CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A trio of players that led their teams to key victories last week have been chosen America East Women's Lacrosse weekly award winners. Boston University's Erica Baumgartner (Silver Spring, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) is this week's Player of the Week, while teammate Rachel Klein (Forest Hill, Md./Roland Park) is the Defender of the Week. Vermont's Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) has been named Rookie of the Week for the second straight week. The award winners for the week ending April 13 were announced on Monday. Complete Weekly Release.
Baumgartner, a sophomore attack, helped the Terriers lock up the top seed for the America East Championship by tallying 12 points in two games last week. She tied the program record with nine points and seven assists in an 19-9 win over Stony Brook on Wednesday. She also scored twice against the Seawolves. Baumgartner, who leads America East with 33 assists, also added a goal and two helpers in a win over 15th-ranked New Hampshire on Saturday.
Klein, a sophomore goalkeeper, limited opponents to just 7.5 goals per game in two Terrier wins last week. She made five stops in a 19-9 win over Stony Brook on Wednesday and saved five shots, including a pair in the game's final minutes to lead Boston U. to a 7-6 victory over the Wilcats on Saturday. Klein also picked up seven ground balls on the week.
MacDonald led Vermont to a 9-8 upset win over No. 15 UNH on Wednesday with two goals and an assist. MacDonald, who has won the Rookie of the Week award three times, assisted on the game-winning goals with 21 seconds remaining and won the ensuing draw control to ice the game. She also scored once against No. 17 Stanford on Sunday.
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (8-6, 2-2 America East) moved into fourth place in the America East Conference standings with an 11-8 victory over Binghamton on April 8... Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) tallied three of her four goals in the second half to lead the way... Best has totaled four or more points on 12 occasions as a collegian... the sophomore midfielder has toppled the 40-point mark for the second straight season... Best’s scoring streak of 27 consecutive games ranks 10th among current Division I players... Best has 38 goals this season, the ninth-best mark in team history... she also moved into ninth on the school’s career list with 70 goals... Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y. / Lindenhurst) added two goals and one assist, her highest point total since March 9... Grueniger did all of her scoring in a run of four unanswered that snapped a 2-2 tie in the first half... Colgate transfer Molly Ortolano (East Nassau, N.Y. / Albany Academy) netted her first goal in a UAlbany uniform against Binghamton when Jodi Battaglia (Amherst, N.Y. / Amherst) won a draw and passed ahead with 8:22 remaining... Battaglia, who collected six draw controls last week, owns a six-game scoring streak after nailing a free-position goal in the opening half against Vanderbilt, ranked No. 14 in the latest IWLCA national poll... The Commodores, who made the NCAA field last year, posted a 15-5 victory at John Fallon Field on April 13... UAlbany has played four national top-15 teams this season... freshman Mel Rorie (Lansdale, Pa. / North Penn) scored her second collegiate goal, a free-position shot with 10:55 to play... Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) leads the team in draw controls (39)... the freshman midfielder is also tied for first with 15 caused turnovers...
Binghamton (4-10, 0-5 America East) dropped a pair of league contests on the week, falling 11-8 on the road Wednesday at Albany, before dropping its regular season home finale to visiting Stony Brook 18-12...The Bearcats wrapped up their inaugural home schedule at the Bearcats Sports Complex with a 3-4 mark...Seniors Sandra Alvarez (Port Washington, N.Y./Schreiber), Kristen Marsjanik (Webster, N.Y.), and Leanne Musso (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) played in the final home game of their careers, and were honored prior to the Stony Brook game. Musso finished the game with a team-high three goals and had three ground balls; Marsjanik registered her second goal of the season, while Alvarez made the start in her home finale and recorded eight saves...Musso has scored 10 goals in the last four games and has a team-best 24 on the season. The 5-foot-6 midfielder currently ranks second place all-time on the BU scoring list with 82 goals and third with 110 career points...Seven different players have scored at least 10 goals for the Bearcats this season...The Bearcats have received a goal from at least four freshman on eight occasions this season...Freshman Ali Castiglie (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood) leads the Bearcats with 33 points (15g, 18a). Castiglie has recorded at least one point in 14 of 15 games this season.
Boston University (12-2, 5-0 AE) took two conference games this week, with wins against Stony Brook Wednesday and No. 14/15 New Hampshire Saturday, clinching home-field advantage for the America East playoffs and at least a share of the conference regular-season title... The Terriers’ win streak now stands at nine games... Sophomore Erica Baumgartner (Silver Spring, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) tied program records by tallying seven assists and nine points in the Terriers’ 19-9 victory over Stony Brook... Senior co-captain Lauren Morton (Glenside, Pa./Gwynedd Mercy) matched her career single-game high Wednesday with six goals... BU held an 8-4 advantage over the Seawolves before setting off on a seven-goal run that lasted into the second half... Stony Brook answered with five-straight goals before the Terriers ended the day’s scoring, netting the ball four times... UNH held the Terriers to fewer than 10 goals for the first time this season... The teams played to a 3-3 draw in the first half, before New Hampshire took their first lead of the game just over two minutes into the second half.... The Terriers responded by scoring four consecutive goals before UNH tacked on two to close the day’s scoring... The Wildcats had an opportunity to tie the game in the closing seconds, as BU was whistled for offsides... Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Klein (Forest Hill, Md./Roland Park) made the save on a last-minute free-position opportunity... Senior co-captain Molly Collins (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) made a clutch defensive play after UNH recovered the ball, taking a charge to regain possession and seal the win at 7-6.
