CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A pair of players from two of America East's top men's soccer teams have earned weekly honors, as Boston University's Shaun Taylor (Sandown, England/Sandown) tallied a hat trick to earn Player of the Week honors and New Hampshire's Sean Coleman (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) helped keep the Wildcats unbeaten through seven games in receiving Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards for the week ending September 21 were announced on Monday, Sept. 22.
Taylor, a junior forward, recorded his first career hat trick in the Terriers’ 4-2 win over defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Sunday. A first-team all-conference selection in 2007, Taylor kept his team in the game with two first-half scores and provided an insurance tally late in the second stanza. The Raiders, who were ranked third in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic rankings last week, had allowed just four goals in six games entering the contest. It was the first Boston U. hat trick since Joachim recorded one of his own in a 4-1 win over Lehigh on Sept. 2, 2001.
Coleman, a freshman forward, helped the Wildcats stay unbeaten by delivering the game-winning score in New Hampshire’s 2-1 win over Massachusetts on Saturday. Coleman broke a 1-1 tie with his second collegiate goal 5:12 into the second half. The win is the Wildcats’ fourth straight over the Minutemen, who reached the semifinals of the NCAA College Cup last season. UNH is now 5-0-2 and ranked fourth in the latest (Sept. 22) Northeast regionial rankings. The Wildcats are also receiving substanial votes in the College Soccer News Top 30 National Poll.
Team Notebooks
Albany (5-2-0, 0-0-0 America East) shutout both of its opponents this past week and won by an average of 3.5 goals ... The Great Danes beat Cornell, 4-0, on Sept. 17 before shutting out Siena in their home opener by a score of 3-0 on Sept. 21 ... The team is off to its best start since 2004 when it began the fall 5-1-1 after seven matches ... UAlbany did not have a player on its roster that scored more than two goals last season, but Shaun Kane (Stirlingshire, Scotland/St. Modans) bettered that mark in just one match by recording his first career hat trick in the Great Danes’ 3-0 victory over Siena ... He became the first Great Dane to score three goals in a match since Greg Chevalier accomplished the feat in a 7-1 win at Marist back on Sept. 1, 2002 ... It was also the first hat trick by a Great Dane at Varsity Field and third overall in the program’s Division I era which began in 1999 ... The four goals scored against Cornell was the most by a UAlbany team since Sept. 11, 2005 when the squad defeated St. Francis, N.Y. by a 4-0 score ... Freshman goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad & Tobago/Fatima) earned his second shutout in three career starts in the Cornell match, while Steward Ceus (Rockland County, N.Y./North Rockland) earned his second shutout of the season and 14th of his career against Siena ... The UAlbany defense has surrendered only one goal in its five victories ... UAlbany, which leads the America East Conference with 2.14 goals per game this season, visits Marist on Sept. 28 at 5 p.m.
Binghamton (4-1-2, 0-0-0 America East) has a six-game unbeaten streak and has recorded three shutouts during that span... freshman forward Andy Tiedt (Akron, N.Y./Akron) had a goal and an assist in Binghamton’s 3-1 win over Bucknell on Friday. Since moving into the starting lineup four games ago, he has two goals and two assists. Tiedt has now scored a goal in each of the past two games and his six points leads the team ... junior back Kyle Kucharski (Maine, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) had a career-high two assists against Bucknell and now has a team high four helpers for the season. In the past two games, Kucharski has three assists ... since moving into the Bearcats Sports Complex prior to the 2007 season, Binghamton has gone 8-1-0 ... Friday night’s crowd of 1,892 fans represented the largest attendance for a regular-season game ... junior forward Cameron Keith (Aberndeenshire, Scotland/Aberdeenshire), who scored against Bucknell, now has five career game winning goals, including two this season ... the Binghamton defense has allowed only one goal in its past four games. Junior goalkeeper Jason Stenta (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) has a 0.67 goals against average and has posted 21.0 career shutouts. The back line of Kucharski, seniors Barry Neville (Mearns Castle, Scotland, Glasgow) and Mark Wood (Lincolnshire, England/Aquinas), along with sophomore Kyle Manscuck (Rochester, N.Y./Aquanis Inst.) have also been instrumental in posting a 0.67 goals against average so far this year.
