CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - UMBC's Jeremy Blevins (Cockeysville, Md./Calvert Hall) and University at Albany's Joe
Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) have been named America East's
Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, as the two teams prepare to meet on Saturday in Albany for the right to stay unbeaten in league
play. The honors for the week ending April 5 were announced on Monday.
Blevins
led a Retriever defense that allowed just eight goals in a pair of
comfortable wins last week. Blevins, the 2008 America East Goalkeeper
of the Year, made 11 saves and picked up a career-best eight ground
balls in a 14-4 win over crosstown-rival Towson on Tuesday. He also
stopped 11 shots in a 13-4 victory over Binghamton Saturday to record
his 40th career victory. The senior cageminder ranks first among
America East starters in goals against average (7.62) and second in
save percentage (.769).
Resetarits
picked up his fourth weekly honor of the season after totaling four
goals and three assists in a pair of games last week. The freshman
attack tallied three first-half scores in a 9-8 come from behind win
over Hartford Wednesday and also added an assist. Resetarits, the
league's top rookie scorer with 28 points on 21 goals and seven
assists, had a goal and a career-best two assists in a 14-9 loss to No.
11 Johns Hopkins on Saturday.
UMBC
is ranked sixth in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week, but
fell one spot to seventh in the USILA Coaches Poll despite posting wins
over Towson, which is receiving votes in the USILA Poll, and
Binghamton. The Retrievers, who have won their five straight decisions,
upended the Tigers and the Bearcats by a combined score of 27-8. Albany
maintained its No. 18 ranking in the Inside Lacrosse Poll for the third
straight week, but fell one spot to 19th in the Coaches' Poll after a
1-1 week. The Great Danes will try to avenge a 14-13 loss against UMBC
in last year's America East title game in which the Retrievers fought
back from an 11-2 second quarter deficit to secure the league title.
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (6-3, 2-0 America East) rallied in the fourth quarter to
defeat conference opponent Hartford, 9-8, on April 1... The Great Danes,
who were ranked No. 18 in both national polls heading into the contest,
trailed 8-6 midway through the final period, but midfielder John
Alpizar (Summit, N.J. / Summit) scored twice, including the game-winner
with 2:08 remaining... Alpizar had not registered a goal since last
year’s America East semifinal win against Stony Brook... Derek Kreuzer
(Liverpool, N.Y. / Liverpool) drew his team even by converting a
diagonal pass on an extra-man play... Kreuzer scooped up a career-best
six ground balls... freshman Joe Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y. / Hamburg) had
three goals and one assist and has accounted for three-plus points in
six consecutive games... The Great Danes have reached the win column in
32 of their last 40 America East regular-season games... UAlbany is 27-20
all-time in Division I games decided by two goals or less... UAlbany fell
to No. 11 John Hopkins, 14-9, on April 4 at Homewood Field... Brian
Caufield (Bay Shore, N.Y. / West Islip) led the way with three goals
and one assist... Caufield attempted to lead his team back from a
seven-goal deficit early in the final period with back-to-back goals...
The Great Danes clawed to within 12-8 against the nine-time national
champions, but the run ended with a turnover in a man-advantage
situation... Caufield is among the NCAA leaders in points (3.89 pg) and
assists (1.67 pg)... Kreuzer added a pair of goals for the Great Danes,
who faced their third national top-15 team this season... long-stick
midfielder Chris Schongar collected six ground balls at Johns Hopkins...
Schongar moved to second on the UAlbany Division I career chart with
193 GBs... Joe Pompo (Syracuse, N.Y. / West Genesee) has recorded
two-plus points six times this spring... Corey Small (St. Catharines,
Ontario / Holy Cross) has been sidelined with a leg injury since March
16... The senior attacker totaled 20 points in the opening five games...
Binghamton (1-8, 0-2 America East) has faced three
nationally-ranked opponents in its past four games. The Bearcats also
square off against No. 15 Colgate on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ... junior
attack Andy Cook (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) is averaging 2.5 points per game
in the past two games, having scored twice and dished out three assists
... senior goalie Larry Kline (Beverly, N.Y./Beverly) made 12 saves on
Saturday at UMBC, marking the fourth straight game he has reached
double figures in saves ... senior defender Chris Winters (Orchard
Park, N.Y./Nichols) has averaged 2.67 caused turnovers in the Bearcats'
last three games.
Hartford (0-9, 0-2 America East) dropped a 9-8 heartbreaker at
the University at Albany last week. The Hawks trailed 6-3 at the half
but outscored the Great Danes 5-0 in the third quarter to take a
two-goal lead into the fourth. Hartford led 8-6 with just over eight
minutes remaining in the contest, but Albany came back with three
straight goals to steal away the victory. Freshman Ryan Compitello
(Hauppauge, NY/Hauppague) led the Hawks with three goals and an assist
while classmate Scott Bement (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) made 18
saves in goal... Compitello and freshman Aidan Genik (Toronto,
Ontario/Univ. of Western Ontario) lead the team in scoring on the
season with 19 points apiece. Genik leads the team with 15 goals...
