CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- UMBC's Sandra Vacarino (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional) and University of Maine's Lisa Bijman (Brantford, Ontario/St. John’s) are the first America East women's soccer weekly award winners of the 2010 season. Vacarino, a senior forward, is the Player of the Week, while Bijman, a freshman back, is the Rookie of the Week. The awards for the week ending Aug. 22 were announced Monday afternoon.
Vacarino tallied a goal and an assist in the Retrievers’ 4-1 win over Delaware State Friday. The win was UMBC’s first in a season opener since 1998. Vacarino, a senior tri-captain, got her team on the board in the sixth minute and assisted on a score, which proved to be the game winner, just 4:12 later. She has now tallied five goals and three assists in her last nine games after registering just two scores and one assist over her first 44 games as a collegian. Vacarino is UMBC’s first women’s soccer Player of the Week since Jessica Young earned the honor on Sept. 11, 2006.
Bijman scored her first career goal in her first career college game Sunday to help lead Maine to a 4-0 victory over Iona. Bijman, a freshman back, was one of three rookies to start for the Black Bears Sunday and the only one to play all 90 minutes. Her goal, which was unassisted, came in the 66th minute and gave Maine a 4-0 advantage. Bijman is the third different Black Bear to win Rookie of the Week honors over the last six weeks, dating back to last season: Maddie Hill (Sept. 28) and Meagan Price-Leibenzeder (Oct. 19).
Team Notes
Albany (0-0-0) returns 14 letterwinners and eight starters from last year’s squad which was honored as the ninth most improved team in the country by Somis Sports … The Great Danes registered their highest win total in 21 years and earned their first Division I postseason berth by finishing fifth in the America East standings in 2009 … A league-best four players that garnered all-conference laurels in forward Chelsea DeVerna (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville), who was also the America East Rookie of the Year, midfielders Maggie DeVerna (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) and Rebecca Lee (Selkirk, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) as well as defender Casey Marks (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland) are among the returnees … Head coach Mary-Frances Monroe’s newcomers, which consist of five freshmen and two transfers, include five student-athletes who have earned all-state recognition and two who were named NSCAA/adidas All-Region II … Sophomore forward Shayla Bergeron (Hudson, N.H./Alvirne/Duquesne), a transfer from Duquesne and a state champion in the 55-meter dash on the scholastic level, and freshman defender Amy Harrison (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) headline the list of newcomers … Midfielder Chrissy Klepper (River Edge, N.J./River Dell) and defender Kendra Harrell-Vigil (Avondale, Ariz./Westview) have been selected to serve as co-captains this year … Both student-athletes have been starting since they were freshmen … Albany, which has no seniors on its 22-player roster, kicks off its season at the Las Vegas Invitational against the host UNLV Rebels of the Mountain West Conference on Friday, Aug. 27 at 10 p.m. ET … The Great Danes will also face Portland State, last season’s Big Sky Conference regular-season champion, in tournament play on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Binghamton (0-0-0) opens its season Friday at Fairfield ... The Bearcats will look to build on the momentum created last season when they went 5-2-1 over the last month and reached the conference title game for the first time since 2004 ... The Bearcats welcome back 20 letterwinners and seven starters from that squad, including all-rookie performers Jamie Holliday (Apalachin, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) and Emily Pape (East Northport, N.Y./Northport).
Boston University (0-2-0) commenced its 2010 campaign with losses to No. 12 South Carolina, 1-0, and No. 2 Stanford, 2-1 ... The Terriers held their own against these athletic opponents and created opportunities in both contests to nearly tie the game ... Graduate student and fifth-year transfer Lisa Kevorkian (Arcadia, Calif./Monrovia/Cal-Berkeley) made a name for herself in her debut in the scarlet and white as she was ever-present in the offensive third ... She nearly tied the game with two seconds remaining versus South Carolina, but she was ruled offsides, and against the Cardinal she finally broke through with the Terriers’ lone goal in the 35th minute. She one-timed a perfect cross from senior back Corie Halasz (Milford, Conn./Lauralton Hall) on the far left side ... Goalkeepers Kelly King (Solon, Ohio/Laurel) and Alice Binns (Dorchester, Mass./Beaver County Day/William Smith) have shared netminding duties and have both played strong games with some spectacular stops thrown in there.
