CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Offensive outbursts by University of Hartford's Mary Beth Hamilton (Columbia, Conn./Mercy) and University at Albany's Chelsea DeVerna (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) have earned the pair women's soccer weekly honors for the period ending Sept. 13. Hamilton earned Player of the Week accolades, while DeVerna is the second straight Great Dane to be named Rookie of the Week.
Hamilton tallied two goals and an assist in Hartford’s 5-2 win over Central Connecticut on Sunday. The junior forward/midfielder scored the eventual game winner at the 61 minute mark and added an insurance tally just seven minutes later. The five points tie a league high this season and vaults her to third among America East leaders with 1.17 points per game this season. Hamilton is also tied for third with two goals through six games.
DeVerna, whose teammate Breanna Maggio earned top rookie honors last week, scored twice and added a pair of assists to help Albany record its first-ever wins against Atlantic 10 foes last week. A freshman forward, DeVerna scored the lone goal in the 104th minute of the Great Danes’ 1-0 double-overtime win at UMass on Wednesday and assisted on the game winner in Friday’s 2-1 win at La Salle. She also scored and tallied an assist in a 4-3 double-overtime loss at Temple Sunday.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (3-4-0, 0-0-0 America East) played three matches on the road against Atlantic 10 Conference teams last week … The Great Danes opened up with a 1-0 double-overtime win over Massachusetts on Wednesday, Sept. 9 … It was the program’s first-ever win over an Atlantic 10 opponent … The Great Danes scored two late goals in a span of 39 seconds to post a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over La Salle on Sept. 11, before ending the road trip with a tough 4-3 double-overtime loss to Temple … The Owls scored their third and fourth goals of the match after the Great Danes went down a player due to a red card … All four of UAlbany’s losses have come by a goal … Chelsea DeVerna (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) paced the offense by recording two goals and two assists for six points … She scored the golden goal in the fourth minute of double overtime against the Minutewomen, set up the game-winning goal in the win over La Salle, and notched a goal and an assist in the narrow loss to Temple … Breanna Maggio (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) registered her first career shutout in the UMass victory, while Katie Grant (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia/Auburn Drive) was credited with a team save in the same match after clearing a ball away when it was directly on the goal line … The Great Danes host crosstown-rival Siena on Wednesday, Sept. 16, Niagara on Friday, Sept. 18 and Colgate on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Binghamton (2-3-1, 0-0-0 America East) enjoyed a perfect road trip to Western New York with a pair of wins over the weekend. The Bearcats blanked Niagara 2-0 before edging Buffalo 1-0… The team continued to play stingy defense with its second and third shutouts of the season. Binghamton has allowed just two goals in its last five games… At Niagara, the Bearcats struck for their first two goals of the season. Senior midfielder Amanda Casares (Rahway, N.J./Rahway) scored from 20 yards out in the first half… Freshman forward Jamie Holliday (Apalachin, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) notched her first collegiate goal early in the second half… At Buffalo, junior defender Stefani Knopick (Endwell, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) drilled a perfect free kick early in the second half and it held up for the winner against the host Bulls… Keepers Jen McEachron (Hoosick Falls, N.Y./Hoosick Falls) and Erin Iman (Bel Air, Md./Fallston) continued to split the duties in goal and shared both shutouts. McEachron made five saves in two halves of work, lowering her season GAA to 0.33. Iman recorded eight saves in her 90 minutes of work… Binghamton started five freshmen in both games.
Boston University (2-3-2, 0-0-0 America East) dropped both of its contests last weekend to Connecticut, 1-0, in overtime and No. 23 Penn State, 3-0, at the UConn Classic in Storrs. Sophomore Jessica Luscinski (Bedford, N.H./Trinity) recorded seven shots, while rookie Megan McGoldrick (Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial) had four shots – three of which were on goal. Senior Janie Reilly (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) went the distance in the overtime game with UConn, collecting seven saves, while sophomore Annie Tooley (Denver, Colo./Mullen) made six stops against the Nittany Lions. BU will look to rebound this weekend when it makes the short trek to Northeastern for a Friday match-up at 6 p.m., before returning to the confines of Nickerson Field for a Sunday contest against Harvard, which will be aired on Fox Soccer Channel at 5 p.m.
Hartford (3-3-0, 0-0-0 America East) finished a two-game week with a 1-1 record, dropping a 4-0 decision to visiting Fairfield University before scoring five second half goals to defeat the Central Connecticut Blue Devils 5-2 on Sunday afternoon … freshman Alex Uscilla (Westport, CT/St. Joseph’s) and junior Mary Beth Hamilton (Columbia, Conn./Mercy) led the Hawks against CCSU, each with two goals and an assist … Uscilla sparked Hartford offense onslaught with the game-tying goal just 2:44 into the second half … she scored off a pass from Hamilton who then scored the game-winner and an insurance goal in the 61st and 68th minutes … Breeanna Robinson (East Hempstead, N.Y./Pinkerton Academy) scored the go-ahead goal in the 54th minute off a pass from Uscilla, who also scored an insurance goal in the 89th minute for Hartford … sophomore keeper Lauren Brodeur (Wilbraham, Mass./Wilbraham Munson Academy) played all 180 minutes in goal for Hartford … she allowed six goals on the week but combined to save 11 other attempts … the Hawks will play their third-straight home game on Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. when they welcome the University of Massachusetts Minutemen to Alumni Stadium … Hartford will then play at Army on Sunday, September 20 at 1:00 p.m. to close out the week’s action.
