CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- After a successful first week which saw America East men's soccer teams go 9-6-2 in non-conference action, including a win over a Top-15 opponent, a pair of newcomers to the league have earned weekly honors. University of Vermont's Nick O’Neill (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame/Creighton) was named Player of the Week, while UMBC's Pete Caringi III (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) earned Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards for the week ending Sept. 6 were announced Tuesday afternoon.
O'Neill helped the Catamounts best their 2009 win total by tallying two goals and an assist in three games last week. The junior transfer from Creighton paid immediate dividends for UVM by scoring an overtime goal in a stunning 2-1 win over No. 13 Stanford last Wednesday. The tally came off a header in the 97th minute. O’Neill added his second game-winner of the week Monday against UW-Milwaukee, also via a header, which came with just 20 seconds left in double overtime.
Caringi scored twice in UMBC’s season-opening win over VMI Thursday. A freshman forward, Caringi tallied scores in the 37th and 82nd minutes to lead the Retrievers to the win over the Keydets. The second goal put the game away as VMI had just cut the deficit to 4-2. Caringi, the son of UMBC head coach Pete Caringi, Jr., was the first Retriever to score twice in his debut since Matt Curran accomplished the feat in 2004.
Team Notes
Albany (2-0-0), which failed to record a victory in 2009, kicked off its 2010 campaign with two straight wins … The Great Danes registered a 2-0 road victory over Fairfield on Wednesday, Sept. 1 to erase an 18-game winless streak before edging St. Francis, N.Y. by a 2-1 score in their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 4 … Goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima), who led all America East goalkeepers with 6.56 saves per game last season, was a major factor in the two wins … He made nine saves to earn his sixth career shutout against Fairfield before turning away an additional six shots against St. Francis, N.Y. … Foncette ended the week with a .938 save percentage and a 0.50 goals against average … UAlbany benefited from a balanced attack on the offensive end, as seven players combined to notch four goals and three assists in the two matches … Bo Jelovac (Belgrade, Serbia/Sveti Sava School) and Ian Peach (South Hempstead, N.Y./South Side) punched in the eventual game-winning markers against Fairfield and St. Francis, N.Y., respectively … Christoffer Nisser (Stockholm, Sweden/Letälvsskola) arguably made the biggest impact among the 12 newcomers … He played every minute in both matches on the back line which only surrendered one goal … UAlbany continues its four-game homestand when it hosts NJIT on Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. and Colgate on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 1 p.m.
Binghamton (0-2-0) is in a stretch of playing four consecutive nationally-ranked opponents to start the 2010 season. The Bearcats opened up against No. 23 UNC-Wilmington and followed up with a game against No. 15 Monmouth. Both games were at the West Virginia Men’s Soccer Classic ... Senior back Kyle Manscuk (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) and senior forward Scott Zobre (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) were both named to the West Virginia Men’s Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team ... Freshman goalkeeper Anthony Sokalski (Ontario, Canada/Regina Mundi) started both games this past weekend. In the process, he became the first true freshman to start in goal for the Bearcats since the program moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 2001 ... Out of the 15 Binghamton players who saw action this past weekend at the West Virginia Classic, only five were upperclassmen. In addition to Sokalski, two other players were true freshmen and a pair of players were redshirt freshmen ... This coming weekend, the Bearcats square off against a pair of Big 10 Conference opponents (Ohio State and Penn State). The Bearcats are 1-0 all time against teams from the Big 10, having beaten Wisconsin 1-0 on Sept. 14, 2008.
Boston University (2-0-1) remains unbeaten after three games, starting with a draw against UMass, followed by a 3-0 win at Hartford and 2-0 home victory over Columbia ... Senior forward Aaron O’Neal (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam) recorded his fifth career two-goal performance against the Hawks and added an insurance score against Columbia ... Fellow senior midfielder Ben Havey (Preston, England/Cardinal Newman College (HS)) recorded his first career goal at Hartford and then tallied the game winner against the Lions ... He also assisted on O’Neal’s goal ... Redshirt-freshman Brandon Briggs (Carson City, Nev./Carson) has played every minute at goalie ... He recorded one save against Hartford and seven more against Columbia for two shutouts ... Boston U. will next face two Big East squads, starting at Seton Hall on Friday (Sept. 10), followed by St. John’s (Sept. 12).
Hartford (0-2-0) suffered a 3-2 setback at No. 12 Boston College in its season opener on Wednesday before falling 3-0 at home to Boston University in a non-conference clash on Saturday ... Wednesday’s loss was the first time the Hawks dropped an opening game since the 2007 campaign ... Prior to Saturday’s contest, Hartford was unbeaten in its last 10 home openers with a record of 8-0-2 ... Freshman Steven Aiston (Blaydon, England/Whickham Comprehensive School/Gateshead College) and junior Patrick Boucher (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) each reached the back of the net and junior defender Jorge Rodriguez (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) tallied his second career assist against Boston College ... Against Boston University, Hartford fell behind quickly and never recovered, losing 3-0 on Saturday ... The Hawks gave up three first half goals with the first coming just one minute into the match ... Junior Matt McElroy (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill/Davidson College) has seen every minute in goal, tallying three saves this season ... Hartford continues its search for its first victory of the 2010 season as it welcomes a pair of fellow Nutmeg State rivals to West Hartford ... The Hawks will battle Quinnipiac on Tuesday, September 7 before taking on Central Connecticut State on Saturday, September 11.
