CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Vermont's Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair Secondary) has been named the America East Player of the Week in women's lacrosse after becoming the Catamounts' all-time points leader last week, while teammate Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) has earned Rookie of the Week honors for the fourth time this season. Stony Brook's Mickey Cahill (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) is the Defender of the Week for the week ending April 20.
Millar, a junior midfielder, tallied 12 points on five goals and seven assists in three games last week. She contributed four points in a 23-9 win over Binghamton on Saturday to run her career total to 177. Millar, the NCAA career record holder for draw controls, grabbed 17 for the week, including a career-high 12 against the Bearcats. She also picked up 10 ground balls and caused 10 turnovers on the week.
Cahill, sophomore goalkeeper, made 21 saves in a pair of games last week and led the Seawolves to wins in both games. She stopped 11 shots in a 22-11 win over Marist on Wednesday and made 10 saves in a 9-7 victory over Albany on Saturday. For the week, Cahill compiled a 7.33 goals against average and stopped 62.5 percent of shots she faced.
MacDonald, a freshman midfielder, tallied 10 points last week, including career-high eight in a win over Binghamton on Saturday. The win gave the Catamounts five conference wins for the first time in their history and a second-place regular-season finish for the first time as well. MacDonald has earned Rookie of the Week honors four times this season, including each of the past three weeks.
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (8-8, 2-4 America East) finished the regular season with losses to No. 16 New Hampshire (17-7) and Stony Brook (9-7)... The Great Danes played five national top-20 teams this season... Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) extended her scoring streak to 29 consecutive games with a four-goal effort versus Stony Brook... Best, whose streak is the sixth-best mark among current Division I players, has accounted for four-plus points on 13 occasions as a collegian... The sophomore midfielder has 44 goals, which ranks No. 6 on the program’s single-season chart, and 51 points, the ninth-best season scoring total... Jodi Battaglia (Amherst, N.Y. / Amherst) and Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y. / Lindenhurst) are tied for third on the team in scoring with 24 points apiece... Battaglia, a freshman who has 21 goals, collected a career-high eight draw controls against Stony Brook... Colgate transfer Molly Ortolano (East Nassau, N.Y. / Albany Academy) scored multiple goals in a UAlbany uniform for the first time at New Hampshire... freshman Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) is among the conference leaders in ground balls (2.8 pg) and draw controls (2.7 pg)... Stacey Brown (East Islip, N.Y. / East Islip), Teresa Strano (East Patchogue, N.Y. / Bellport) and Brittany Scott (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) were honored in a senior ceremony prior to their final appearance at John Fallon Field on April 19... Scott has 55 career points (38 goals, 17 assists) from her midfield position... Brown has 18 goals and 15 assists in 61 career appearances... Strano has played in 45 career games as a defender... UAlbany will make its fourth appearance in the America East postseason tournament since joining the conference in 2001... The Great Danes reached the championship final one year ago...
Binghamton (4-11, 0-6 America East) dropped its America East Conference finale at Vermont on Sunday, losing by a 23-9 margin...Freshman Lisa Illig (Corning, N.Y./Corning), one of six first-year players to find the back of the cage on Sunday, finished with a goal and two assists to lead the Bearcats. Senior Leanne Musso (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) and first-year attack Erica Hill (Delmar, N.Y./Bethelem Central) each netted a pair of goals, while freshman Ali Castiglie (Middle Island,
N.Y./Longwood) added a goal and an assist in the losing effort. Musso leads the team with a career-best total of 26 goals. A senior tri-captain and fourth-year midfielder, she is now tied with former Bearcat Heather Grose '07 for the all-time program lead in goals with 84. Musso enters Tuesday's season finale at Wagner with 112 career points (84 g, 28 a) - two shy of tying Grose for second on the Bearcats' all-time scoring list. Illig is second on the team with 18 goals, while both Hill and Castiglie have 16 apiece. With a team-best 35 points (16 g, 19 a), Castiglie has now amassed the second highest point total for a Bearcat freshman in program history (Becky Green - 59 pts, 2004)...Eight Bearcats, including six freshmen, have scored at least 10 goals this season...The Binghamton women's lacrosse team closes out 2008 with a road contest at Wagner College on Tuesday, April 22 at 4 p.m.
