CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Boston University's Ben Berube (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) and Kelvin Madzongwe (Magwegwe, Zimbabwe/Mpopoma) are this week's America East men's soccer weekly award winners after they led their team to a pair of impressive wins last week. Berube earned Player of the Week accolades, while Madzongwe took home Rookie of the Week honors. The awards for the week ending Sept. 26 were announced Monday afternoon.
Berube single-handedly led the Terriers to a pair of wins last week, including one over a nationally-ranked opponent. The junior midfielder, who tallied three goals and an assist to help his team snap a three-game losing streak, scored twice in a 3-0 win over Rhode Island Friday. Berube then tallied the game-winning goal while also assisting on another in a 2-1 victory over No. 20/21 Harvard on Sunday. Berube, who had just three goals in 46 career games coming into the week, is now tied for third among league leaders with nine points on the season.
Madzongwe played a key role in leading the Terriers to a pair of victories last week. A starting back as a freshman, Madzongwe helped hold Rhode Island to just four shots, including zero on net, in a 3-0 win Friday. His back line followed that performance by holding No. 20/21 Harvard to nine shots, including three in the second half, and zero on net. Madzongwe also scored his first career goal, which came on a header in the 27th minute. A native of Zimbabwe, Madzongwe has started all nine games during his rookie campaign.
Conference play starts this weekend with all eight teams in action. Boston University visits Stony Brook Saturday in a matchup of teams picked first and second, respectively, in the Preseason Coaches' Poll. Elsewhere Saturday, UMBC hosts Binghamton in a rematch of last year's league tournament quarterfinals, Albany visits Hartford and Vermont takes on New Hampshire in Burlington.
Team Notes
Albany (4-4-0) lost both of its matches this past week by identical 2-0 decisions at the Nike Soccer Classic … The Great Danes fell to San Diego on Friday, Sept. 24 before wrapping up the weekend with a setback against San Diego State on Sunday, Sept. 26 … Goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima), who turned away eight shots in the match against the Toreros, ranks second in the America East Conference in saves per game (5.13) … He is also tied for first in shutouts (3) and is among the league leaders in save percentage (.804) and goals against average (1.33) … Foncette was replaced by Christian Mejia (Queens, N.Y./St. Mary’s/Dominican (N.Y.)) in the second half against San Diego State … The junior had previously played every minute between the pipes dating back to the season opener in 2009 … After finding the back of the net twice in each of the first two matches, UAlbany has failed to net multiple goals in its last six contests and has gone scoreless over its last five halves of play … Midfielder Anthony DeSalvo (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) ranks first on the squad in scoring with five points on two goals and one assist … Forward Bo Jelovac (Belgrade, Serbia/Sveti Sava School) has also scored twice this season … Both of his markers were game-winning goals … The Great Danes will wrap up their non-conference slate when they host Holy Cross on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 4 p.m. before visiting Hartford for their America East opener on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
Binghamton (1-4-2) has gone unbeaten in its past three games, allowing just one goal during that span ... Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Chris Hayen (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta) has recorded a 0.28 goals against average during that span. Against Cornell on Sunday, Hayen stopped a season-high six saves and recorded his second shutout in three games ... With the exception of Binghamton’s 4-3 loss to Penn State, Hayen has surrendered just two goals in four games, one of which came on a penalty kick against Ohio State on Sept. 10 ... The Bearcats open conference play on Saturday against UMBC ... All seven of the Bearcats’ opponents have posted winning records and five teams are nationally ranked.
Boston University (5-3-1) snapped a three-game losing streak with victories against Rhode Island (3-0) and No. 20/21 Harvard (2-1) ... The play of junior Ben Berube (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) was the story of the weekend, as he posted his first-career two-goal performance against the Rams and then followed with an assist and game-winning score against the Crimson ... Berube is tied with senior Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) for the team lead in points with nine, as O’Neal posted his first assist of the season on Berube’s game winner ... Freshman Kelvin Madzongwe (Magwegwe, Zimbabwe/Mpopoma) headed in his first career points against Harvard, and classmate Vicente Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela/Colegio Claret HS) posted his first assist in the same contest ... Senior Temi Akinsanya (Sacramento, Calif./John F. Kennedy) posted his first career assist against the Rams, helping younger brother and sophomore Ade (Sacramento, Calif./John F. Kennedy) post his first career goal ... Redshirt freshman Brandon Briggs (Carson City, Nev./Carson) did not record a single save in the two games ... He earned his third shutout of the season against URI ... With the win over Harvard, the Terriers are now 1-2 this season against ranked squads and 2-1 vs. Ivy League members ... They will next travel to Stony Brook on Saturday, Oct. 2, for a 7 p.m. meeting.
Hartford (2-5-0) concluded a three-game road trip with a 1-0 loss at Hartwick on Saturday ... The Hawks have dropped three-straight decisions and remain winless on the road in 2010 ... Hartwick entered the contest winless through its first seven games at 0-6-1 ... Hartford and Hartwick finished virtually equal on the offensive end with each team firing off seven shots ... Patrick Boucher (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell), a junior forward, rifled a pair of shots on goal to lead the Hawks ... Through seven games, the Hawks have managed to net just six goals, with five different players contributing to each of the scores this season ... Hartford returns to West Hartford on Saturday, October 2 for its 2010 America East conference opener against Albany ... The Hawks and Great Danes will square-off under the lights of Al-Marzook Field at 7:00 p.m. ... Hartford has posted a 2-1 home record this season ... Saturday’s match will also mark the third annual Portuguese Soccer Festival.
