CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- In what was both a record-setting and crucial week for championship seeding, a trio of women's lacrosse players earned the final weekly awards of the season. Boston University midfielder Sarah Dalton (Cornwall, Vt../Taft School) won Player of the Week for the fourth time this season, University at Albany defender Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) picked up her first Defender of the Week award, and University of Vermont attack Samantha Stern (Cherry Hills, N.J./Cherry Hills East) received her second Rookie of the Week accolade.
Dalton continues to lead the nation in goals per game, netting 11 goals in two games last week. She scored seven goals against 16th-ranked Dartmouth on Wednesday and followed with four goals and two assists against UMBC on Saturday. Dalton also tallied three ground balls, two caused turnovers and five draw controls on the week and has now scored a hat trick in 13 straight games. The senior broke her own school single-season goal-scoring record in Saturday's game and now boasts 75 goals this season.
Branchini, recently named the Fans' Choice Player of the Year, becomes the second straight Great Dane to take home the defensive honor. She scored her fourth goal of the season for a 4-2 lead over Le Moyne in the first half, and then won one of her four draw controls that led to a 10-8 advanage with 10:32 remaining. Branchini registered four ground balls, her sixth four-plus ground ball game of the season. The sophomore, who ranks fifth nationally in draw controls per game, won four draws on Saturday to help the Great Danes clinch their first winning campaign since 2000.
In a must-win game for the Catamounts, Stern scored a team-high four goals in Vermont's 19-11 victory over Stony Brook to help the team clinch a spot in the America East Championship. She finished the week with five points, adding an assist in a mid-week game vs. Long Island, one caused turnover and one draw control.
All three award-winners will be playing in this week's America East Women's Lacrosse Championship in Boston, Mass. The semifinals begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday and the championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, May 2.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (9-7, 4-2 America East) clinched their first winning campaign since 2000 and established the program’s Division I single-season win record in a 12-10 victory at Le Moyne to end the regular season on April 25...The Great Danes, who got off to a 1-5 start, have won eight of their last 10 outings...UAlbany equaled its best America East record en route to making a third consecutive conference postseason tournament appearance...The Great Danes are seeded No. 2, its highest seed in league tournament history, and will meet New Hampshire in the semifinal round...The Wildcats, ranked 19th nationally in the current IWLCA poll, represent UAlbany’s fourth top-20 opponent this season...Jodi Battaglia (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst Central) scored three of her four goals in the second half against Le Moyne... Battaglia has netted three or more against six opponents this spring...Mel Rorie (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) added three goals at Le Moyne...Rorie and Battaglia are second and third on the team in scoring with 44 and 41 points, respectively... Leading-scorer Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) did not play in the regular-season finale due to injury...Julie Bush (Jordan, N.Y./Jordan-Elbridge) moved into a tie for sixth in single-season assists (19) and climbed to fourth on the career chart with 37...Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) had a pair of first-half goals at Le Moyne...Grueniger (61) and Battaglia (60) have each reached the 60-plateau in career goals...Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) is fifth nationally in draw controls among the Division I leaders (4.0 pg)... Branchini, the 2009 America East Fans’ Choice Player of the Year, had one goal, four ground balls and four draw controls at Le Moyne.
In the first game of the week, Binghamton (3-13, 0-6) fell to Marist 16-13 on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at the Bearcat Sports Complex. Binghamton honored both seniors on the roster, Kara Slowik and Kelsey Pieper before the game. Freshman Meg Brown scored four goals and set up a teammate to lead the Bearcats. Sophomore Beth Moore scored three goals while Wright added two. In the final game of the season for the Bearcats, Binghamton fell to UNH 21-9.
Boston University (13-3, 6-0), ranked 12th in the nation, concluded the regular season on an 11-game winning streak after a 15-8 win over 16th-ranked Dartmouth on Wednesday and a 15-10 triumph over UMBC on Saturday... The Terriers completed a perfect run through the America East regular season for the second straight year and fourth year overall... The Terriers have now won 16 straight America East regular-season games, their last 21 overall games against America East opponents and 31 straight games against unranked opponents... Wednesday’s win over Dartmouth marked the Terriers’ 25th straight win against teams from New England... Senior Sarah Dalton (Cornwall, Vt./Taft School) broke the Terriers’ single-season goal-scoring record that she set last season on Saturday and now has 75 goals this year to best her mark of 71 last season... Dalton, one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy, has now scored a hat trick in 13 straight games... Dalton has also tied the Terriers’ career draw controls record with 182... The Terriers boast the top two assist-getters in the conference in juniors Erica Baumgartner (Silver Spring, Md./Good Counsel) and Xan Weitzel (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown), the only two players in the league to average at least two assists per game... The Terriers host Vermont on Thursday in the America East semifinals.
