CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A trio of America East men's soccer players have earned the final weekly awards of the 2009 season. Boston University's Stephen Knox (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima College) and University of New Hampshire's Dylan George (Bangor, Maine/Bridgton Academy) each recorded multi-goal games to garner Co-Player of the Week honors, while Stony Brook University's Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) took home Rookie of the Week accolades for the week ending Nov. 1.
Knox scored both of Boston University’s goals in a critical 2-1 win over Vermont on Wednesday giving Terriers the final America East Championship berth. A sophomore forward, Knox recorded his first career multi-goal game on a score with 12:47 remaining before halftime and another just 26 seconds into the second stanza. He now has career-best nine points and four goals on the season.
George recorded his first career multi-goal game to lift the Wildcats to a 2-1 win in their lone game last week. The win gave UNH its first-ever outright America East regular-season title and the first unbeaten league record since 1997. A junior forward, George now has 11 points on four goals and three assists, good for second on his squad.
Fernandes scored the lone goal in the Seawolves’ 1-0 win over Hartford on Saturday. The win, which extended their unbeaten streak to five games, earned SBU the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye for the upcoming America East Championship. The freshman forward is tied for fifth among league leaders with six goals and tied for seventh with 14 points.
The league tournament gets underway with quarterfinal action on Saturday. Go to Championship Central to follow all the action.
Team-By-Team Notebooks
Albany (0-13-3, 0-6-1 America East) ended its season with a 3-2 overtime loss to Boston University on Saturday, Oct. 31… The Great Danes rallied from behind twice … Shaun Kane (Stirlingshire, Scotland/St. Modans) and Konner McNamara (Mississauga, Ontario/Iona C.S.S.) scored in the 81st and 89th minutes of play, respectively, to force an extra session … The team lost nine matches by a single goal this year, and four of the losses came in overtime … Goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima) finished the season with a .789 save percentage and a 1.66 goals against average … The sophomore made 105 saves and averaged 6.56 saves per game this season, which were the best marks in the conference … In addition, his save percentage was third among America East goalkeepers … After ranking fifth in the nation and first in the conference in scoring in 2008, UAlbany only averaged 0.50 goals per game this year … Bo Jelovac (Belgrade, Serbia/Sveti Sava School), Ian Peach (South Hempstead, N.Y./South Side) and McNamara had two tallies apiece … The other markers came from Kane and David Hawksworth (Sheffield, England/All Saints Catholic) … UAlbany graduates two seniors and will look to bounce back next season with 18 letterwinners, including 10 starters, expected to return.
Binghamton (9-7-1, 4-3-0 America East) assured itself of a top-four seed in the America East Tournament for the seventh year in a row with its 4-0 win over UMBC on Saturday night. In the process, the Bearcats extended their unbeaten streak at home to 14 games (12-0-2). Furthermore, Binghamton extended their regular-season home unbeaten streak to 29 games (23-0-6) ... freshman forward Jake Keegan scored goals in back-to-back games last week, giving him a team-high six goals (and 15 total points) for the year. In the Bearcats’ last five games, Keegan has scored four times. He now has more goals than any other Bearcat freshman during the program’s Division I era, surpassing the five goals Joey Neilson scored in 2003 ... freshman Tyler Bailey posted a career-high three points (one goal, one assist) in the win over UMBC ... redshirt freshman Matt Kristek netted his third goal in the past seven games in Binghamton’s game against the Retrievers.
Boston University (9-6-2, 3-4-0 America East) concluded the regular season by winning its last two games on the road, a 2-1 victory at Vermont and 3-2 overtime win against Albany … Battling the Catamounts for the sixth and final seed of the America East tournament, sophomore Stephen Knox (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima College) scored both goals for the Terriers in the must-win game … With his first career multi-goal performance, Knox now has four goals on the season and nine points total after recording two goals and eight points, respectively, last season … Senior goalie Hrafn Davidsson (Reykjavik, Iceland/University of Iceland) posted three saves to help the team snap a four-game losing streak … In the regular season finale against Albany, Michael Bustamante (Chelsea, Mass./Chelsea) played a role in each of the three goals, scoring the first one and assisting on the next two … He now has 10 assists on the year … Junior Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) scored the second goal, and classmate Matthew Shea (Boston, Mass./Hanover) posted his first career goal in overtime … O’Neal now has 25 points, the most by a Terrier since Joachim Kaland had 44 in 2001 … Redshirt freshman Trevor McManamon (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Prep) started in his first career game and posted three saves for the win … The Terriers will next visit No. 3 seed Hartford on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.
