CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University at Albany's Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) and University of Maine's Zoe Adkins (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Gleneagle) each led her team to a conference victory over the weekend which proved important for positioning in the upcoming America East Field Hockey Championship. Player of the Week Savage and the Great Danes locked up the top seed and hosting rights for the tournament, while Rookie of the Week Adkins and the Black Bears secured a berth in the championship.
Savage tallied two assists in the Great Danes' 2-0 win over Boston U. that clinched Albany's second-straight America East Regular Season title. Savage, who is tied for the team lead with six goals on the season, recorded her sixth and seventh helpers for the year. She assisted on the game-winning goal in the 34th minute, before passing off to Alysia Hough in the 47th minute for an insurance goal. The senior forward also finished with a team-high three shots, including two on goal, in the game between the league's final two undefeated teams in conference play.
Adkins, a back, scored her first two collegiate goals, both in an America East match-up against Vermont on Saturday. Adkins scored her first goal in a Black Bear uniform three minutes after the Catamounts took an early 1-0 lead. Adkins' second goal four minutes later put Maine up for good, 2-1. The eventual 4-1 victory clinched Maine a berth into the America East Championship. Adkins' defense also held Vermont to just three shots for the game. The freshman also earned the same award for the first week of the season.
The winner of the Maine-Boston U. game in Orono on Sunday will determine the two and three seeds in the four-team tournament. University of New Hampshire, meanwhile, already locked in the four seed with a victory over Fairfield this past weekend. Saturday's contest between the Wildcats and Great Danes will be the first of two straight, as they are already guaranteed to meet in the semifinals of the America East Championship on Friday, November 6 in Albany. The title game will be played November 7, and the winner will host the champion from the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) on Tuesday, November 3 for an NCAA Play-In Game.
Team Notebooks:
#18 UAlbany (12-3 overall record, 4-0 America East record) posted a 2-0 win over America East Conference rival Boston U. in the only game of the week… Freshman forward Inge Baijens (Rotterdam, Holland/Gemini College) scored the gamewinner in the victory, which clinched the America East regular season title for the Great Danes for the second straight season… Baijens, who is tied for the team lead with six goals this season, took an assist from Player of the Week Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) to score the first goal of the game… Savage also assisted on Alysia Hough’s (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) insurance goal in the 47th minute… Savage leads the team with six goals and seven assists for 19 points… Junior goalkeeper Christine Hoffman (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) continued her prowess in the cage, making three saves against the Terriers… Hoffman continues to lead the nation with a 0.13 goals against average and a .966 save percentage… The Great Danes will return to action on Wednesday, visiting Connecticut for a non-conference match up before taking on New Hampshire in the regular-season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Boston University (7-10, 3-1 AE) dropped a pair of hard-fought contests to ranked opponents on the week, falling 3-1 at No. 7 Connecticut on Wednesday before suffering its first conference loss of the season in a 2-0 home decision against No. 18 Albany on Saturday… The Terriers were the first team all season to outshoot the Huskies, as they held a 19-13 shot advantage for the game and forced UConn netminder Andrea Mainiero to make a season-high 12 saves… Freshman Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls) gave Boston U. a 1-0 lead against UConn with a goal off a corner in the 11th minute on assists from senior co-captain Haley Robinson (Houston, Texas/The Kinkaid School) and junior Allie Dolce (Jamestown, R.I./North Kingstown)… The Huskies scored the game's final three goals, however, despite a career-high eight saves from junior goalkeeper Amanda Smith (Avon, Conn./Avon)… Senior co-captain Nikki Lloyd (Kent, England/Bromley) recorded a game-high seven shots against UConn with four on goal…Redshirt freshman Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass./Quaboag) recorded her first career defensive save in the loss to Albany… Boston U. will honor its seniors prior to its final home game on Friday (Oct. 30) against Providence… The Terriers will wrap up the regular season on Sunday (Nov. 1) against Maine.
