CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Six individual awards, as well as the all-conference teams, have been announced by the America East Conference leading up to the 20th Annual America East Field Hockey Championship. Co-Regular Season Champions University at Albany and Boston University each took home two pieces of hardware, while University of New Hampshire and University Vermont each earned one individual trophy as voted on by the league’s six head coaches.
Great Danes Head Coach Phil Sykes was tabbed the Coach of the Year for the second straight year, while UNH senior forward Meg Shea (Melrose, Mass./Melrose) became the second consecutive Wildcat to win Offensive Player of the Year. Boston University freshman back Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls High School) was voted the league’s Rookie of the Year, making a Terrier the recipient of the award in five of the last six years. Teammate junior Allie Dolce (Jamestown, R.I./North Kingstown) received the Midfielder of the Year Award, while Albany junior Suzy Clephane (Auckland, New Zealand/Diocesan/Bethlehem) earned the title of Defensive Player of the Year. Catamount senior netminder Kristen Heavens (Harwinton, Conn./Lewis Mills) rounded out the individual award-winners as the Goalkeeper of the Year.
Sykes, in his fifth year at Albany, won his first Coach of the Year honor last season and has duplicated the feat again this year, leading the Great Danes to a 12-4 overall record and the top seed for the America East Championship. Albany led the league in six different categories, including penalty corners per game and save percentage in which the Great Danes also lead the country. Sykes’ squad is the host for the upcoming conference championship.
Shea, a three-time America East Player of the Week, led the conference in nearly every offensive statistic, totaling 55 points on 23 goals and nine assists. She averaged 3.06 points per game, including 3.00 points per conference contest. Shea also ranked among the best forwards in the country, entering the week ranked seventh in points per game and goals per game.
As a starting back for the Terriers, McLeod finished second on the team with 15 points on six goals and three assists. The true freshman started all five conference contests and 18 of Boston U.’s 19 games overall this season. She led the team with three game-winning goals, tied for second-most in the conference. McLeod earned Rookie of the Week status once this season on October 19 for a two-goal effort against Harvard, adding a defensive save late in the game to preserve the win.
Dolce headed up the Terriers’ midfield unit and led Boston U. with 20 points. She finished the regular season with a team-high eight assists and tied for first on her team with six goals. In the league rankings, Dolce finished near the top of most offensive categories, finishing seventh in points, ninth in goals and fifth in assists. After her career year thus far, the junior also made her all-conference debut on the second team.
Clephane, one of six unanimous selections to the All-Conference First Team, was the stopper for Albany’s conference-leading defense. The junior back started all 16 games for the Great Danes, who only allowed nine goals all season and secured nine shutouts. Clephane tallied four goals and four assists for 12 points, playing an important role on the penalty corner units.
Heavens put up some of the most outstanding goaltending efforts of the season, putting up seven double-digit saves performances. Two of those came against conference opponents, as she stopped 17 shots against Boston U. and another 23 off Maine sticks. Overall, Heavens saw over 200 shots against her in net, finishing with a league-best 9.76 saves per game, ranking third in the nation. Her save percentage of .802 ranked second in America East and sixth among all Division I netminders.
Joining Clephane, McLeod, Shea and Heavens on the All-Conference First Team are Albany’s Taylor Luke (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and Nicole Savage (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin), Boston U.’s Nikki Lloyd (Kent, England/Virginia Commonwealth) and Haley Robinson (Houston, Texas/The Kinkaid School), University of Maine’s Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton School) and Lelia Sacre (North Delta, British Columbia/Syracuse) and New Hampshire’s Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy).
In addition to Dolce on the second team are Albany’s Tegan Brown (Victoria, Australia/Berwick) and Christine Hoffman (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights), Boston U.’s Nicole van Oosterom (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Chilton Saint James School), Fairfield University’s Carly McCullough (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), Maine’s Maire Dineen (Toronto, Ontario/Michael Power-St. Joseph), Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House), and Jocelyn Mitchell (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March Secondary), New Hampshire’s Kara Connolly (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./Lakeland) and Kendall Deck (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), Vermont’s Sarah Meacham (North Hartland, Vt./Hartford).
Brown, Luke, McLeod and van Oosterom were also named to the all-rookie squad along with Albany’s Inge Baijens (Rotterdam, Netherlands/Gemini College), Brianna Schwoyer (Telford, Pa./Christopher Dock Mennonite) and Kristi Troch (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton), Boston U.’s Leslie Zules (Killingworth, Conn./Haddam-Killingworth), Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass./Quaboag) and Rachael White (Norfolk, Va./Maury), Fairfield’s Leah Furey (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Bishop Eustace), Maine’s Zoe Adkins (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Gleneagle Secondary), Chelsea Wagner (Orono, Maine/Orono), New Hampshire’s Melyssa Woods (Glens Falls, N.Y./Glens Falls) and Vermont’s Taylor Silvestro (Walpole, Mass./Walpole).
Twenty-eight all-conference selections will take the field on Friday, November 6 at the 2009 America East Field Hockey Championship hosted by Albany at Alumni Turf Field. No. 1 Albany will play No. 4 New Hampshire at 1 p.m., and No. 2 Boston U. and No. 3 Maine will follow at 4 p.m. The two winners will face-off in the final on Saturday, November 7 at 4 p.m.