CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Co-Players of the Week Kristi Troch (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) from Albany and Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) from Maine each led their teams to victories important to America East Field Hockey Championship seeding and eligibility, while University of New Hampshire freshman back Megan Bozek (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Lakeland) captured the Rookie of the Week award for the second straight week as she helped the Wildcats remain unbeaten in league play.
Troch anchored the Albany defense in a 2-1 strokeoff win over Boston U. on Sunday. She made 11 saves in the regulation and overtime periods, then stopped two of the Terriers' five penalty stroke attempts to give the Great Danes the victory and a 4-0 record in league play. Troch faced 24 Terrier shots in the complete-game effort and made four impressive saves in the second OT.
Gardiner led the Black Bears with five goals in two wins last week, including a victory over Vermont which clinched a conference tournament berth for Maine. The junior notched two goals against the Catamounts, a come-from-behind win, then secured a hat trick on Sunday against Hofstra. Gardiner set new single-season career highs with goals (13) and points (33).
Bozek scored a goal in each of the Wildcats' two games last week. Her tally vs. Fairfield sparked a comeback, while she pulled UNH within one goal against #10 Louisville in the 60th minute of Sunday's loss.
The field for the 2010 America East Field Hockey Championship is now set with Albany, Boston U., Maine and UNH each earning bids. This weekend's action, however, is important to seeding. The winner of the Albany vs. UNH game held in Durham on Saturday at 1p will win the regular season championship, the top seed for the tournament and hosting rights. The conference championship will be Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6. The winner of the four-team tournament will host the winner of the Northeast Conference in an NCAA play-in game on Tuesday, November 9.
Team Notebooks:
#18 Albany (13-4 overall record, 4-0 America East record) defeated Boston U. in its only game of the week, a 2-1 shootout victory on Sunday... Christina Patrick (Reading, Pa./Reading Catholic) scored the Great Danes' lone goal in regulation, collecting a rebound and finding the back of the cage... Senior Suzy Clephane (Auckland, New Zealand/Diocesian) was credited with the game-winning goal in the strokeoff... Albany converted all five penalty strokes in the shootout... Goalkeeper Kristi Troch (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) made 11 saves in a complete-game effort for the Great Danes, and stopped two of Boston U.'s penalty strokes... The Great Danes will close out the regular season on Sunday, facing off against New Hampshire with the regular-season title on the line. l Albany vs. Boston U. Highlights l
#15 Boston University (9-7, 2-2 AE) dropped a heartbreaking 2-1 contest to #18 Albany on Sunday in a strokeoff that the Great Danes won by a 3-2 margin... On Wednesday, the Terriers were defeated by No. 4 Connecticut, 3-0... After Albany took an early 1-0 lead, sophomore Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass.) scored her first goal of the season in the 32nd minute to make it a 1-1 contest... Sophomore Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls) assisted on the tally... Boston U. outshot Albany, 24-20, and held an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal after halftime... Sophomore Julie Collins (Toledo, Ohio) set a career high in saves with seven against UConn only to top it on Sunday with a nine-save performance against the Great Danes... McLeod and sophomore Nicole van Oosterom (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Chilton Saint James School) each converted their attempts in the strokeoff... The Terriers will close out the regular season on Saturday (Oct. 30) when they play host to Maine at 5 p.m. in a contest where the winner earns the No. 3 seed for the America East Championship... Boston U. will honor its three seniors prior to its final home game.
