CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- A pair of first-team all-conference players from a year ago join a freshman as this week's women's lacrosse award winners for the week ending March 21. Boston University senior attack McKinley Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) picked up Player of the Week honors, UMBC senior goalkeeper Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) earned Defensive Player of the Week accolades and Stony Brook freshman attack Nicolle Moran (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) took home the Rookie of the Week award.
Curro led the Terriers to a 1-1 week, with the loss coming in double overtime to the hands of #9 Notre Dame. Against Harvard earlier in the week, the senior tallied seven points, one shy of a career high, on three goals and four assists, while also adding a ground ball. Against the Irish, Curro dished out two assists in the low-scoring, 7-6 affair. Curro ranks 10th in the league leaders with 2.57 points per game and ninth with 1.00 assist per game during her senior campaign.
Quick made 15 saves and allowed just nine goals in a pair of UMBC wins last week. She also added five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Quick finished the week with a 4.50 goals against averaged and a 62.5 save percentage. In a 19-2 win over American on Wednesday, she stopped five shots, picked up four ground balls and caused three turnovers. Then in a 9-7 win at Delaware on Sunday, she made a season-high 10 saves. Last year's first-team all-conference goalkeeper, Quick boasts a 7.63 GAA and .511 save percentage this year through nine games.
Moran, the second straight Seawolf to win the Rookie of the Week award, tallied six points in two games last week on five goals and an assist. Against Hofstra, the rookie notched two goals, while adding one ground ball and one caused turnover. On Saturday against Columbia, Moran scored her first hat trick of her collegiate career and added an assist for four points on the afternoon.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (4-1, 0-0 AE) is off to its best start as a Division I program following a 14-7 win over Massachusetts on March 20… The Great Danes have won four straight, tying their longest streak at the Division I level… Albany also won four in a row in 2005 and 2007… The Great Danes limited UMass to 18 shots en route to defeating the Minutewomen for the first time in seven meetings … UMass is the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 Conference title… Taylor Frink (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) equaled a career best with four goals… Frink is among the America East scoring leaders (16 g, 7 a)… Melanie Sosnowski (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) recorded her third-highest single-game scoring total with three goals and two assists… She has 21 points through five games after accounting for 14 goals and five assists as a freshman… Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) had two goals and two assists vs. UMass to extend her goal-scoring streak to 51 consecutive games… Best climbed to fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 166 points, moving past Hall of Famer Debbie August ’96… Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) recorded season-highs in draw controls (6) and caused turnovers (2) and assisted on the game’s first goal with nine seconds elapsed… Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) made seven saves and stopped three free-position shots … Ross has a .556 save percentage in her first year as a starting lacrosse goalkeeper.
Binghamton (0-4, 0-0 AE) continues to look for the first win of the season after falling to Monmouth 12-10 on Sunday afternoon. Binghamton outshot Momouth 39-25 but only converted on two of nine free position shots while the Muhawks found the net in three of four attempts. The Bearcats are back home Wednesday March 24 hosting LeMoyne at 7 p.m.
The No. 11/13 Terriers (4-3, 0-0 AE) split a pair of non-conference games, winning at Harvard, 13-9, on Wednesday before falling to No. 9/15 Notre Dame on Saturday at home by a 7-6 score in double overtime... The Terriers have now won six straight games against the Crimson... Saturday's loss snapped a nine-game home winning streak... The double overtime game against the Fighting Irish was the Terriers' first game to go into double overtime since Feb. 28, 2009, when Boston U. topped William & Mary... All three of the Terriers' losses this season have come against nationally-ranked opponents... Senior attack Traci Landy (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) scored two goals in each game last week and is the only Terrier to score a goal in every game this season... Senior attack Jenny Taft (Edina, Minn./Edina) netted her first career hat trick against Harvard on Wednesday ... This week, the Terriers host Yale on Wednesday before opening America East conference play at Binghamton... The Terriers will be seeking their third straight win against Yale and are 8-0 all-time against Binghamton.
