CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- A trio of student-athletes picked up their second women's lacrosse weekly awards of the season on Monday as announced by the league office. UMBC junior Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) earned her first Player of the Week award since February 22, Albany senior Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) claimed her second Defensive Player of the Week honor in three weeks and New Hampshire freshman Jenny Simpson (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) garnered her second Rookie of the Week award of the season. All awards were for the week ending March 28.
Pappas led the Retrievers to an extra session win in their conference opener against Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon. The junior midfielder recorded four points on three goals and an assist, including the gamewinner in overtime. With the game tied at 9-9, Pappas notched the winning goal with just four seconds remaining in the overtime period to send UMBC to its fifth-straight victory. The junior also added three draw controls, a ground ball and a caused turnover. It was her fifth hat trick of the season and her 22nd goal of the season to tie for the league lead.
Ross made 20 stops during two games in net last week for the Great Danes, who are off to their best start as a Division I program. The senior netminder made a career-high 12 saves in an 11-10 victory over Denver on Sunday. She stopped three free-position shots in the game, and came up with a caused turnover and a ground ball with 6:04 remaining and her team leading 10-9. Five of her eight saves earlier in the week against Colgate were on free-position attempts. In the 12-7 victory, Ross added a career-high six ground balls. She is among the league leaders in save percentage (.550) and GAA (7.17) on the year.
Simpson tallied career highs in both goals (five) and points (six) to propel UNH to a non-conference victory over Fairfield on Sunday. The rookie was also credited with a ground ball, a caused turnover and a draw control. Simpson scored the game's initial two goals and set up the fourth tally to spark the Wildcat to a 6-0 lead. Her three second-half goals helped fend off the Stags. Simpson scored five goals on six shots for an .833 shooting percentage for the afternoon.
Vermont will host Albany in both teams' conference openers on Wednesday at 3 p.m., while New Hampshire will open its America East play at home against UMBC on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (6-1, 0-0 AE) will take a six-game win streak, its longest as a Division I program, into Wednesday’s America East Conference opener at Vermont… The Great Danes edged Denver, 11-10, Sunday in Owings Mills, Md.… Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) broke an 8-8 tie with a pair of goals in a one-minute-and-46-second span… Best totaled three goals for the 26th time in her career and extended her goal-scoring streak to 53 consecutive games… Best is fourth on the school’s career scoring list with 171 points (141 G, 30 A)… Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) added three goals, the 13th time she has had three-plus as a collegian… Grueniger needs four points to reach the 100-career plateau… Goalkeeper Ashley Ross stopped a career-high 12 shots vs. Denver… Ross, who has a .550 save percentage in her first year as a starter, also had eight saves, including five against free-position attempts, in a 12-7 triumph over defending Patriot League champion Colgate… Taylor Frink (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) accounted for three goals and two assists vs. Colgate… The junior attack has tallied five-plus points on four occasions this season… Defender Tricia Primomo (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) collected a career-high five ground balls against Colgate… Junior midfielder Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) accounted for 11 draw controls, six ground balls and four caused turnovers in last week’s two victories… The Great Danes are off to their best start in Division I.
Binghamton (0-6, 0-1 AE) put up a valiant effort before losing its first America East game of the season, 11-8 to Boston University on Saturday. Binghamton was up 5-2 against the No. 13 Terriers at the half... Behind three unassisted goals from junior attack Ali Castiglie (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood)... Junior midfielder Beth Moore (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) and freshman Lindsay Angelillo (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles Central) each added a pair of goals... Moore leads the Bearcats with 14 goals while Castigle has 11 goals.
No. 13 Boston University (5-4, 1-0 AE) opened America East play with an 11-8 win at Binghamton on Saturday after dropping an 11-9 game to Yale on Wednesday in non-conference play… The Terriers have now won 24 straight games against America East opponents and 17 straight regular-season conference games dating back to 2007… The Terriers have never lost to Binghamton, going 9-0 in the all-time series… Senior attack McKinley Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) tallied eight points (6g, 2a) on the week, including a game-high four goals in Saturday’s win over Binghamton… The Terriers overcame a three-goal halftime deficit against the Bearcats with an 8-1 run in the second that included all four of Curro’s goals… Freshman Danielle Etrasco (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) netted her second hat trick on Wednesday against Yale… The Terriers play a pair of non-conference games against nationally-ranked opponents this week, visiting No. 16 Dartmouth on Wednesday and hosting No. 6 Syracuse on Saturday… The Terriers are 4-9 all-time against Dartmouth, but have never lost to the Big Green under Liz Robertshaw… Boston University lost two games to the Orange last year, including an NCAA tournament game that ended the Terriers’ season.
