty-three all-conference selections will take the field on Friday, November 7 at the 2008 America East Field Hockey Championship hosted by Albany at Alumni Turf Field. No. 1 Albany will play No. 4 Boston University at 1 p.m., and No. 2 New Hampshire and No. 3 Maine will follow at 4 p.m. The two winners will face-off in the final on Sunday, November 9 at 1 p.m. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Field Hockey Championship.