No. 8/11 Boston University (13-2, 6-0 America East) defeated UMBC, 14-5, on Saturday to close its conference schedule with a perfect record... This marks the third time in Terriers history the team has gone undefeated in America East play and the first time since the 2005 season... Boston University also locked up sole possession of America East’s regular-season title for the fourth straight year... The Terriers have won their last 10 games, dating back to a March 19 victory against Yale... Sophomore Rachel Klein held the Retrievers to only one goal during the second half, keeping UMBC at bay for over 28 minutes... Junior Sarah Dalton scored five goals for the Terriers, marking the seventh time in 13 games the Cornwall, Vt., native has notched five or more scores... Dalton tallied three-consecutive goals for Boston University in the second half, netting her 49th of the season midway through the half... The junior has scored at least one goal in all 13 games she has played this season... The Terriers have scored 10 or more goals in 14 of 15 games this season, while holding their opponents under 10 goals in all but four of those contests... Sophomore Erica Baumgartner was held without an assist Saturday, marking only the fourth time this season she has not notched an assist in a game... Sophomore Traci Landy has tallied points in 14 of 15 games this season, adding three against UMBC.
UMBC (4-12, 2-4 America East) concluded its season with a 14-5 loss to America East rival Boston University on April 19... The Retrievers miss the America East Tournament for the second year in a row... Senior attack Ali Levendusky (Baldwin, Md./John Carroll) led UMBC with two goals and three points against the Terriers... Freshman midfielder Erika Braerman (Fallston, Md./Fallston) was the only other Retriever with multiple points, as she posted a goal and an assist... Sophomore goalie Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) tied her career high with 16 saves... She has made 41 saves in her last three games... Levendusky finishes her career with 139 goals and 175 points, ranking fourth and seventh all-time in UMBC history... In addition, her 53 goals on the season tie the second-highest single-season total in school history, while her 59 points are the fifth-best season mark... She scored a goal in each of the last 11 games, with at least three in 13 of UMBC’s 16 games... Senior attack Meghan Keelan (Randallstown, Md./Mount de Sales) posted her 21st assist on the season, giving her sole possession of fifth place on UMBC’s single-season list, and she finishes her career with 46 helpers, 10th-best all-time... A total of 22 different players scored at least one point on the season, with 20 tallying a goal... Levendusky and senior midfielder Maggie Chizmar (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) tied for the team lead with 24 ground balls, while Levendusky also led the Retrievers with 23 draw controls and Chizmar was tops with 15 caused turnovers.
New Hampshire (12-4, 4-2 America East) ended the regular season with a two-game winning streak by defeating both Albany (17-7) and Oregon (13-12 in double overtime) at Memorial Field last week to extend its home winning streak to six games ... Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) scored her 100th career goal with the last of her five tallies against Albany on April 16 ... Von Bargen now has 102 goals and 19 assists for 121 points in 47 career games ... Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass./Reading) matched her personal best of seven points with five goals and two assists against Oregon Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) established personal bests in both goals (four) and points (five) vs. Albany ... UNH’s 12 wins is tied for the third-highest single-season total in the program’s 32-year history ... Eight Wildcats have started all 16 games ... New Hampshire had not played an overtime game since the 2007 season opener (14-13 win at Holy Cross) ... UNH has a 26-3 lifetime record against Vermont, its semifinal opponent; the Catamounts were 9-8 victors at home in this year’s regular-season matchup ... The Wildcats have a 6-9 overall record, including 2-4 at neutral sites, in America East postseason play ... UNH had advanced to the championship game five consecutive years prior to last year’s loss in the semifinals ... UNH won its only neutral-site game this season (vs. Cornell at Vanderbilt).
Vermont (8-8, 5-1 America East) closed out the regular season with a 23-8 victory over Binghamton ... The Catamounts scored a season-high 23 goals and were led by freshman Megan MacDonald’s (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) and Sarah DeStefano’s (Eliot, Maine/Marshwood) five goals each, career-highs for both ... MacDonald finished the game with a career-high eight points and tied the UVM freshman record for most goals in a single-season (27), sharing it with junior Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario) ... Millar became UVM’s all-time leader in points with four points in the win over Binghamton, passing former standout Vanessa Cox’s mark of 173 career points set in 2005 ... Millar added five points in a loss to Boston College and had two goals in a loss to Oregon on the week, both losses were by the same score of 12-11 ... Millar, the NCAA’s all-time leader in draw controls at the Division I level, grabbed a career-high 12 in the win over Binghamton ... DeStefano scored seven goals and totaled 10 points on the week ... Millar extended her consecutive points streak to 46 games, the fourth longest streak in the country ... Sophomore Alison Haigh (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) has scored at least one goal in 13 straight games ... Vermont finished the regular season with an 8-8 record and 5-1 mark in league play ... The Catamounts post their first non-losing season since 1994 and the eight wins are the most since 1993 ... Vermont’s five conference victories are the most ever in the program’s history and UVM’s second place finish in the league standings is the highest ever ... The Catamounts also finished the year with a 5-2 mark at home, the most home wins at Moulton Winder Field and the most since 1989 ... UVM’s season continues on Friday (April 25) in the semifinals of the America East Tournament ... The Catamounts are returning to the tournament for the first time since 2003 and will face No. 3 New Hampshire at 4:00pm at Boston University.