Boston University (2-3-2, 0-0-0 America East) posted its second win of the season with a 4-2 victory over defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Saturday ... The Terriers are now riding a three-game unbeaten streak and have yet to lose a contest against the Raiders in five tries (3-0-2) ... Junior Shaun Taylor (Sandown, England/Sandown) scored two goals in the first half to keep BU even with Colgate and then added an insurance goal late in the second ... It was Taylor’s first career hat trick and multi-goal game ... The performance marked the first hat trick for BU since Joachim recorded one of his own in a 4-1 win over Lehigh on Sept. 2, 2001 ... Senior Jon Jonsson (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland/Univ. of Iceland) tallied his first career goal and game winner with a strike in the 54th minute ... Freshman Michael Bustamante (Chelsea, Mass./Chelsea) recorded his first career points with an assist on both Taylor’s first goal and on Jonsson’s score ... The defense held Colgate to only three shots in the second after the squad posted eight in the first ... Earlier in the week, the Terriers tied defending Ivy League champion Brown, 0-0, on Wednesday ... The contest marked the first time between the two squads in a rivalry dating back to 1969 that neither team scored a goal ... Senior Hrafn Davidsson (Reykjavik, Iceland/University of Iceland) earned his second shutout of the year with three saves against the Bears ... This week, Boston University visits neighbor Northeastern on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ... The Terriers will then have a week off to prepare for Harvard on Tues., Sept. 30.
Hartford (3-2-2 overall, 0-0-0 America East) shutout Bryant and Canisius in two home games this week, remaining undefeated at home this season ... Hartford’s second victory of the season came Tuesday evening in a 3-0 win over Bryant ... Junior forward Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/Arrayanes/San Jacinto College) netted a hat trick, scoring all of Hartford’s goals in the 3-0 victory ... Hartford outshot Bryant by a 14-9 margin ... Hartford goalkeeper Nenad Cudic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Fourth Grammar/Auburn Univ. at Montgomery) recorded eight saves in 80 minutes of action ... Hartford battled past Canisius 3-0 on Saturday evening with all three goals coming in the second half ... The Hawks broke out in the 53rd minute with a goal headed in by junior Cedomir Tomcic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Mid-Continent) off an indirect free kick from sophomore Bojan Delibasic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic Gymnasium) ... It was Tomcic’s first goal and Delibasic’s first assist on the season ... In the 63rd minute, Patrick Boucher (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) netted his first collegiate goal off a cross from junior Howard Wong (Lauderhill, Fla./San Jacinto College) ... Villa scored in the 80th minute of play to push the Hartford lead to the eventual 3-0 final ... Villa’s goal was his eighth on the season in just seven games for Hartford ... Cudic recorded four saves in the Hartford victory and recorded his second complete shutout ... Hartford will travel to Amherst, Mass. for the UMass Classic this weekend, facing Massachusetts on Friday and Rhode Island on Sunday.
Maine (2-4-1, 0-0-0 America East) battled to a double overtime scoreless tie with Northeastern on Saturday afternoon in the home opener for the Black Bears... Maine keeper Nemanja Kostic (New Belgrade, Serbia/Virginia Intermont) tied his career-high with seven saves in the game... It is the second shutout of the season for Kostic and third of his career... He lowered his goals against average to 0.94 on the season and raised his save percentage to .821... Maine has two shutouts on the season, one more than it finished with last season... It was Maine’s first double overtime scoreless tie since a 0-0 double overtime tie against Binghamton on Oct. 25, 2003... Thomas McCole (Toronto, Ontario/Cardinal Newman) led Maine with four shots in the game against the Huskies... The Black Bears continue their home stand when they host Bryant on Friday, Sept. 26 and Harvard on Sunday, Sept. 28.
