CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- UMBC's Ali Levendusky (Baldwin, Md./John Carroll) has been named America East Women's Lacrosse Player of the Week, while Binghamton's Sandra Alvarez (Port Washington, N.Y./Schrieber) and Vermont's Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) have been chosen Defender and Rookie of the Week, respectively. The awards for the week ending April 6 were announced on Monday.
Levendusky, a senior attack, helped the Retrievers snap their seven-game losing skid by tallying 13 points in a pair of wins last week. She equaled her career high with six goals and picked up six ground balls in a 17-11 win over conference rival Stony Brook on Saturday. Levendusky, who leads America East with 44 goals on the season, also had five goals against Howard on Saturday. She ranks fifth on UMBC's all-time list with 125 scores for her career.
Alvarez, a senior goalkeeper, made nine saves and allowed only five goals to lead the Bearcats to a 13-5 win over Niagara on Wednesday. Alvarez' squad held the Purple Eagles scoreless for the final 31:34 and outscored them 8-0 in the second period. It was the first time in the program's seven-year history that Binghamton held an opponent scoreless in a half.
MacDonald, a freshman attack, scored a career-best four goals to lead the Catamounts to an 11-10 victory over league foe Albany on Saturday. MacDonald, who also scored a goal against Dartmouth on Tuesday, notched the tying score against the Great Danes on a free position opportunity with 45 seconds remaining in regulation.
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (7-5, 1-2 America East) dropped a pair of games last week to No. 5 Syracuse (21-11) and Vermont (11-10)... The Great Danes, who had won five of their last six heading into those contests, were off to their best start since the 1998 campaign... UAlbany closed within 11-10 early in the second half against Syracuse... The Orange, who own the nation’s top scoring offense, then reeled off seven unanswered in a five-minute-and-nine-second span... freshman Tee Ladouceur (Slingerlands, N.Y. / Bethlehem Central) had three goals and one assist, while Jane Bush (Jordan, N.Y. / Jordan-Elbridge) scored twice and handed out one assist... Ladouceur, who was held out at Vermont due to injury, totaled four-plus points for the seventh time this season... Vermont won for the first time in nine meetings with UAlbany by finding the cage twice in the last 45 seconds... Since the series began in 2000, eight of the nine games have been decided by two goals or less... Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) accounted for the second-highest point total of her career with three goals and two assists... Best has scored at least one goal in 24 consecutive games, the 12th longest streak among current Division I players... Best has totaled four or more points against 11 opponents during her career... Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y. / Lindenhurst) had given her team a 10-9 lead when she found a lane in the middle of the crease with 1:17 to play... Stacey Brown (East Islip, N.Y. / East Islip) tied career-highs in goals (3) and points (4) against Vermont... freshman Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y. / Guilderland) ranks seventh nationally in draw controls (3.17 pg) and 21st in ground balls (2.67 pg)... UAlbany faces Binghamton in a key America East matchup on April 9, before hosting No. 17 Vanderbilt on April 13...
Boston University (10-2, 3-0 America East) is riding a seven-game winning streak, dating back to March 19... During the seven-game run, BU has outscored its opponents, 108-52... The Terriers have scored 10 or more goals in each of their games so far this season, averaging 15.39 per game... BU has scored on more than half of its free-position opportunities, notching 31 goals on 56 chances for a .554 conversion percentage... The Terriers have scored more than twice as many first-half goals as their opponents, holding a 108-53 advantage.
