CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- University of Hartford's Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/Arrayanes/San Jacinto) and University of New Hampshire's Chris Banks (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) propelled their teams to the top of the America East men's soccer standing with key efforts and have been named Co-Players of the Week for their efforts. Stony Brook University's Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) helped his squad upset Binghamton to earn Rookie of the Week honors for the week ending October 11.
Villa, a senior forward, scored three times in a pair of games last week in which Hartford went 1-0-1 to climb to first place in the standings. Villa, a first-team All-America East striker last season, led the Hawks to a 2-2 tie against Vermont with a pair of scores in the first four minutes of the contest. He followed that with his seventh goal of the season to help his team down No. 16 Boston University, 3-1, on Saturday.
Banks, a senior forward, led UNH to consecutive road wins over nationally-ranked teams with a pair of scores last week. The 2006 America East Striker and Rookie of the Year, Banks scored in the 73 minute at No. 16 Boston University Wednesday break a 1-1 deadlock and deliver a 2-1 win. He added is second game-winner in as many games with the first goal in the Wildcats’ 2-0 win at No. 25 UMBC on Sunday. Banks is tied for fifth among conference leaders in goals (4) and tied for eighth in points (9).
Fernandes, a freshman forward, scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season and led Stony Brook to its first league win of the year last week. He broke a scoreless tie three minutes into the second half to give the Seawolves a 1-0 over instate-rival Binghamton on Saturday. Fernandes, who as appeared in all 12 games for SBU, ranks among league leaders with his four goals and 10 points.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (0-9-2, 0-2-0 America East) is still in search of its first win this season after dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to Binghamton on Wednesday, Oct. 7 … The Great Danes had a big opportunity in the extra stanza to become the first team to beat Binghamton in the regular season at the Bearcats Sports Complex since the facility opened two years ago … Ian Peach (South Hempstead, N.Y./South Side) had his penalty shot stuffed by the opposing goalkeeper in the 94th minute, and the Bearcats came back the other way to net the golden goal 90 seconds later … Goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima) made seven saves in the loss … The sophomore, who leads the league with 7.2 saves per game, has an .814 save percentage and a 1.55 goals against average … After ranking fifth in the nation and first in the conference in scoring in 2008, UAlbany is only averaging 0.45 goals per game this year … Konner McNamara (Mississauga, Ontario/Iona C.S.S.) ended a scoring drought which lasted more than 550 minutes when he scored the team’s lone goal in the 68th minute against Binghamton … UAlbany concludes a three-game road trip against America East opponents when it visits Vermont on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. and Stony Brook on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.
Binghamton (6-5-1, 1-1-0 America East) hosts defending champion Boston University on Friday night in its first-ever nationally televised game. Fox Soccer Channel, which carried the Binghamton-Boston women’s game last season from the Bearcats Sports Complex, will air the men’s game on Friday. The Bearcats and Terriers have combined to win four of the last six America East titles ... redshirt freshman forward Matt Kristek (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) netted his first career goal in the Bearcats’ 2-1 overtime win against Albany on Oct. 7 ... senior goalkeeper Jason Stenta (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) made his second consecutive save on a penalty kick this season in the win against the Great Danes. Earlier in the season, Stenta stopped a penalty kick against Cornell on Sept. 23.
Boston University (7-4-2, 1-2-0 America East) suffered its first losing streak of the season this past week, dropping a 2-1 decision at home against New Hampshire followed by a 3-1 defeat at Hartford … The Terriers were leading the Wildcats at the half and had tied the game against the Hawks late in the second half before receiving a red card that put them a man down … Michael Bustamante (Chelsea, Mass./Chelsea) scored his first goal of the season in the 12th minute against UNH off a free kick outside the box … He now has nine points on the year … Junior Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) tallied his team-leading eighth goal of the season in the 72nd minute against Hartford off freshman Nick Prunier’s (Worcester, Mass./Worcester) first career assist ... O’Neal now has 19 points, while Prunier has three … The defense will need to get back on track after allowing eight goals in the last four games … During the first nine games, the team only allowed six … The Terriers next visit Binghamton on Friday (Oct. 16), at 8 p.m., in their second Fox Soccer Channel broadcast of the season … In the first one, Boston College pulled out the 1-0 victory.
Hartford (5-5-2, 2-0-1 America East) remains unbeaten in America East play after tying Vermont 2-2 and defeating #15 Boston University 3-1 on Al-Marzook Field … Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/Arrayanes/San Jacinto) tallied six points in the pair of games … The senior scored two-straight goals, four minutes after kick-off in the draw with the Catamounts on Wednesday and followed up with one goal in Hartford’s 3-1 upset win over the Terriers on Saturday … Villa leads the Hawks with seven goals and 15 points, ranking fourth in the league in both categories … Villa’s pair of goals put the Hawks at a 2-0 advantage over Vermont … Hartford dominated the first half with a 12-3 advantage in shots and a 3-2 edge in corner kicks … The Catamounts fired back with two unanswered second half goals as Jordan Smith scored at 68:36 and Matt Hennessey notched the equalizer at 87:43 … On Saturday, Patrick Boucher (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) punched-in the game-winner in the 72nd minute as Hartford earned its first victory over Boston University since 2003 … Junior Bojan Delibasic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic Gymnasium) scored midway through the first half to put the Hawks up 1-0 … The Terriers knotted the score at one goal each at 71:36 as Aaron O’Neal sank his eighth goal of the season … The Hawks took advantage of a Boston University man down situation, breaking the tie after the Terriers received a costly red card …Boucher notched the deciding goal, his second of the season, at 76:28 to give the Hawks the 2-1 advantage … Villa doubled the Hawks’ lead with just over a minute remaining on the scoreboard … Keeper Nenad Cudic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Auburn University at Montgomery) made four saves in the win … He now has 43 saves, coupled with a .796 save percentage and three shutouts … In the last five meetings with the Terriers, the Hawks were 0-3-2 … Hartford hits the road for a mid-week America East conference match-up with the New Hampshire Wildcats on Wednesday, October 14 … The Hawks scored a 1-0 victory over the Wildcats last season and are unbeaten in their last three match-up.