UMBC (4-2-1, 0-0-0 America East) freshman forward Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) scored the game’s lone goal midway through the second half as UMBC blanked visiting La Salle (1-4-2), 1-0 at UMBC Soccer Stadium on Saturday... Sophomore midfielder Dustin Dzwonkowski (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) sent classmate B.J. Quigley (Essex, Md./Archbishop Curley) in with a ball down the left flank. Quigley drove in and sent the ball to the far post, where a sprinting Bulls tapped it in from four yards out in the 71st minute of action... Retriever senior netminder Steve King (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) made a pair of saves to record his third shutout of the season and the 20th of his career... UMBC played without starters (Sr., M) Kevin Gnatiko (Montgomery Village, Md./Watkins Mill), (Sr., B) Jovan Petrovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Mayville State) , (Jr., F) Andrew Gills (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) and (Sr., M) Shondell Busby (Toronto, Ont./Francis Marion), who are all dealing with injuries... The Retrievers have now won 10 of their last 11 home contests, going 6-1-4 in that stretch. UMBC also improved to 4-1 all-time vs. La Salle... Bulls recorded his second game-winning goal of the season vs. the Explorers... He also scored in the 79th minute vs. Towson to bring the Retrievers to within a goal in a 2-1 setback... He has four of UMBC’s 10 goals to date, including the last three the Retrievers have recorded...UMBC continues the three-game homestand on Tuesday, when they entertain Mount St. Mary’s (3-3-0) and concludes it on Saturday with a contest vs. nationally-ranked Loyola (Md.)... The Greyhounds are 6-0-1, unbeaten in their last 15 games and were ranked No. 17 in the nation last week... Loyola (Md.) edged the Mount, 1-0 in Emmitsburg on Saturday.
New Hampshire (5-0-2, 0-0-0 America East) remained unbeaten with a 2-1 home win over UMass on Saturday evening... The victory marks the fourth straight win over the Minutemen, who last season advanced to the NCAA semifinals... Although the Minutemen drew first blood, scoring its first goal against New Hampshire since Sept. 22, 2004, Kyle Urso (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) and Sean Coleman (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) each netted a goal to give the Wildcats the lead and the win... Urso’s third goal of the season came four minutes before halftime on a free kick from 25 yards out... Coleman’s second game-winning goal of the season put the Wildcats on top 2-1 with 40 minutes to play... Freshman Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack), who earned the assist on Coleman’s goal, made Hilton made a great defensive play with just seconds remaining to secure the win for the Wildcats... The Minutemen set up a corner kick with under ten seconds to play, which was headed on net, Hilton however made a game-defying block as time ran out on the visiting Minutemen... Sophomore goalkeeper Colin O’Donnell (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug Regional), with a perfect 4-0-0 record, made three saves in the win for the Wildcats... New Hampshire will travel to Harvard on Tuesday, Sept. 23 to face the Crimson.
Stony Brook (2-5-1, 0-0-0 America East) lost both of its games last week... Stony Brook fell to Yale 4-1 on Wednesday night... Junior Oscar Leis (Ozone Park, N.Y.) scored the only goal for the Seawolves against the Bulldogs... On Saturday night, the Seawolves lost to Towson, 1-0 in their first home loss of the season... Stony Brook begins a season-long four-game road swing on Wednesday evening beginning with Marist College... The Seawolves will also travel to Akron, Duke and Vermont during the trip.
Vermont (3-1-2, 0-0-0 America East) were idle last week but play three times this week starting Monday when they host defending Patriot League Champion Colgate at Centennial Field ... Last Wednesday, Connor Tobin (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins) was the lone America East player among the 30 final candidates for the Lowe’s Men’s Soccer Senior CLASS Award. Candidates qualify for the award based on their dedication and achievement in four areas: classroom, character, community and competition ... Named to an all-conference team each his first three years, Tobin was the America East Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete in 2007 ... Vermont has opened the scoring in three of its games with a goal in the first ten minutes of the match ... The Catamounts are 2-1-0 in road games to start the campaign, all against teams in last season’s NCAAs ... In addition to the Colgate game Monday, Vermont this week takes on a pair of New England rivals at the UMass Classic this week. The Catamounts take on Rhode Island Friday and play host Massachusetts Sunday. The defending Atlantic-10 Champion Minutemen advanced last year to the NCAA College Cup.