UMBC (4-9, 2-3 America East) won both games last week, defeating America East rival Stony Brook, 17-11, on April 2, and non-conference foe Howard, 21-4, on April 5... The Retrievers won back-to-back games for just the second time this season... UMBC scored 38 goals on the week, its best two-game stretch since 2003... Senior attack Ali Levendusky (Baldwin, Md./John Carroll) scored 11 goals and 13 points on the week... UMBC’s victory over Stony Brook snapped its seven-game losing streak... The Retrievers have never lost to the Seawolves in five contests... Levendusky tied her career high with six goals at SBU, while sophomore midfielder Kelly Burgoyne (Sykesville, Md./Century) posted her first career hat trick... Levendusky tallied five goals and two assists for a career-best seven points against Howard, the most by a Retriever in two years... Senior attack Meghan Keelan (Randallstown, Md./Mount de Sales) tallied a career-high five assists, one shy of the school record... Seventeen different Retrievers tallied a point and 12 scored a goal against the Bison... Eight players posted multiple points... Sixteen of UMBC’s 21 goals were assisted, more than doubling the previous season high... The 16 helpers were the most since February 2006, while the 21 goals were the most since February 2007... Levendusky has scored 44 goals on the season, the ninth-highest single-season total in school history and the most by a Retriever since 2001... She ranks fifth all-time at UMBC with 130 goals and eighth with 165 points... Keelan’s 17 assists on the year are tied for the 10th-best single-season total in school history... The Retrievers begin a tough final stretch that includes three ranked opponents this week when they host cross-town rival Johns Hopkins on Wednesday and Yale on Sunday.
New Hampshire (10-2, 3-0 America East) entered the week ranked 14th in both the IWLCA Poll and Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, then extended its winning streak to nine games with a 17-10 road victory against Stony Brook ... during the streak, UNH has outscored its opponents, 114-57 ... Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass./Reading) erupted for a career-high seven goals against SBU, including two that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead midway through the first half, and three more that sparked a 6-0 run, which gave UNH the lead for good ... Hardy, who has scored a goal in nine consecutive games, has recorded 32 points with 29 goals and three assists during the streak ... Ashley Milley (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) matched her career high with a season-high 13 saves to backbone the win ... eight of the 13 saves came in the second half ... Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) extended her team-best point-scoring streak to 11 games by matching her career high in points (4) and goals (3) ... Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) and Ashley Durepo (Concord, N.H./Concord) also submitted four-point efforts ... Von Bargen tallied three goals and an assist, while Durepo recorded a goal and three assists ... Susie Piotrkowski (Franklin, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) recorded three points on two goals and an assist ... both of Piotrkowski’s tallies came in the first half, with the first giving UNH a 1-0 lead and the second handing her team a 9-4 advantage.
Stony Brook (5-5, 0-3 America East) lost both of it games last week. Senior Diana Caroleo (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) had a career-high six goals on seven shots but UMBC's Ali Levendusky matched Caroleo with six goals of her own as UMBC led from the start and defeated the Stony Brook women's lacrosse team, 17-11. The Seawolves also got solid games from freshman Melissa Cook (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore), who had two goals and junior Kaitlin Leggio (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) who had three assists and six ground balls. On Saturday afternoon, Stony Brook fell to #14 New Hampshire, 17-10. Freshman Samantha Djaha (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) had four goals to lead the Seawolves. Stony Brook took an early 3-1 lead but tied at four, New Hampshire made it a 10-4 games. Leggio added 10 ground balls and 11 draw controls. The Seawolves are on the road next week for both of its games. They travel to take on #11 Boston University at 4 pm on Wednesday and face in state rival Binghamton on Saturday evening at 7 pm.
Vermont (6-5, 3-1 America East) split its two games, falling to Dartmouth and coming up with a key conference win over Albany ... Sophomore Sarah DeStefano (Eliot, Maine/Marshwood) scored the game-winner with 1.8 seconds remaining to lift UVM past the Great Danes ... It was the first-ever victory over Albany for the Catamounts and gave Vermont three conference wins, the most in school history ... In the nine seasons prior to head coach Jen Johnson’s arrival at Vermont, the Catamounts won five America East games ... Since Johnson has taken over the helm, the Catamounts have won seven league games in her 4-plus years ... Freshman Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) scored a team-high four goals in the game ... Junior Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair Secondary) picked up eight draw controls in the game to break the NCAA Division I record ... She now has 228 career draw controls as the all-time leader in NCAA history ... Millar has recorded at least one point in 41 straight contests, dating back to the 2006 season, which is the fifth longest streak in the country ... Alison Haigh (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional), MacDonald and Sara Buxton (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) have scored at least one goal in eight straight games ... Vermont's six overall victories are the most since 2002.