UMBC (10-2-0, 1-2-0 America East) was unable to take full advantage of two of their three league home games this week, as they split with Stony Brook (a 2-0 win) and UNH (a 2-0 loss)… The victory over the Seawolves was UMBC’s sixth by shutout this season and the loss to the Wildcats marked UMBC’s first game without a goal in 2009… Junior forward Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) scored a goal and added an assist and sophomore linemate Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) tied a school record in the win over Stony Brook under the lights at UMBC Stadium on Wednesday… Bulls, the nation’s leading scorer entering play last week, scored the game’s first goal, producing a point in his 11th consecutive game… That tied the mark set by Retriever all-time great, Giuliano Celenza, who scored in 11 consecutive contests in 2000…The win also gave UMBC a 10-win season for the first time since 2003 (10-3-5)… Bulls’ 14 goals is already the seventh-most in a single season in school history… UMBC evened the all-time series at 4-4-0 with the Seawolves and are 4-1-0 in Baltimore…Houapeu assisted on Bulls’ goal and scored the insurance marker early in the second half… His multiple-point effort was his sixth of the season… His nine assists on the campaign is the most since Matt Watson and Powell Cucchiella posted nine apiece in 2004… Head Coach Pete Caringi now has 196 wins at UMBC… The Retrievers have the week off before facing Longwood in the Homecoming game on Saturday.
New Hampshire (5-5-1, 0-0-0 America East), punched in the game-deciding goal off a pass from Sean Coleman (Stratham, N.H./ Exeter) in the 73rd minute of play to propel the University of New Hampshire men’s soccer team to a 2-1 victory over No. 15 Boston University to open up conference play, Wednesday night at Nickerson Field … Banks notched the score on a header from a cross pass by Coleman to give the Wildcats the win … The assist is Coleman’s second of the season, tying him for first on the team in assists, and third on the team in points with four … With the win, the Wildcats snap the Terriers’ five-game winning streak and remain unbeaten on the road against BU for the sixth straight year, as they have not lost at Nickerson Field since 2003 … Colin O’Donnell (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) compiled four saves in the contest … The Wildcats were at it again later in the week as a pair of late goals by Charlie Roche (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) and Banks propelled the University of New Hampshire men’s soccer team to its fourth victory in the last five games, defeating the No. 25 ranked UMBC Retrievers, 2-0, Saturday afternoon at UMBC Soccer Stadium … The Wildcats improve to 5-5-1 and 2-0-0 in America East play, while the Retrievers fall to 10-2-0 and 1-2 against conference opponents … With the win, the Wildcats defeat a nationally ranked team on the road for the second time in four days … As for the Retrievers, they suffer their first home loss and shutout of the season, losing for the second time in the last three games … O’Donnell once again collected four saves in the contest and has now collected four or more saves in each of the last three games … The goalkeeper has compiled 30 saves this season, with a goals against average of 0.82, including three shutouts … Banks has led the Wildcats in shots in each game this season, totaling 36 on the year …The forward leads the Wildcats with nine points this season, including three game-winning goals … The Wildcats return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 14 when they play host to the Hartford Hawks, at 3 p.m. at Lewis Fields.
Stony Brook (2-9-2, 1-2-0 America East) went 1-1-0 last week… The Seawolves fell to UMBC, 2-0, on Wednesday evening… Senior Damion Brown (Kingston, Jamaica/Francis Lewis) and sophomore Wilber Bonilla (Brentwood, N.Y./Hartwick) each had two shots for Stony Brook, which had four shots on goal to UMBC’s three… Stony Brook recorded its first win in over a month with a 1-0 victory over Binghamton on Saturday… Freshman Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) scored the game-winning goal three minutes into the second half… Fernandes took a pass from Bonilla and turned, faced the goalie then with one dribble to his left, blasted past the keeper’s left for the score… Fernandes leads the team in goals (4) and points (10)… Stony Brook faces Albany in its next game on Saturday evening at 7 pm.
Vermont (1-6-4, 1-0-1 America East) traveled to West Hartford, Conn., where they tied Hartford 2-2 … UVM is still unbeaten in America East play after not winning a game in non-conference action … Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first four minutes of the game, the Catamounts were able to salvage a tie against the Hawks … Freshman Jordan Smith scored his first career goal in the 69th minute before senior Matt Hennessey scored in his second consecutive America East game … Hennessey’s game-tying goal came in the 88th minute. After having the weekend off UVM hosts Albany on Wed. 10/14 at 3 p.m., before traveling to New Hampshire on Saturday 10/17 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.