After winning a pair of games last week, UMBC is 6-3 and off to its best start since 1994, and its current four-game winning streak is its best since winning four straight from March 21-April 4, 2006… The Retrievers used a 12-0 run that spanned both halves and lasted more than 35 minutes to defeat American, 19-2, on Wednesday… Junior midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) scored four goals and was named America East Player of the Game… Sophomore attack Emily Coady (Westminster, Md./Westminster) tied her career high with five points on three goals and two assists… In all, nine Retrievers found the back of the net, with seven scoring multiple times… Then at Delaware on Sunday, UMBC fell behind, 4-2, but scored seven of the game’s final 10 goals to defeat the Blue Hens, 9-7… Sophomore attack Alicia Krause (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) broke a 7-7 tie with the game-winner with 7:22 remaining… Coady led the Retrievers with three points on two goals and an assist… Senior goalie Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) made a season-high 10 saves… She boasts an outstanding 7.63 GAA and .511 save percentage through nine games this season… Braerman leads the Retrievers with 33 points and 14 assists… She is tied with Pappas for the team lead in goals with 19 apiece… UMBC opens America East play on Saturday at Stony Brook.
UNH (4-3, 0-0 AE) played just one game last week while the University was on spring break, and the Wildcats were defeated 15-3 at Florida on March 20… Freshman goalkeeper Kathleen O’Keefe (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) made 13 saves and surrendered 13 goals against Florida in her second career start; the 13 saves was one less than her total in the previous game at second-ranked Maryland… O’Keefe was also credited with three caused turnovers and three ground balls vs. the Gators in 55 minutes, 47 seconds of action; both the GB and CTO totals were team highs… Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) tallied a goal and an assist… She and JoJo Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) have recorded a point in all seven games this season; Rausch has an assist in every game… Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) saw her 18-game point-scoring streak come to an end at Florida… UNH trailed 7-1 at halftime, but goals by Jenny Simpson (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and Curro trimmed the deficit to four goals… The ‘Cats continued to pressure with two more shots on goal in the next three minutes, but UF pulled away with eight goals in the last 20:37 of the game… UNH returns to action March 28 against Fairfield at home, where the ‘Cats are 3-1 this season … The Wildcats have a 2-0 lifetime record vs. the Stags; these teams played in the ’04 and ’05 seasons.
Stony Brook (2-6, 0-0 AE) lost both of its games last week… The Seawolves trailed Hofstra, 5-4, at halftime, but the Pride outscored them, 12-3, in the second half… Junior Courtney Bertolone (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem East) and freshman Nicolle Moran (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) each scored two goals for the Seawolves, who forced Hofstra into 25 turnovers… Stony Brook got within 8-5 with junior Trish Molfetta’s (Carmel, N.Y./Mahopac) goal with 26:34 left in the game… The Seawolves rallied from a five-goal deficit against Columbia, but lost to the Lions, 15-13… Junior Melissa Cook (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) led all scorers with four goals… Down 10-4, Cook scored all four of her goals in the second half as Stony Brook came back to make it a 10-9 game… Columbia made it 12-9 before goals from Moran and Cook made it 12-11… Moran’s three goals were a career-high… The Seawolves conclude non-conference play on Wednesday when they travel to face Loyola at 2 pm… America East play starts with UMBC at LaValle Stadium at 1 pm.
Vermont (2-4, 0-0 AE) went 1-1 in a pair of home games last week. The Catamounts dropped a 14-11 decision to Siena on Wednesday, but bounced back with a 14-7 victory over Marist on Saturday. Senior Sara Buxton (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) recorded a hat trick to lead Vermont against Siena. She also added an assist and reached the 100-point milestone, becoming the eighth player in the program's history to reach the 100-point plateau. In the win over Marist, Samantha Stern (Cherry Hill, N.J/Cherry Hill East) scored a team-high four goals and Natalie Jones (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) chipped in a hat trick to pace Vermont. Teammate Megan MacDonald (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) also contributed five points in the win. Vermont returns to action on Wednesday (March 24) when it travels to Boston College for a 4 p.m. game. It is the lone game of the week for the Catamounts.