UMBC (4-3-0) and Loyola (Md.) played 28 minutes of soccer on Wednesday, Sept. 22 before persistent lightning forced the delay and eventually the cancellation of the match at Loyola’s Ridley Athletic Complex ... Ironically, in 2008, those same two teams had a September match cancelled when torrential rain resulted in unplayable field conditions at UMBC Stadium ... The Retrievers fell, 2-1, at Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday evening ... Senior M/F Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill) now has seven goals in seven games this season ... He has 68 career points (26-16-68) and has moved ahead of junior Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) (24-19-67) and into ninth place on UMBC’s all-time scoring list ... UMBC opens America East Conference play at home on Saturday, Oct. 2, when they host Binghamton ... It will be just the second time in eight America East seasons that UMBC plays its initial conference game at home ... The Retrievers are 2-3-2 in league openers, but 4-1-2 in home America East opening games ... After losing four straight to the Bearcats, UMBC has won two of the last three, including last season’s America East quarterfinal game (2-1 UMBC win) at Binghamton ... Binghamton leads the overall series, 6-3-1 ... At halftime, Retriever Men’s Soccer will honor the 1991 team, head coach Pete Caringi’s first squad, as the Retriever mentor celebrates his 20th season at UMBC ... That team went 15-5-1.
New Hampshire (4-0-2) remained atop the America East standings, defeating the University of Massachusetts, 1-0, in double overtime Saturday afternoon at Rudd Field ... The win extends UNH’s undefeated streak to six games, as the Wildcats complete their fifth overtime game of the season ... For UNH, the win marks the program’s best start since the 2008 campaign when the ‘Cats opened the season with a 5-0-2 record ... The hot start also preserves New Hampshire’s undefeated streak in overtime, posting a 3-0-4 mark in its last seven games in extended play ... Junior forward Jon Harris (Amherst, N.H.) tallied the game-winner for the ‘Cats against the Minutemen with just over one minute remaining on a feed from Dylan George (Bangor, Maine) and Jordan Thomas (Mohnton, Pa.) ... Colin O’Donnell (Hampden, Mass.) notched three saves in the contest, improving his league-best save percentage to .920 ... In addition, the senior keeper now tops America East in goals against average (0.35) and shutouts (3) with the win, improving to 3-0-2 on the year ... As for Harris, the goal comes as his second in as many games ... He scored his first collegiate goal Wednesday night against Bryant University when he tallied the first of UNH’s two goals, leading the squad to a 2-1 victory in double overtime ... Junior midfielder Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H.) tallied the game-winning goal for New Hampshire just over one minute into overtime ... Hilton leads the squad with six points on two goals and two assists.
Stony Brook (5-4-1) went 1-0-1 on the weekend to extend its unbeaten streak to five matches ... The Seawolves tied nationally ranked Harvard, 1-1, last Friday on the strength of a penalty kick goal from Berian Gobeil Cruz (Montreal, Quebec) and timely saves from keeper Stefan Manz (Bronx, N.Y.) ... Stony Brook then came back from a 2-0 first-half deficit against Quinnipiac to knock off the Bobcats, 3-2 ... Raphael Abreu (New York, N.Y.) had two points on the day, scoring SBU’s first goal and then assisting on the game-winner. Gobeil Cruz tied the match with a goal early in the second half, and then Leonardo Fernandes (North Babylon, N.Y.) finished the scoring with a 77th minute goal that completed the comeback ... Gobeil Cruz and Fernandes are now tied for the team lead in goals with four and are also tied for second in America East in the same category ... The Stony Brook offense has picked up steam of late. After scoring only three goals in its first five matches, the club has since scored 11 goals over its last five matches ... Manz made six saves on the weekend and ranks third in America East in that category. He improved his record to 5-2-1 and has allowed only six goals during Stony Brook’s unbeaten streak ... Stony Brook is also now unbeaten at home over its last 10 matches, dating back to Oct. 10, 2009 ... The Seawolves play their final non-conference match Wednesday at Iona before opening up America East competition against Boston University Saturday at LaValle Stadium.
Vermont (4-2-3) moved to 4-2-3 on the season with a 2-2 draw at UMass and a 3-0 loss to No. 22 Brown in Burlington ... The Catamounts had their six-game unbeaten streak snapped with the loss to Brown ... UVM is 1-1 versus ranked opponents after upsetting No. 13 Stanford in the season opener at Centennial Field ... Patrick Alonis (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) scored once and added an assist against the Minutemen ... Vermont has played five overtime games this season and is unbeaten with a 2-0-3 mark ... Vermont has matched its point total from all of the 2009 season through the first nine games of 2010 with 44 ... UVM currently has 13 goals on the year and is one goal shy of reaching the total it produced in 2009 ... This week the Catamounts travel to Siena for a 3 p.m. game on Wednesday (Sept. 29) and host New Hampshire on Saturday (Oct. 2) in the America East opener on Homecoming Weekend at Centennial Field.