In its only game of the week, UMBC (7-3, 1-0 America East) defeated Stony Brook, 10-9, in overtime in the America East opener… Junior midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) scored the game-winner with just four seconds remaining and finished the game with four points on three goals and an assist for her fifth hat trick of the season… Junior attack Erika Braerman (Fallston, Md./Fallston) tallied three points on two goals and an assist, while sophomore attack Alicia Krause (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron/Duquesne) also scored twice… The victory was the Retrievers’ fifth in a row, their longest winning streak since taking six straight from April 17-May 3, 2003… It was also the third straight win in an America East opener for UMBC and its fifth in seven seasons in the conference… The Retrievers are off to their best start since 1986, when they won eight of their first 10 games… Pappas leads UMBC with 22 goals, while Braerman follows close behind with 21… She also boasts team bests of 15 assists and 36 points… In all, 13 Retrievers have found the back of the net this season, with six in double digits… Senior goalie Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) has been outstanding between the pipes, boasting a 7.69 goals-against average and a .486 save percentage… The Retrievers take on Manhattan on Monday before traveling to America East rival UNH on Saturday.
UNH (5-3, 0-0 AE) improved to 4-1 at home this season with a 14-10 win against Fairfield on March 28… Jenny Simpson (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) recorded career highs in both goals (five) and points (six) to lead the attack… She has scored 10 goals on 15 shots for a .667 shooting percentage... Ilana Cohen (Andover, Mass./Andover) scored a career-high three goals to match her personal best of three points… Kathleen O’Keefe (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) recorded her first career victory with a nine-save effort vs. Fairfield; she also had five ground balls in that game… Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) extended her assist streak to eight games with two vs. the Stags; the second assist marked her 50th career point… Rausch also tallied three ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control in that game… JoJo Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) extended her point-scoring streak to eight games with a goal… Allie Duclos (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) tied O’Keefe with a game-high five ground balls; Duclos also had two caused turnovers… Jess Cassotis (York, Maine) had a solid defensive game and was credited two ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control… UNH has a 4-0 record when scoring 10+ goals this season… The ‘Cats are also 4-0 when holding the edge in ground balls, 3-0 when scoring the game’s first goal and 4-0 when leading at halftime.
Stony Brook (2-8, 0-1 AE) lost both of its games last week… The Seawolves dropped an 18-7 decision to #15 Loyola on Wednesday… Junior Melissa Cook (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) led Stony Brook with two goals… Junior Mickey Cahill (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) started the second half and made 10 saves, allowing only four goals… SBU returned to LaValle Stadium, but fell to UMBC, 10-9, in overtime… Junior Samantha Djaha (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) and freshman Jessica Romano (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) each scored two goals… Cook added a goal and three assists against the Retrievers… The Seawolves tied the game at seven and took their first lead of the game when Romano scored at 3:09 of overtime… Cook’s goal tied the game after UMBC took a 9-8 lead… The Retrievers scored the game winner with four seconds left… America East play continues on Saturday against Vermont at 1 p.m.
Vermont fell to 2-5 on the year after dropped a 14-10 decision at Boston College in its lone game of the week. Sophomore Samantha Stern (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and senior Kaitlyn Johnson (Meriden, N.H.) each scored hat tricks for the Catamounts against the Eagles, but it wasn't enough to pull out a victory. Stern has scored nine goals in the last four games for Vermont. The Catamounts will be taking donations at the ticket window in Gutterson Fieldhouse for the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation (FOJ) is a non-profit, charitable organization that was created and dedicates itself to raise public awareness regarding pediatric brain tumors. The foundation's goal is to improve the quality of life for children suffering with pediatric brain tumors and help fund research. The Foundation was inspired by Jaclyn Murphy, an 11-year old, who was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, in March 2004. Jaclyn was adopted by the Northwestern women's lacrosse team in 2004 and has been an honorary member of the Wildcat team ever since. The Catamounts, who have raised money for the Foundation, will wear special warm-up jerseys for their next three games. Vermont opens up America East Conference action on Wednesday (March 31) when it hosts Albany at 3 p.m. at Moulton Winder Field. UVM will also travel to Stony Brook for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday (April 3).