CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- With conference play underway, this week's women's lacrosse award winners led their teams to important victories for the week ending April 4. University at Albany senior attack Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) claimed the Player of the Week award, while University of New Hampshire sophomore midfielder Kate Keagins (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) and freshman Jenny Simpson (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) earned the league's defensive player and rookie awards. Simpson garnered her second straight, and third overall, honor this season, while Grueniger previously won a defensive player of the week award this season.
Grueniger helped lead the Great Danes to their seventh and eighth straight wins and the program's first 2-0 mark to open the league slate since joining America East. The senior attack equaled a career high with five goals, all in the first half, in a victory over Binghamton. Grueniger also had five points on two goals and a career-best three assists in a mid-week victory over Vermont. Against the Catamounts, she became the 12th player in the program's history to reach 100 career points. In addition to her 10 points, Grueniger also tallied three ground balls, a caused turnover and four draw controls.
Keagins finished the two-win week with seven ground balls, seven caused turnovers and six draw controls, as well as six points. She recorded game highs in both ground balls (five) and caused turnovers (three) as well as two draw controls and two goals in the conference-opener against UMBC. In the opening minutes of the game, she caused a turnover, collected the ground ball at midfield, and raced upfield to score one of her two goals, setting the tone for the rest of the game. Keagins started the week with four caused turnovers, four draw controls, two ground balls, a goal and an assist at Yale.
Simpson recorded six points on four goals and two assists in victories over Yale and UMBC last week. Her first-half goal against UMBC gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead and her second-half tally capped a 6-0 run that extended the advantage to 14-5. At Yale, Simpson tallied three of her four points in the second stanza as UNH outscored the hosts, 8-4, in the final 30 minutes. Her initial point of the second half came on an assist that lifted UNH into a 6-6 tie, and her second goal of the day pulled the 'Cats even at 8-8, igniting a 4-0 run that put UNH ahead to stay.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (8-1, 2-0 AE) won its opening two games in America East play for the first time since joining the conference in 2002 after defeating Vermont (18-5) and Binghamton (24-3)… The Great Danes have won eight in a row, their longest streak as a Division I program… Albany tied its Division I single-game scoring mark with 24 goals vs. Binghamton and is ranked second nationally in scoring offense (16.89 gpg)… Christine Grueniger (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) became the 12th player in school history to reach the 100-point mark at Vermont… Grueniger, who accounted for seven goals and three assists last week, moved to eighth in goals (84) and 11th in points (106) on the program’s all-time charts… Nikki Branchini (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) came close to the NCAA record with 14 draw controls vs. Binghamton… Branchini, who shattered UAlbany’s single-game standard, added a career-high three points (1G, 2A)… Taylor Frink (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) matched a career-best point total with two goals and four assists against Binghamton… Frink is among the league’s scoring leaders (4.0 ppg)… Olivia Jarem (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) had a career-high four goals at Vermont and came back with a career-high five points (3G, 2A) against Binghamton… Kayla Best (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) has scored at least one goal in 55 consecutive games… UAlbany supported Friends of Jaclyn (pediatric brain tumors) on April 3… Jaclyn’s father, Denis Murphy, was a 1985 UAlbany football captain.
Binghamton women's lacrosse team (0-8, 0-2 AE) lost both games this week. First dropping a 15-8 decision to visiting Colgate, before falling to the hosting Albany Great Danes, 24-3, on Saturday afternoon. Junior attack Ali Castiglie led the Bearcats with five goals and an assist for the week while junior Beth Moore added four goals and an assist. Binghamton returns home for a non-conference game against Bucknell on Wednesday before hitting the road and taking on Vermont next Saturday.
No. 18 Boston U. (5-6, 1-0 AE) dropped a pair of games to nationally-ranked opponents, falling at No. 9 Dartmouth, 15-10, on Wednesday and losing to No. 8 Syracuse, 17-11, on Saturday… The Terriers have lost three straight home games for the first time since 2003… Senior attack Traci Landy (Seaford, N.Y.) matched her career high with six goals against the Orange… With a hat trick in each game this week, senior attack McKinley Curro (Amherst, N.H.) has now scored at least two goals in each of the last eight games… This week, the Terriers play a pair of America East games, hosting New Hampshire on Wednesday in a rematch of the last two conference championship games and visiting UMBC on Saturday…Boston University is 19-11 in the all-time series with the Wildcats and 8-1 all-time against the Retrievers… The Terriers have never lost to either team under head coach Liz Robertshaw and Boston University has won 11 straight games against conference rival New Hampshire, dating back to 2005… Saturday’s game against Syracuse benefitted the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a non-profit organization that improves the quality of life for children and their families by matching children with a local high school or college sports team to provide love, support and friendship…Through the foundation, the Terriers adopted Hannah O’Brien, a local five-year-old battling brain cancer.