Four UMBC (2-0-0) players earned All-Tournament Team honors in this weekend’s UMBC/Navy Kick-Off Men’s Soccer Tournament...Senior defender Chris Williams (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall), senior midfielder Levi Houapeu (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mill), junior forward Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) and junior midfielder Nirav Kadam (Germantown, Md./Northwest/UNCG) were named to the 12-man team as the Retrievers captured wins over VMI (5-3) and Wofford (2-0)... In his first two UMBC appearances, Kadam led the Retrievers with a pair of goals and two assists in the two games. He was credited with the game-winning goal vs. VMI and added the insurance marker in the 78th minutes vs. Wofford... Houapeu scored a goal in each game and had the game-winner vs. Wofford, scoring the game’s first goal with 56 seconds remaining in the first half...Bulls assisted on all four goals that UMBC scored while he was on the field... The preseason All American has 63 points in 39 career games, and needs one point to move into UMBC’s all-time top ten...Williams piloted the Retriever defense as they posted a shutout over the 2009 Southern Conference champions... He added a secondary assist on the insurance goal vs. the Terriers...UMBC has won 13 consecutive games in the month of September, dating back to the 2008 season...The Retrievers have won 12 in a row at home in September, dating back to a draw with James Madison in the 2007 campaign... UMBC will play its first road game of the season on Wednesday, Sept. 8 when they travel across the beltway to take on Towson; then UMBC takes on Navy in Annapolis on Saturday night.
New Hampshire (1-0-1) defeated Central Connecticut State University 1-0 on Monday, Sept. 6 at Bremner Field on the final day of the Nike Fall Classic … Colin O’Donnell (Springfield, Mass.) tallied a career-high seven saves, earning his second consecutive shutout to lead the ‘Cats past the Blue Devils … New Hampshire outshot Central Connecticut 18 to nine in the contest, including an 11 to three advantage in the second half … Robert Palumbo (Kingston, N.H.) led the Wildcats with four shots, while Steven Palumbo (Kingston, N.H.) and Dylan George (Bangor, Maine) tallied three apiece … In the game prior, New Hampshire battled Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a 0-0 tie in double-overtime on Friday, Sept. 6, as O’Donnell once again anchored the ‘Cats with a game-high six saves … With their impressive performances over weekend the Wildcats finished first in the 21st Annual Nike Fall Classic for the second time in the last three years … O’Donnell was selected as the tournament MVP and was named to the All-Tournament team, finishing with 13 saves on the weekend … Junior Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H.), senior Joe Corsello (York, Maine) and freshman Steven Palumbo were also named to the All-Tournament team … Robert Palumbo set up the game-winning goal for UNH against CCSU on a pass from about 25 yards out to Steven Palumbo on the right flank, who shook a pair of defenders and fired the ball to the far post and into the left side of the net past a diving Anthony Occhialini at 34:16 of the first half … The Wildcats return to action on Friday, Sept. 10 when they travel to Burlington, Vt. to take part in the Smith Barney Nike Soccer Classic … New Hampshire will face Cornell on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and Presbyterian on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 11 a.m.
Stony Brook (1-2-0) opened its 2010 season in style, defeating Long Island rival Hofstra, 1-0, in overtime ... Sophomore Kyle Schlesinger (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) scored in dramatic fashion, taking a pass from redshirt freshman Marc Godelman (Paramus, N.J.) and putting it past Pride goalie Greg Cumpstone for the win ... Junior Wilber Bonilla (Brentwood, N.Y.) also assisted on the goal ... The Seawolves traveled last weekend to Pennsylvania for the Lafayette Soccer Classic ... Despite taking one-goal leads in both games, SBU lost to Lafayette, 3-1, and Colgate, 2-1, in double overtime ... Freshman Will Casey (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) scored in the 60th minute against the Leopards ... Godelman, a transfer from St. John’s, tallied his goal against the Raiders in the 67th minute ... Sophomore Danny Bonomini (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) made his second career start against Colgate.
Vermont (2-1-0) is off to a 2-1 start ... The Catamounts opened the 2010 campaign with a 2-1 overtime victory against No. 13 Stanford at Centennial Field ... Junior forward Nick O’Neill (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame), a transfer from Creighton, scored the game-winner with a header in the 97th minute to lead UVM to the upset ... Vermont has defeated a ranked opponent for the second straight season after upending No. 18 UMBC at Centennial Field last season ... The Catamounts also moved to 5-1-1 in season openers under seventh year head coach Jesse Cormier ... O’Neill added an assist and scored the game-winner, again via his head in a 2-1 victory over UW-Milwaukee at the UNH Nike Fall Classic ... O’Neill’s header came with 20 seconds left in the second overtime period against the Panthers ... He has tallied five points in his first three games at Vermont ... Another transfer, Xan Rousselle, picked up two wins for Vermont in net ... Rousselle, a native of Morrisville, Vt., is a graduate student at UVM after earning a degree at Quinnipiac and has one year of eligibility remaining ... Freshman defender Salvatore Borea (New Canaan, Conn./South Kent School) scored his first collegiate goal in the win over UW-Milwaukee ... O’Neill and junior defender Yannick Lewis (Toronto, Ontario/Bramalea Secondary) were named to the UNH Nike Fall Classic All-Tournament Team ... UVM returns to action this weekend hosting the 20th annual Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Nike Classic at Centennial Field ... UNH, Cornell and Presbyterian make up the tournament field.