UMBC (4-11, 2-3 America East) fell to a pair of ranked non-conference opponents last week, 15-7 to No. 16 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday, and 12-9 to No. 13 Yale on Sunday... Senior attack Ali Levendusky (Baldwin, Md./John Carroll) and sophomore midfielder Kelly Burgoyne (Sykesville, Md./Century) accounted for six of UMBC’s seven goals against the Blue Jays with three apiece... The Retrievers hung with the 13th-ranked Bulldogs for most of the game and were tied with less than 11 minutes to play before Yale scored three unanswered goals to end the game... Levendusky led all scorers with four goals... Burgoyne tallied another hat trick, as she has scored three goals in three of the last four games... Levendusky’s 51 goals on the season are tied for the third-highest single-season total in school history... She became just the fourth Retriever ever ? and the first since 1999 ? to reach the half century mark with her third goal against Yale... Levendusky currently ranks fourth all-time at UMBC with 137 career goals and eighth with 172 points... In addition, her 56 points on the season are tied for the seventh-highest single-season total in school history... She has scored at least three goals in 13 of UMBC’s 15 games on the year, and she has scored at least once in nine straight... Senior attack Meghan Keelan (Randallstown, Md./Mount de Sales) has 20 assists on the season, tying the fifth-best single-season total in school history... She is the first Retriever to record 20 helpers since 2002... Keelan also ranks 10th all-time at UMBC with 45 career assists... UMBC hosts America East rival Boston University in the season finale on April 19.
New Hampshire (10-4, 3-2 America East) lost one-goal decisions on the road last week to Vermont (9-8) and 10th-ranked Boston University (7-6) ... Three of UNH’s four losses this season have been by one goal ... The Wildcats are now 2-2 against nationally-ranked teams in ’08 ... Deb Dale (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) scored her first career goal with a tally at Vermont on April 9 ... Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass./Reading) carries an 11-game goal-scoring streak into this week’s action ... Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) has recorded a point in 13 consecutive games ... UNH is 9-1 when scoring 10+ goals and 1-3 when held to single digits in goals ... Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) is approaching the 100-goal milestone; she currently has 95 career tallies ... Moira Talbot (Marblehead, Mass./Governor Dummer) is also approaching that milestone with 92 career goals ... UNH’s five-member senior class will be honored April 20 prior to the 11 a.m. start against the University of Oregon.
Stony Brook (6-6, 1-4 America East) split its two games last week... Stony Brook fell to #11 Boston University, 19-9 on Wednesday afternoon... The Seawolves were unable to overcome an opening 5-0 deficit and got as close as 8-4... Junior Jenna Celano (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) scored three goals for SBU... Saturday evening saw the Seawolves pick up their first conference victory, an 18-12 win at Binghamton... Senior Diana Caroleo (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) had eight points (5g, 3a) and junior Kaitlin Leggio (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) had a game-high nine points (3g, 6a)... Stony Brook put the game away with a decisive seven goal spurt in the second half... Seawolves host Marist on Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm and travel to Albany for the final conference game of the season on Saturday afternoon at 1 pm.
Vermont (7-6, 4-1 America East) split its two games this week ... UVM posted its second straight last-second victory in a 9-8 win over No.14/15 New Hampshire ... Sophomore Kaitlyn Fuller (Jordan, N.Y./Jordan-Elbridge) scored the game-tying goal and the game-winning goal with 20.9 seconds remaining in regulation ... It was Vermont’s first-ever win over a ranked opponent and snapped the Wildcats nine-game win streak ... The victory was UVM’s first over UNH since 1996, snapping a 13-game win streak in the series ... Junior Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair Secondary) scored twice against UNH, including her 100th-career goal to become the third Catamount to reach the 100-goal milestone ... The Catamounts nearly knocked off another ranked opponent in No. 17 Stanford this week, but UVM fell 8-6 to the Cardinal ... Millar handed out two assists in the game to extend her consecutive points streak to 43 ... The streak dates back to the 2006 season and is the fifth longest streak in the country ... Freshman Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) and sophomore Alison Haigh (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) have each scored at least one goal in the last 10 straight games ... Senior goalkeeper Meaghan Hanley (Fort Piece, Fla./Middletown (Del.)) made nine saves against Stanford to become the fifth UVM keeper to record 500-career stops ... Vermont wraps up the regular season with games at Boston College on Wednesday (April 16), vs. Oregon on Friday (April 18) and vs. Binghamton on Sunday (April 20) ... With the win over UNH, the Catamounts clinched a spot in the America East Women’s Lacrosse Championship which will be held at Boston University on April 25 & 27 ... It will be Vermont’s first appearance in the tournament since 2003.