UMBC (8-4, 1-1 AE) split a pair of road games last week… At 8-4, UMBC is off to its best start since also winning eight of its first 12 games in 2002… The Retrievers defeated Manhattan, 20-7, on Monday… The victory was UMBC’s sixth straight, its longest winning streak since also taking six in a row from April 17-May 3, 2003… The Retrievers’ 20 goals were the most they have scored since a 20-6 win over Iona on March 17, 2009… Sophomore midfielder Bria Phillips (Davidsonville, Md./Coronado (Calif.)) scored a career-high seven points on five goals and two assists… Sophomore attack Emily Coady (Westminster, Md./Westminster) also tallied a career-best five goals… In all, nine Retrievers found the back of the net and 11 recorded a point… UMBC fell to America East rival New Hampshire, 16-8, on Saturday… Sophomore attack Alicia Krause (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron/Duquesne) led the Retrievers with three points on two goals and an assist… It was just the third time this season that senior goalie Kate Quick (Phoenix, Md./Maryvale Prep) has allowed double-digit goals… Thirteen Retrievers have found the back of the net this season, including seven in double digits… Junior attack Erika Braerman (Fallston, Md./Fallston) leads the Retrievers with 24 goals, 17 assists and 41 points on the season… The Retrievers host a pair of league contests this week in Vermont on Wednesday and Boston University on Saturday.
#17 UNH (7-3, 1-0 AE) extended its winning streak to three games with a 13-9 victory at Yale and by opening conference play with a 16-8 home win vs. UMBC... The 16 goals vs. the Retrievers matched the Wildcats’ highest output of the season… JoJo Curro (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) scored a career-high six goals, including five in the first half, against UMBC; the six points also marked a personal best… Curro has tallied at least one point every game this season… Ilana Cohen (Andover, Mass./Andover) tallied a career-high three assists vs. the Retrievers… Amber Casiano (South Windsor, Conn.) scored her first collegiate goal and finished with two tallies vs. UMBC… Erin Levesque (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) registered her first career point with an assist vs. UMBC… With four assists last week, Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) moved into a tie for third place on UNH’s career assist leaderboard at 67… UNH recorded a season-high 14 caused turnovers at Yale; Allie Duclos (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) and Kate Keagins (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) recorded four each and Duclos also had seven ground balls, which is a single-game high for any Wildcat this season… Allie Bratton (Windermere, Fla./West Orange) has scored two goals each of the last three games… Jenny Simpson (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) has tallied 13-5-18 during her five-game point-scoring streak.
Stony Brook (3-8, 1-1 AE) defeated Vermont, 11-10, on Saturday… Junior Melissa Cook (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) scored on a free-position goal with two seconds left to give the Seawolves their first conference victory of the season… Cook and junior Samantha Djaha (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) each scored three goals… All three of Cook’s goals were on free-position shots… Stony Brook didn’t take its first lead until Djaha scored with 3:26 left in regulation… The Seawolves held the Catamounts to just two goals in the final 23:46 of the game… SBU travels to face Albany on Wednesday afternoon and hosts New Hampshire in its final home game of the season on Saturday.
Vermont fell to 2-7 overall and 0-2 in America East action after dropping a pair of games this week... The Catamounts suffered an 18-5 loss to Albany in the league opener at Moulton Winder Field to begin the week. UVM also dropped an 11-10 decision at Stony Brook on Saturday... The Seawolves scored with two seconds remaining in the game on an 8m shot to pull out the victory... Sophomore Samantha Stern (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) netted a hat trick at Stony Brook and has scored 13 goals in the last six games... After playing six of the last nine games on the road, UVM will close out the regular season hosting four of the final six games at Moulton Winder Field... UVM travels to UMBC on Wednesday (April 7) for a 1 p.m. game and begins a three-game homestand hosting Binghamton on Saturday (April 10) at noon.