Maine (2-3-1, 0-0 America East) split a pair of games on the weekend… Maine defeated Bryant 1-0 in overtime on Friday night, before falling to Sacred Heart 2-0 on Sunday afternoon… Laura Martel (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) scored the game-winning goal for Maine in overtime against Bryant… It was Maine’s second straight overtime game… It was the fourth straight goal for Martel… She scored Maine’s lone goal against Dartmouth… Followed that up by scoring both of Maine’s goals in 2-2 tie with Iona, before scoring the game-winning goal against Bryant… Martel has scored four of Maine’s six goals on the season… The game on Friday night against Bryant was delayed 40 minutes by lightning… Maine rookie keeper Meagan Price-Leibenzeder (Surrey, British Columbia) made four saves in the game to record her second career shutout… Maine fell to Sacred Heart 2-0 on Sunday afternoon… It is the second time this season that the Black Bears have been shutout and first time since the season-opener… Maine returns home this weekend when it hosts Northeastern at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20.
UMBC (0-4-0, 0-0-0 America East) did not play any games last week… The Retrievers return to action on Friday, Sept. 18, when they host regional rival George Washington… The contest is the Retrievers’ home opener, as they played the first four games of the season on the road… UMBC last faced the Colonials in 2006, a 1-0 loss… Sophomore goalkeeper Mo Van Vlerah (Ijamsville, Md./Northwest) has made 24 saves in four games, including 14 in the last two… She has played all 360 minutes between the posts for the Retrievers… Freshman forward Rachel McKee (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) leads UMBC with six shots on the season, including five on goal.
New Hamsphire (1-4-1, 0-0-0 America East) went 0-2-1 last week, dropping a 1-0 game at Harvard before losing 1-0 to Northeastern in double overtime and playing to a scoreless draw with UMass … senior goalkeeper Ally Yost (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) matched her career high with eight saves at Harvard, and then stopped six shots in a scoreless 96:38 against Northeastern before leaving due to an injury … Yost returned against UMass to re-write her career best with 10 saves in her second shutout of the year … Yost made a pair of brilliant saves against UMass to keep the Wildcats in the game … in the 40th minute, a loose ball came out to the middle of the box for a UMass attacker, who sent a rocket from in close that looked destined to find the back of the net before Yost fully extended and dove to make the save … then in the 74th minute Yost made a diving save and managed to elude the near post to deny another UMass attacker, who had rifled a shot from the right side … the Wildcats return to action Friday, Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. when they take on Colorado College at Stewart Field.
Stony Brook (0-5-1, 0-0-0 America East) dropped a pair of overtime games at home this week … first falling to Quinnipiac,2-1, in double overtime on Thursday night before losing to Providence, 3-2, in overtime on Sunday afternoon … it was the first time since 1990 that the Seawolves have lost in overtime in consecutive games … the Seawolves have already played three overtime games this season after playing just one last year … Stony Brook played a program record seven overtime contests in the 2007 season … freshman Sa’sha Kershaw tied Thursday night’s game with four minutes left in regulation … it was the first collegiate goal for Kershaw, who recorded her first assist last weekend against East Carolina … sophomore Colleen McKenna scored her first goal of the season in the first half of Sunday’s game against Providence … sophomore Alexis Lindo assisted on McKenna’s goal for her first career point … freshman Meghan Gilley scored the game-tying goal in the 66th minute against Providence … it was the second game-tying goal of the season for Gilley … the Seawolves have tied three games- Rutgers, Quinnipiac and Providence- after trailing in the second half … senior goalkeeper Marisa Viola made 10 saves against Providence … Viola now has 392 career saves which ranks second in program history … the Seawolves wrap up their non-conference schedule this week with road games against Yale and Fairfield sandwiched around a home game against Sacred Heart.
Vermont (0-4-1, 0-0-0 America East) went 0-2 on the week with a 2-1 double-overtime loss at Villanova and a 3-1 setback at La Salle. The Catamounts have played three overtime games in the first five matches of the year. Junior Alison Hemphill (Morrisville, Vt./Peoples Academy) scored her first career goal in the 87th minute to force the overtime sessions against Villanova. Senior goalkeeper Eliza Bradley (Charlotte, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) moved into second among the all-time save leaders at Vermont with a total of 19 saves on the weekend. Bradley raised her career total to 386 stops and owns a 1.22 goals against average and .833 save percentage on the year. Junior Jessica Becker (Woodbridge, Conn./Amity Regional) became the fourth different Catamount to record a goal with her tally in the loss to La Salle. All of Vermont’s 11 points on the year have come from seven different players. UVM returns to action on Thursday (Sept. 17) when it hosts Rhode Island at 4 p.m. and then travels to Siena on Sunday (Sept. 20) for a 1 p.m. match.