Hartford (7-7-2, 4-2-1 America East) is the No. 3 seed heading into the America East Tournament and will face No. 6 Boston University on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium … Hartford will be making its eighth appearance in the America East Men’s Soccer Championship, including its third appearance in as many years … Hartford and Boston University have met just once in the conference postseason where the Hawks suffered a 3-0 loss in the 1996 semifinal round … The 13 points recorded during conference play by Hartford is the most since 2003 when it went 4-3-1 in the league … The Hawks blanked UMBC, 3-0, on Senior Night at Al-Marzook Field on Wednesday before falling 1-0 at Stony Brook on Saturday … Against UMBC, Hartford received offense from three different players with sophomore Patrick Boucher (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) sending home the game-winner in the 15th minute … Seniors Vernon Perinchief (Southampton, Bermuda/South Kent) and Ivan Guarin (Pereira, Colombia/White Plains, Herkimer CC) added a pair of insurance tallies in the 40th and 72nd minutes to secure the 3-0 victory … The Hawks’ defense held the Retrievers to just one first half shot and two in the second, none of which were on goal … Senior keeper Nenad Cudic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Auburn University at Montgomery) earned his fourth shutout of 2009 … In the battle for the No.2 spot and first-round bye, Hartford came up short and concluded the 2009 regular season with a 1-0 loss at Stony Brook 1-0 at LaValle Stadium on Saturday night … Despite outshooting the Seawolves 23-10, the Hawks never managed any scoring threat through the game … Seniors Carlos Villa (Las Conchas, Guatemala/Arrayanes/San Jacinto) and Guarin led the Hartford attack, taking eight and four shots, respectively … Cudic faced three shots on goal, making two stops.
UMBC’s (12-5-0, 3-4-0 America East) 12 wins is the most since a 15-5-0 mark in 2000 and tied for the fifth-most in 24 years of Division I competition…The Retrievers suffered back-to-back shutout losses for the first time this season with setbacks at Hartford (3-0) and Binghamton (4-0)… Fifth-seeded UMBC (12-5-0) will travel back to fourth-seeded Binghamton for the America East quarterfinals… The Retrievers’ last two games in America East Tournament competition also occurred vs. the Bearcats… UMBC fell, 1-0, in Vestal, in the 2007 semifinals and lost, 4-1, in Baltimore in the 2005 semis… The Retrievers are 1-3 all-time in America East Tournament competition, falling in the semis in 2003, 2005 and 2007… Binghamton leads the series with UMBC at 6-2-1 and is 4-1-0 in Vestal… Pete Caringi’s team was picked to finish eighth in 2009 in the preseason coaches’ poll… UMBC fell at Binghamton despite a 19-11 shot advantage... Due to injuries and cautions, UMBC started six freshmen in the game against the Bearcats… Junior midfielder Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill), earned co-Offensive Player of the Week honors from the ECAC after his four-goal performance two weeks ago… Sophomore forward Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) is just the sixth player in school history to record 40 points in a season and the first since Giuliano Celenza had 46 points in 2000.
New Hampshire (9-5-2, 6-0-1 America East) extended its unbeaten streak to seven games, defeating Binghamton University, 2-1, Wednesday afternoon at Cowell Stadium … Binghamton finished the game with an 18-9 shot advantage, but had only a 6-4 edge in shots on goal. Corner kicks were even, 4-4 … Dylan George (Bangor, Maine) scored two goals and Chris Banks (Westborough, Mass.) tallied two assists to propel the ‘Cats to victory … It marked the first multiple-goal effort for George and the four points are also a career high … Banks has now recorded a point in six of the last seven games … Chris Devine (Hampton, N.H.) was credited with five saves in the contest … The win wrapped up UNH’s first regular-season crown since 1994 and its first outright title ever … It is also the first time since 1997 that a team completed the conference schedule without a loss and is the best conference record since 1994 … UNH, the America East regular-season champion and No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament, plays its regular-season finale Nov. 3 against intrastate rival Dartmouth College. Game time for the Senior Day game at Bremner Field is 7 p.m.
Stony Brook (5-9-3, 4-2-1 America East) stretched its unbeaten streak to five with a 1-0 win over Hartford… Freshman Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season and redshirt freshman keeper Anthony Rogic (Boonton, N.J./Morris Catholic) made a career-high eight saves in the victory… Despite outshooting Stony Brook, 23-10, Hartford had just one legitimate scoring chance as Rogic dived high to his left to stone Sam Groves… On the Seawolves’ ensuing possession, freshman Antonio Crespi’s (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) throw-in led to Fernandes’ tally… With 13 points recorded during conference play, it’s the most since 2005 when Stony Brook won the regular season and postseason championship… With the #2 seed and a bye in the quarterfinals, Stony Brook will await the winner of #3 Hartford and #6 Boston University… Stony Brook will play the winner of that game on November 11 at 7 p.m.
Vermont (1-10-5, 1-4-2 America East) hosted Boston U. in what was an essential play-in game for the America East Tournament … Boston U. used two Stephen Knox goals to defeat the Catamounts 2-1 and clinch the final spot in the America East Tournament … Yannick Lewis (Toronto, Ontario) scored his second goal of the season in the final five minutes of the game to cut the lead to 2-1 … UVM finishes the season 1-10-5 and 1-5-2 in America East … It is the first time Vermont has missed the America East Tournament … D.J. Edler (Atlanta, Ga.) and Matt Hennessey (Havertown, Pa.) finished the season with a team-high three goals while T.J. Gore (Macomb, Mich.) finished with five assists.