CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- The University at Albany women's lacrosse program picked up its first-ever win over a top-20 opponent Saturday afternoon in its America East conference-opener against then-No. 13 New Hampshire, a 16-15 overtime affair. Great Dane junior midfielder Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) received the conference's Women's Lacrosse Player of the Week for her offensive effort in the victory, while senior netminder Katie Neer (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) earned the league's Defender of the Week recognition. New Hampshire freshman Kate Keagins (Bayshore, N.Y./Bayshore) did everything she could to get the Wildcats back into the contest en route to her Rookie of the Week nod.
Best, also named the WomensLax.com National Player of the Week today, matched her career-high scoring total with seven points and did all of her offensive work in the opening 22+ minutes against No. 13 UNH in leading Albany to a commanding 10-0 early lead and the eventual victory. She scored three goals and added a career-high four assists, while also becoming the fifth player in the program's history to score 100 career goals. Best extended her goal-scoring streak to 38 consecutive games, the fourth-longest streak in the nation, and helped the Great Danes beat a national top-20 team for the first time as a Division I program.
Neer made 15 saves and faced 50 shots, 30 of them on net, in the 16-15 overtime win against No. 13 UNH. She made several key saves late, including a stop on Sarah Von Bargen's free-position shot with 28.1 seconds remaining in the extra period to seal the outcome. Neer also saved another free-position shot in the first three-minute session of overtime. She tallied 10 or more saves for the eighth time in her collegiate career and sits fifth on the school's career saves list with 229.
Keagins scored nine goals last week, six of them against Albany to help erase a 10-goal deficit. Her game-tying goal with 92 seconds remaining in regulation forced the overtime period. Keagins was credited with two ground balls, on caused turnover and two draw controls against Albany. She sparked another rally earlier in the week, scoring three second-half goals in UNH's come-from-behind, 13-10 win over UMass. Two of Keagins' goals late in the second period tied the contest at 10-all.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (3-5 overall record, 1-0 in America East) edged New Hampshire, 16-15, in overtime on March 21 in the Great Danes’ home and conference opener... UAlbany defeated a national top-20 team for the first time as a Division I program, as UNH was ranked No. 13 in both the IWLCA and Inside Lacrosse polls...The Great Danes had gone winless against New Hampshire in nine previous meetings...Mel Rorie (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) scored the game-winner, her fourth of the contest, when she drove around a defender and fired from the right into the left side of the net...The sophomore midfielder has tallied two-plus goals against five opponents this season... Goalkeeper Katie Neer (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) sealed the verdict when she stopped Sarah Von Bargen’s free-position shot with 28.1 seconds remaining...Neer finished with 15 saves, the eighth time in her career she has turned aside double-figure attempts...The Great Danes, who had opened the season with seven consecutive road dates, roared to a 10-0 lead in the opening 22-plus minutes... Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) equaled a career high with seven points (3 g, 4 a) and did all of her offensive work in that stretch...The junior midfielder became the fifth player in program history to score 100 career goals (100)...Best extended her goal-scoring streak to 38 games in a row, the fourth-longest mark in the nation...Jodi Battaglia (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst Central) scored three times, all in the first half...Rory Redmond (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) had three goals and one assist to tie her best scoring total as a collegian...Freshman Melanie Sosnowski (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) had given UAlbany the lead in overtime, but the Wildcats answered off the following draw 18 seconds later.
The Binghamton (2-5, 0-1) women's lacrosse team lost yet another heartbreaker to hosting Bucknell, 8-7. Sophomore Ali Castiglie led the Bearcats with three goals and four caused turnovers, while sophomore Beth Moore added two goals and two ground balls. Binghamton out shot Bucknell 31 to 18, including 15 to eight in the second half. The Bisons were anchored by goalie sophomore Alyssa DeLorenz who had a standout game with a career-high 17 saves. Binghamton opened up their conference schedule with a loss to the visiting University of Vermont Catamounts, 13-9. Freshman Lis Zuern led the Bearcats with three goals and two assists, while sophomore attack Lisa Illig added three goals. Sophomore Ali Castiglie chipped in with a goal and an assist as well. Vermont out shot Binghamton 34 to 19, including 15 to seven in the second half, and also dominated draw controls taking 20 to the Bearcats' four.