Fairfield (4-12, 0-4 AE) travels to Vermont for the regular-season finale, as both teams will look for their first win in America East play this year. The Stags come off a loss to New Hampshire on the road last Saturday, the team’s only game of the week… Freshman goalkeeper Maddy Sposito played a career-high 53 minutes and sported a personal-best five saves in the New Hampshire game…Three different goalkeepers have played for the Stags this season with Caitlin O’Donnell leading the way with 884 minutes. She has collected 96 saves in 15 games… Marit Westenberg leads the team in scoring with six goals for 12 points, followed by Carly McCullough’s personal-best five goals and one assist for 11 points. Two of McCullough’s goals have come on penalty strokes (three attempts)… Melanie Leo also has 11 points for the Stags with two goals and a team-best seven assists.
Maine (12-5, 3-1 AE) split its two games this weekend…The Black Bears picked up a conference win at home on Saturday, 4-1 against Vermont and dropped a 4-0 decision to Providence at the University of New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon… Rookie of the Week Zoe Adkins (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Gleneagle School) scored two goals to help the Black Bears pick up their third conference win, which included her first collegiate goal… The Black Bears now have 12 wins on the season, the most wins since the 2005 season when they had 13… The Black Bears have now recorded 70 goals on the season and are averaging 4.12 goals per game… Fourteen Black Bears have recorded at least one goal this year with sixteen Maine players recording at least one point so far this season… With their loss on Sunday, the Black Bears are now 2-3 in neutral site games… Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) leads the team with 41 points in her sophomore season… Newton has 16 goals and nine assists, as her 16 goals are tied for the team lead with Jocelyn Mitchell (Kanata, Ontario)… Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) recorded her 10th goal of the season on Saturday to go along with her eight assists for 28 points… Brittany Fleck (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) has all of Maine’s decisions and is 12-5 on the season… Fleck has made 78 saves and carries with her a 1.90 goals against average…On Sunday, Nov. 1 the Black Bears conclude their season with their Senior Day game in Orono against Boston University.
New Hampshire (10-6, 2-2 AE) clinched a berth in the upcoming America East Championship tournament with a 6-0 win against Fairfield on Senior Day this past Saturday; it will be the Wildcats’ third consecutive league postseason appearance… Senior forwards Meg Shea (Melrose, Mass./Melrose) and Leah Boody (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) both recorded two goals and an assist to propel the UNH attack… Boody matched her career high of two goals in establishing a personal-best five points… Classmates Cally Cooke (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) and Kiera Williams (Dover, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas) also played their final home game at Memorial Field and their defensive effort in the backfield helped the ‘Cats shut out the Stags and stymie their offense with just four shots allowed… Katherine Nagengast (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) recorded her fourth shutout of the season with a three-save effort… Shea, who has recorded a point in all 16 games, continued her ascension in the UNH record book and is now #2 on the single-season points list (49) as well as tied for second in single-season goals (21)… With 14 points this season, Boody has doubled her career total to 28; this year’s six goals exceeds her previous three-year total (four) … Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) leads the team in assists (nine) and ranks second in both goals (eight) and points (25).
Vermont (1-15, 0-4 AE) went 0-2 on the week… The Cats fell on the road to Maine on Saturday, 4-1… Vermont struck first when sophomore Mackenzie Williams (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy) scored her first goal of the season… Senior Kristen Heavens (Harwinton, Conn./Lewis Mills) made a career-high 23 saves in the game… Sophomore Alana Izzo (Stowe, Vt./Stowe) recorded a defensive save against the Black Bears… The Catamounts also dropped a 1-0 decision at home against Columbia on Sunday… Sophomore Brooke Crane (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountain) made her first start of the season and stopped six shots… Six of Vermont’s losses this season have been by one goal… The Catamounts wrap up the season with a pair of games this weekend… Vermont hosts Fairfield in the final America East game of the season for the Cats on Saturday (12 p.m.) and then hosts Providence on Sunday (1 p.m.)… Sunday’s game will be “Senior Day” for six Catamount seniors.
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