CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Senior Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H./Concord) of the University of New Hampshire and freshman Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) of University of Maine were tabbed the America East Field Hockey player and rookie of the week, respectively. The awards were named for the first week of the 2008 campaign ending Monday, September 1. View the complete weekly release in PDF.
Craigue, a forward, started the season by recording career highs in both goals (two) and points (four) to lead UNH to its fi rst win of the season, a 3-0 victory over Radford. Craigue scored what proved to be the game-winning goal when she gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute. She struck again early in the second half to give the 'Cats a commanding three-goal advantage. Craigue posted a league-high eight shots over the weekend, including two against 15th-ranked American.
In her collegiate debut, Newton scored two goals in the Black Bears' win over Sacred Heart and also played well against fourth-ranked Connecticut on Monday. Her four points is tied for the league lead after the first weekend of play.
Entering the season, two America East squads were ranked in the National Field Hockey Coaches' Association (NFHCA) preseason poll. Boston University began the season ranked 14, while Albany started off in the 19 spot.
America East teams went 5-5 in nonconference competition last week, combining to play four ranked opponents.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (1-1, 0-0 America East), ranked 19th in the NFHCA Preseason Coaches’ Poll, kicked off the season with a 3-0 win over Radford in Washington, D.C. on Saturday... The Great Danes then dropped a 2-0 decision to 15th-ranked American on Sunday... Senior midfielder Michelle Simpson (Middlesbrough, England/University of Teesside) scored two goals in the Great Danes’ opening win... Simpson collected a rebound off her own shot to score the first goal of the game against the Highlanders, and added a second tally later in the second half... Junior forward Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) recorded her first goal of the season in the win... Senior goalkeeper Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) made ten saves over the two games, posting a 1.29 goals against average... Ross, who played every minute in the cage for the Great Danes, recorded her first shutout of the season, and the 11th of her career, which puts her second all-time on UAlbany’s career chart... UAlbany will host Cornell on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the 2008 home opener at Alumni Turf Field, and welcomes Hofstra on Sunday at 2 p.m.
No. 14 Boston University (1-0, 0-0 America East) opened its season at home on Sunday with a 3-0 shutout victory over Big Ten opponent Northwestern... The Terriers scored on their first three shots en route to their third straight season-opening win... Junior Nikki Lloyd (Kent, England/Bromley/Virginia Commonwealth) and redshirt freshman Kali Cardoza (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) both scored in their Terrier debuts and junior Gabby Hajjar (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) - the team's leading returning scorer - also tallied a goal... Lloyd opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the contest, sending home a reverse-stick drive from the left side of the circle... Less than nine minutes later, Hajjar turned in an impressive individual effort, eluding a group of defenders at the top of the circle before sneaking a shot past the Northwestern goalkeeper... Cardoza capped the scoring at 25:06 when she redirected a bouncing pass from senior tri-captain Hayly Ross (North Yarmouth, Maine/Greely) at the right post... Sophomore goalkeeper Kim Kastuk (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) made two saves to earn the shutout... The Terriers will return to action on Sept. 6-7 at the Blue Hen Classic at Delaware... Boston U. will face Temple on Saturday before taking on the host Blue Hens the following day.
Fairfield (1-1, 0-0 America East) opened the season with a 1-1 weekend, losing their opener to Virginia Commonwealth by a 2-1 score but defeating Holy Cross by a 3-0 margin...Anne Nieuwenhuis (Leidschendam, Holland) recorded her first collegiate assist and tallied the game-winning goal against Holy Cross. She has already surpassed her season total of two points set in 2007 with her three points this weekend...Goalkeeper Jennifer Utz (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee HS) made seven saves in her first career shutout. The two games also marked her first starts as the Stags goalkeeper. Marit Westenberg (The Hague, Netherlands/Maeriant Lyceum) played well in her Fairfield debut, scoring a goal in the win over Holy Cross...The Stags return to action with a pair of road games this weekend. Fairfield will play St. Joseph’s University (at Drexel) on Saturday before taking on Villanova on Sunday afternoon.
Maine (1-1, 0-0 America East) out shot Sacred Heart 23-9 on Sunday in a 2-1 win...The win was the sixth out of the last seven games for Maine over Sacred Heart...Rookie of the Week Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) scored her first collegiate goal quickly, 10 minutes into her first game and scored the game winner with just under 20 minutes to go...Maine had 11 corners to Sacred Heart’s five...Against UConn, Maine went into halftime down only 1-0... UConn scored two more times in the first 11 minutes of the second half but Maire Dineen (Toronto, Ontario/Michael Power/St. Joseph) brought Maine back within two...The Black Bears had other chances, but could not put one in...Freshman goalie Brittany Fleck (Vancouver, British Columbia) has made nine saves through the first two games...The Black Bears return to action on Sunday for their home opener against Brown at 12 p.m.
New Hampshire (1-1, 0-0 America East) opened the 2008 season at the AU Invitational Championship against host #15 American University (4-0 loss) and Radford University (3-0 win)... The Wildcats trailed American by one goal until surrendering three goals in an eight-minute span late in the game... Four freshmen ? Kate Collins Smyth (Parteen, County Claire, Ireland/Crescent College of Comprehensive), Kendall Deck (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), Jenna Lehman (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) and Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) ? were in the starting lineup for both tourney games... Lehman finished with five saves in her collegiate debut vs. AU and earned her first career win with a one-save effort against Radford... Fellow freshman goalkeeper Katherine Nagengast (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) made her collegiate debut vs. Radford... She made one save in the final 27:12 of action to combine with Lehman for the shutout... Rausch recorded her first collegiate points with a goal vs. RU while Collins Smyth and Deck both tallied an assist in that game for their first point... AE Player of the Week Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H./Concord) recorded career highs in both goals (two) and points (four) vs. Radford... Kiera Williams (Dover, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas) helped preserve the shutout of Radford with a defensive save in the 17th minute... The three goals scored vs. RU matched the highest single-game output from the 2007 season (four times)... UNH recorded 20 shots in the win vs. Radford; the ?Cats were 1-2 when recording 20+ shots in 2007... New Hampshire plays its home opener Sept. 5 (2 p.m.) against Brown.
Vermont (0-1, 0-0 America East) lost its season opener on the road against #13 Boston College, 4-1 ... Senior Maegan Luce (Hartford, Vt./Hartford) scored Vermont’s lone goal in the first half ... Luce moved into a tie for sixth all-time at Vermont in points (67) and eighth in career goals (25) with her tally on Sunday ... Sophomore Julie Moy (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) and junior Maddi Martin (St. Louis, Mo./Villa Duchesne) each earned their first career starts, while freshmen Mackenzie Williams (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy) and Emily Bastiaanse (Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) made their Catamount debuts ... The Catamounts' last four losses and seven of their last eight dating back to last season have all came against ranked opponents ... Vermont had won three straight season openers prior to Sunday ... The Catamounts return to action on Friday when they play their second straight Atlantic Coast Conference team to open the season when they square off against #11 Virginia on the road starting at 3 p.m. ... Vermont will then face Longwood on Sunday (11 a.m.) on the road in the first meeting between the two schools.