The Stags (8-10, 0-4 AE) lost a pair of games this weekend to America East foe New Hampshire and Yale... Senior Amanda Sullivan (Somers, N.Y.) scored four minutes into the game against New Hampshire but the Wildcats returned with three unanswered tallies of their own to come out on top, 3-1... Maddy Sposito (Ridgefield, Conn.) had six saves in the contest... Marit Westenberg (The Hague, Netherlands) had the lone goal for the Stags against visiting Yale off a cross from Amanda Sullivan to tie the game, but Yale was able to connect two minutes before halftime to go ahead, 2-1... Sposito had seven saves in the game, and she finished the weekend with 13... Westenberg still stands at the top of the team leaderboard with 28 points on 11 goals and six assists. Sullivan is second with seven goals and four assists for a total of 18 points... Senior Melanie Leo (Mountaintop, Pa.) has a team-high eight assists while classmate Anne Nieuwenhuis (Leidschendem, Netherlands) has a team- and league-high five defensive saves on the season... The Stags host Vermont for their final regular-season game on October 30. Fairfield will also be celebrating its five seniors, Julianne Bosse (South Plainfield, N.J.), Melanie Leo, Anne Nieuwenhuis, Michele Onofrio (Newton Square, Pa.), and Amanda Sullivan. The game is set for 12 noon on University Field in Fairfield, Conn.
Maine (13-4, 2-2 AE) picked up a pair of wins over the weekend, defeating Vermont, 3-2, and Hofstra, 7-1... The win over Vermont clinched a spot in the America East Tournament for the Black Bears, their third straight trip to the conference tournament... Maine's 13 wins are the most it has had since it went 13-7 in 2005... Junior Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia) scored the gamewinner against Vermont for her 16th goal of the season ... That goal gave Newton 106 career points which breaks the school record for career points... The old record was held by Janet Hoskin who totaled 104 career points from 1978-1981... Newton currently sits just four points shy of tying the record for points in a season (45) as she has 41 points on the year... Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia) had a 10-point weekend for Maine with five goals, setting career highs for goals in a season (13) and points in a season (33)... Senior forward Brittney Cummings (Belfast, Maine) now has five goals on the season and 12 points total, both career highs for her... The Black Bears honored their seven seniors before the last regular season home game for the Black Bears against Hofstra on Sunday... Maine closes out the regular season with an America East showdown at Boston University on Saturday at 5 p.m.
UNH (12-6, 4-0 AE) remained unbeaten in America East play with last Friday’s 3-1 victory at Fairfield… The Wildcats will play host to Albany this Saturday in the regular-season finale; the victor of that game will be the league’s regular-season champion… In other action last week, UNH lost, 3-2, to 10th-ranked Louisville… Hayley Rausch (Serverna Park, Md./Severna Park) has single-season highs in both assists (11) and points (25)… Rausch is the first Wildcat since 2005 – and second in the past decade – to reach double-digits in assists in a single season… Rausch has tallied 17 points (4g, 9a) in nine home games… Kyle Lyons (White River Junction, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) and Megan Bozek (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Lakeland) both recorded a goal in both of last week’s games… Kendall Deck (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) has tallied eight of her nine assists at home… Each of UNH’s last four losses have been by one goal… Sunday’s loss to Louisville marked the first time in 10 games this season that UNH scored first and lost the game… The Wildcats have won 12 games in back-to-back seasons… UNH had not posted consecutive double-digit win seasons since 2002-03.
Vermont (5-11, 0-4 AE) dropped its only game of the week, falling to Maine at home, 3-2... The Catamounts led, 2-1, at the half on a pair of Brittanie Booker (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant) goals, but were outscored, 2-0, after the break... One of five seniors who were honored prior to playing in their final home game as a Catamount, Booker gave the home team a 1-0 lead 5:32 into the contest... Booker netted her second of the half with 3:29 to go before intermission when she sent a shot that looked to be going wide, but was redirected off a Maine defender and in to put the Cats up 2-1... Senior Brooke Crane (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountain) made a career-high 15 saves in the game for Vermont... Saturday was Senior Day for five Catamounts, as Booker, Crane, Joanna Berger (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck), Jenna Horowski (Zionsville, Pa./Emmaus) and Julie Moy (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) were each honored with a pregame ceremony... Booker is now tied for the team lead in goals with sophomore Taylor Silvestro (Walpole, Mass.), as each have seven apiece … The two goals matched the most that UVM has scored in a home game this season… Vermont wraps up the regular season next weekend on the road with games at Fairfield on Saturday (12 p.m.) and at Dartmouth on Sunday (2 p.m.). l UVM vs. Maine Highlights l