Boston University (5-3, 0-0), ranked 12th in the nation, won a pair of games against Ivy League opponents, capturing a 12-6 victory at Yale on Wednesday before a 17-12 win over Harvard on Saturday at Nickerson Field ... The Terriers have now won 25 straight games against unranked opponents, dating back to 2007, and are currently riding a three-game winning streak ... Senior Sarah Dalton (Cornwall, Vt./Taft School) broke the BU all-time career scoring record in Saturday’s game, scoring five goals to reach 191 career goals, breaking the record of 187 set by Lindsay Lewis (’06) ... Dalton scored five goals in each game this week ... Junior Traci Landy (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) scored a career-best six points, including five goals, against Yale and junior McKinley Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) posted a career-best eight points, including five goals, against Harvard ... Curro opened Saturday’s game with three straight free-position goals as the Terriers never trailed in the game ... Freshman Hannah Frey (Nyack, N.Y./Nanuet) scored one goal at Yale and two against Harvard, continuing her streak of scoring in each of the first eight games of her collegiate career as well as remaining the only Terrier to score in every game this season ... The Terriers open America East Conference play on Saturday, hosting Albany at 1 p.m. in a rematch of last season’s America East semifinals.
UMBC (5-4, 1-0) concluded a six-game home stand with a pair of wins last week, defeating Iona, 20-6, on March 17, and Stony Brook, 18-11, in the America East opener on March 21... The Retrievers have won four of their last five games... Senior midfielder Kara Dorr (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) matched her career high with six points on five goals and an assist against the Gaels... Sophomore midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) notched her third hat trick of the season and added an assist to tie her career high with four points... Senior attack Abbey Swift (Baltimore, Md./Towson) also recorded a season-high four points on a goal and a career-best three assists... In all, 12 different Retrievers scored at least one goal... Dorr tied her career high with six goals against the Seawolves... Freshman attack Emily Coady (Westminster, Md./Westminster) tallied a career-best four goals and matched her career high with five points... Five of UMBC’s top six scorers this season are freshmen or sophomores... UMBC’s five victories this season have already surpassed its entire total from 2008... Dorr leads the Retrievers with 26 goals, 30 points and 28 draw controls on the season... Coady is tops with 10 assists and ranks second with 15 goals and 25 points... The Retrievers hit the road for the first time this month to take on cross-town rival Johns Hopkins on March 24 and America East rival Vermont on March 28.
Twentieth-ranked UNH (6-3, 0-1) defeated UMass, 13-10, at home on March 18 and then fell 16-15 in overtime at Albany in the America East league opener for both teams on March 21 ... UNH had not overcome a halftime deficit of 5+ goals to win a game since March 26, 1998 (7-1 deficit at Boston U.), before erasing an 8-3 halftime deficit to defeat UMass ... The ?Cats then fell behind 10-0 at Albany and trailed 10-5 at the half before rallying to force overtime ... Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) became the fifth UNH Wildcat to score 150 career goals with her first of four at Albany ... Von Bargen currently ranks fifth on the goals leaderboard and tied for fifth in points with 179 ... Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass./Reading) recorded her 100th career point with an assist in overtime against Albany; she now has 87 goals and 13 assists ... Susie Piotrkowski (North Franklin, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) recorded her 50th career point with the second of four at Albany; she currently has 30 goals and 22 assists for 52 points ... Kate Keagins (Bayshore, N.Y./Bayshore) scored a personal-best three goals vs. UMass and surpassed that with a six-goal effort at Albany ... That game marked the first time this season that Von Bargen did not lead the Wildcats in goals ... UNH lost to Albany despite recording a 50-19 shot advantage, 28-21 edge in ground balls and committing 17 fewer turnovers (9-26).
Stony Brook (3-7, 0-1) lost both of its games last week, 22-13 to Denver and 18-11 at UMBC... The Seawolves played even with the Pioneers for the first 37+ minutes until with the game tied at 10, Denver scored nine unanswered goals to take an insurmountable 19-10 lead... Senior Kaitlin Leggio (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) led Stony Brook with four goals and two assists and in the process, tied Carlee Buck’s school record for career points with 224... Sophomore Courtney Bertolone (Farmingville, N.Y./Robert Morris) also scored four goals... In the America East opener for both schools, UMBC outscored Stony Brook, 11-5 in the first half... The Seawolves never got within six goals against the Retrievers... Leggio’s goal at 16:48 of the first half broke Buck’s record, giving her 225... Sophomore Samantha Djaha (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) had three goals and an assist for Stony Brook... The Seawolves face Hofstra on Wednesday night and New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
Vermont (3-7, 0-1) has won four straight after a pair of wins at Binghamton and LeMoyne last week. Freshman Allison Pfohl (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) scored a hat trick in each game. Senior Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair Secondary) posted three goals and three assists in the two games. She also collected 16 draw controls in the two games and is 25 shy of breaking the all-time NCAA mark. Millar is also nine goals shy of breaking the UVM school record for most career goals. She ran her consecutive points streak to 55 games. It’s the second longest streak in the country. Vermont returns home for the first time since March 4. UVM hosts Boston College on Wednesday and UMBC on Saturday.