Hartford (0-1-0) opened the 2010 season with a 2-0 loss to the Long Island Blackbirds at home on Saturday night ... the Hawks were outshot in the game 10-5, including being out matched 8-0 in shots on goal ... Hawks keeper Lauren Brodeur (Wilbraham, Mass./Wilbraham Munson Academy) finished with six saves in goal for Hartford ... Both of LIU’s goals came in the first half as Ariana Calderon opened the scoring in the 21st minute, while Kayleigh Morgan placed a perfect header just out of reach off a corner kick taken by teammate Sarah Laughlin ... The Hawks will play a pair of games this coming week, both in Philadelphia, Pa. in the Temple Owls Tournament .. Hartford will open against Drexel on Friday at 1 p.m., before playing the host Owls on Sunday also at 1 p.m.
Maine (1-0-0) opened its 2010 season with a 4-0 win at Iona (0-2) ... The Black Bears tallied 14 shots and a pair of goals in both halves to win the first game of a four-game road trip ... UMaine got goals from four different scorers, including collegiate firsts for Sady Tobin (Paul Smiths, N.Y./Loomis-Chaffee), Lisa Bijman (Brantford, Ontario/St. John’s) and Courtney Harnais (Braintree, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) ... Maddie Hill (Brampton, Ontario/Mayfield Secondary) added her fourth career goal off of a free kick from Stephanie Frenette-Blais in the 54th minute ... Meagan Price-Leibenzeder (Surrey, British Columbia/Clayton Heights) highlighted a Black Bear defense that held the Gaels to three shots on goal. Price-Leibenzeder recorded saves on all three to earn her eighth career shutout.
UMBC (1-1-0) split a pair of games on the opening weekend of the 2010 campaign … The Retrievers defeated Delaware State, 4-1, on Friday in their season opener, the first time UMBC has won its first game of the year since 1998 … The Retrievers led, 2-0, after just 10 minutes of action, and also scored back-to-back goals 58 seconds apart later in the first half … The four goals were the most the Retrievers have scored in a half since Sept. 22, 2002, when they tallied seven times in the opening period, also against Delaware State … Senior midfielder Sandra Vacarino (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional) scored the first goal of the game and assisted on the eventual game-winner, which was scored by junior midfielder LeAnne Edgar (Mechanicsville, Md./Chopticon), her first career goal … Three rookies teamed up for UMBC’s fourth goal of the game, as midfielder Shannon McGuinness (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) was assisted by midfielders Nicole Clark (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) and Jessy Brown (Plantation, Fla./American Heritage) … Senior back Christine Sadowski (Baltimore, Md./Kenwood) scored UMBC’s third tally with an assist from freshman forward Amy Savage (Ottawa, Ontario/Sir Wilfrid Laurier), while junior back Kelsi Morris (Bowie, Md./Bowie/Pittsburgh) also tallied a helper in her first game for the Retrievers, assisting on Vacarino’s goal … The Retrievers dropped a 1-0 decision at Drexel on Sunday in Philadelphia … The Dragons’ lone tally came in the 84th minute … Freshman goalie Lauren Kadet (Oakville, Ontario/Sir Thomas Aquinas) was stellar in her collegiate debut, recording 11 saves, the most by a Retriever rookie since 1997. … UMBC’s four game road swing continues Friday evening against Longwood at 7 p.m.
New Hampshire (0-0-0) kicks of its campaign Tuesday at home against Rhode Island ... The Wildcats will look to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish despite reaching the conference tournament for a record ninth straight year ... Second-team all-conference selections Monique Lamotte (Tampa, Fla./Freedom) and Kelly Mooney (Canton, Mass./Canton) lead 19 returning letterwinners and six starters ... UNH will also compete in the TD Bank Class at Vermont this weekend.
Stony Brook (0-1-0) opened the 2010 season with a 3-0 loss at No. 18 Rutgers on Friday night ... Freshman Chelsea Morales (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley) made four saves in her collegiate debut ... SBU had five freshman in its starting lineup ... The Seawolves tied No. 23 Rutgers, 1-1, last season ... Stony Brook opens its 2010 home schedule on Friday night against Siena ... The Seawolves have won nine of their 11 all-time meetings against Siena including the last five ... The Seawolves last played Siena in the 2007 season opener, winning 1-0 on a goal from then freshman Danielle Tenaglia (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) in the eighth minute ... SBU will hit the road to take on Iona on Sunday ... The Gales defeated the Seawolves, 2-0, last season at LaValle Stadium in the 2009 season opener.
Vermont (0-0-0) is seeking its first America East Championship appearance since 2005 and returns 20 letterwinners and eight starters from last year’s team ... The Catamounts hope for big things out of sophomore Jess Herbst (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder), an all-rookie selection last season, who was named a player to watch in America East by TopDrawerSoccer.com ... UVM begins its season at home Friday against Rider in the TD Bank Classic. The Cats’ will also face La Salle in the tournament on Sunday.