UMBC (9-8, 3-3) saw its season come to an end with a 15-10 loss to No. 12 Boston University on Saturday... Senior attack Abbey Swift (Baltimore, Md./Towson) tallied a career-high seven points on three goals and four assists... Senior midfielder Kara Dorr (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) scored the 100th goal of her career, becoming the 16th Retriever ever to reach that milestone... She scored three times in the game to finish the season with a team-best 40 goals and 50 points... Eight Retrievers tallied at least 20 points on the season, the most since 1999... Five Retrievers scored at least 20 goals, the most since 2007... In addition, four players scored at least 30 points, also the most since 2007... After scoring just seven goals and 12 points in the first 11 games, Swift recorded 13 goals and 24 points in the last six contests to finish the season with 20 goals and a career-high 36 points... Six of UMBC’s top nine scorers were underclassmen... Swift led the Retrievers with 16 assists on the season, while Dorr posted team highs in draw controls (34)... Junior defender Sarah Willis (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) picked up a team-best 32 ground balls, while freshman defender C.J. Durham (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) caused 26 turnovers... Junior goalie Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) posted a 10.35 GAA and a .483 save percentage with 153 saves on the season.
17th-ranked UNH (11-6, 4-2) ended the regular season with a 21-9 win at Binghamton to match its season high goal output... The Wildcats are seeded third in the upcoming America East Championship tournament and will play Albany in a semifinal matchup; it will be the team’s first neutral-site game of the season... UNH has a 10-1 lifetime record vs. the Great Danes, and that includes 2-0 in postseason play; the 'Cats prevailed in the 2004 and 2005 semifinals... Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) recorded a career-high eight points with three goals and a personal best of five assists at Binghamton to extend her point-scoring streak to 10 games... Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) tallied a career-high four points and matched her personal best of three goals in that game ... Kaplan has 20+ goals and 20+ assists this season, a feat not accomplished by a 'Cat since current assistant coach Katie Leland in 2006... Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass.) has the team’s longest active goal-scoring streak (six games) following her four-goal effort in the regular-season finale... Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) recorded her 100th career draw control at Binghamton... UNH has scored first in 12 of 17 games this season... In other statistical trends, UNH has had the advantage in shots 15 times, the ground ball advantage 12 times, the edge in draw controls 11 times and committed fewer turnovers 14 times.
Stony Brook (4-12, 1-5) finished the 2009 season with a 19-11 loss to Vermont... Senior Jenna Celano (Farmingdale, N.Y./George Mason) led the Seawolves with four goals in her final game... Freshman Jillian Weinstein (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) added three goals in just her third career game... Sophomore Samantha Djaha (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) also had three goals... Senior Kaitlin Leggio (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) finished her illustrious career at Stony Brook as the leader in school history in goals, points, draw controls and ground balls.
Vermont (9-7, 3-3) went 2-0 on the week with a win over LIU and a key victory over Stony Brook, 19-11, to clinch a spot in the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship... Vermont will be making its second straight appearance in the tournament for just the second time in school history... Freshman Samantha Stern (Cherry Hills, N.J./Cherry Hills East) scored a team-high four goals to lead the Catamounts over the Seawolves... Senior Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair Secondary) added three goals and five points and came up with a career-high 12 draw controls... Earlier in the week Millar became the all-time draw controls leader in NCAA Division I women's lacrosse history with seven in a win over LIU... She also became the all-time leading goal scorer at UVM with a hat trick against the Blackbirds... Vermont's two victories brings its overall win total to nine, tying the school record for most wins in a single-season... Both the 1984 and 1993 teams posted nine-win campaigns... UVM is also guaranteed of its first winning season since 1994 (7-4)... Freshman Allison Pfohl (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) scored twice in the win over Stony Brook to break UVM's freshman record for most goals in a season (31)... Vermont has earned the No. 4 seed in the America East Championship and will face No. 1 Boston U at 1 p.m. at Nickerson Field on Thursday (April 30).