Hartford will next host Stony Brook University on Saturday, April 11 at
Alumni Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Sixth-ranked UMBC (8-2, 2-0 America East) extended their
season-high winning streak to five with convincing home wins over
Towson (14-4) and Binghamton (13-4) last week... Senior midfielder Peet
Poillon (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley/Ohio State) tied a
career-best with four goals and the Retriever defense permitted a
season-low four goals as the Retrievers defeated Towson in the 40th
meeting between two schools... Freshman attackman Rob Grimm (Black River,
N.Y./Carthage) led all scorers with a season-best two goals and three
assists and senior midfielder Alex Hopmann (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis)
added three goals and one helper as UMBC defeated their cross-town
rivals for the third consecutive time... The 10-goal margin of victory by
UMBC is just the third-such in the all-time series and was one shy of
the 11-goal margin in the 20-9 Retriever victory in 1999... Towson leads
the series, 26-14, but UMBC is 7-6 vs. the Tigers since 1997... The four
goals allowed by UMBC is the fewest since a 6-3 win over Binghamton in
late April of 2006... The 14 goals allowed by Towson is a season high... In
four games vs. Towson, senior netminder Jeremy Blevins (Cockeysville,
Md./Calvert Hall) made 48 saves and allowed 27 goals, posted a save
percentage of .640 and won three of four decisions... He recorded a
career best and UMBC season high eight ground balls in the win over the
Tigers... In the win over Binghamton senior attackman Ryan Smith
(Fallston, Md./Fallston/CCBC-Essex) scored a season-high four
goals...UMBC defeated Binghamton for the eighth straight time, but
Saturday’s win represented the largest margin of victory over the
Bearcats, as two of the last four meetings were decided in overtime...
Smith had just three goals in his last six games, but scored three
times in the first half as the Bearcat defense tried to slow down the
top UMBC midfield line of Poillon, Hopmann and junior Kyle Wimer
(Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield)... junior attackman Chris Jones (Martinsville,
N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) continued his steady play with two goals and
an assist and has four consecutive multiple-point games... he game set a
UMBC single-game record as just one penalty was called in the contest...
UMBC had no extra-man opportunities for the first time since March 22,
1990 vs. Michigan State... UMBC has won 11 straight regular season
America East contests and is 25-4 all-time in league play...The
Retrievers have held 23 of 29 league opponents to single digits in
goals... The Retrievers take on host Albany (2-0 America East) in a
battle of first place in the league... UMBC has won 11 straight regular
season games since a 2007 loss at Albany.
All of Stony Brook’s (5-4, 1-1 America East) wins and losses
have come in streaks of at least two this season ... like last season
Stony Brook has split its first two games of the America East schedule
... in all of Stony Brook’s wins the Seawolves have scored at least 10
goals ... after scoring his first career goals last week, freshman Graham
Adams scored again at Vermont ... he has now scored in each of his two
starts this season ... Stony Brook has led at the half in all five of its
victories ... Jordan McBride’s two goals against UMBC gives him eight
straight games with at least two goals ... McBride’s goals kept his
scoring streak alive going back to last season ... he has now scored a
point in 16 straight games, tops on the team ... McBride is now tied for
13th all-time at SBU with 71 career goals ... nearly three of every four
shots by McBride is on goal ... Stony Brook has had a different starting
lineup in each of the last three games ... the Seawolves have a better
record on the road (3-1) than at home 2-3) ... sophomore Adam Rand has
been hot in the face-off circle ... over his last three games he has won
over 68 percent of his attempts ... four times this season Stony Brook
has scored five or more goals in either the first or second quarter ...
the Seawolves have won three of those games.
Vermont (4-6, 1-1 America East) dropped a pair of 10-8 decisions
to No. 19 Fairfield and Stony Brook last week ... Senior Andrew Kelleher
(Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem) scored six goals in the two games and has a
team leading 29 goals on the season ... Kelleher had a team-high six
ground balls in Saturday’s loss to Stony Brook ... His 31 ground balls on
the season lead the team ... Kelleher has at least one point in all 10
games ... Freshman Geoff Worley (Coronado, Calif./Coronado) had four
goals and two assists on the week ... Worley has registered a multi-point
game in every contest this season ... He ranks second on the team in
scoring with 12 goals and 25 points ... Sophomore Derek Lichtfuss
(Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s) had two goals and two assists in the loss
to Fairfield last Tuesday ... He is second on the team in goals this
season with 17 ... Kelleher, Worley and Lichtfuss have accounted for
74-percent of Vermont’s goal scoring this season (58 of 78 goals) ... The
trio has combined for 83 points ... Senior Justin Lubas (Freehold,
N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) stopped 17 shots in Tuesday’s loss
against the Stags ... Freshman Alex Plavner (Arnold, Md./Severn School)
played the final 34:16 in goal for Vermont against Stony Brook and made
five saves ... The Catamounts out shot the Seawolves 44-23 in the losing
effort ... Freshman Peter Oswald (Cohasset, Mass./Thayer Academy) has won
51-percent of his face offs this season (38 for 75) ... Vermont hosts
Holy Cross on Tuesday at 2 p.m. before traveling to Binghamton on
Saturday for a 7 p.m. start.