CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Student-athletes from the two teams tied atop the America East field hockey standings earned weekly honors for the period ending October 9. University of New Hampshire senior forward Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union) won the Player of the Week award after a high-scoring week, while Boston University freshman netminder Valentina Cerda (Santiago, Chile) continued her reign as the Rookie of the Week.
Frates had a nine-point week, factoring into six of New Hampshire's eight goals, and led the Wildcats to two wins.
In her first America East game of the season, the senior dished out two assists in a 2-1 win against Vermont. Frates followed that up with a personal-best seven points in UNH's 6-3 win over #7 Stanford. She scored the first two goals of the game, both unassisted, to give UNH a lead it would not relinquish. She also set up the team's fourth goal, and scored the tally that put the Wildcats in front, 6-1.
Frates is second in America East and seventh in the nation averaging 2.92 points per game in 2011.
Cerda picked up her third straight weekly award with two more wins in net for the Terriers last week. The rookie goaltender made eight saves in two starts, preserving two one-goal victories.
Cerda made three saves while allowing just one goal against Dartmouth, then made five saves while allowing just a single goal in conference play against Maine, the nation's top-scoring offense. Cerda finished the week with a 1.00 GAA and a .800 save percentage.
The conference unbeatens, New Hampshire and Boston U., clash this Friday in Allston, Mass. at 7 p.m.
Team Notebooks:
No. 16 University at Albany (10-5 overall, 1-1 AE) went 2-1 on the week, with a loss to No. 5 Syracuse in a close 3-2 game... Christina Patrick (Reading, Pa./Reading Catholic) scored both goals for Albany in her second consecutive two-goal performance... Taylor Luke (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater Raritan) recorded her third defensive save on the season in the game versus Syracuse… The Great Danes tallied four goals in a conference match against Fairfield to win, 4-0... Daphne Voormolen (Rotterdam, Netherlands/Erasmiaans Gymnasium), Patrick, Karlijn van Dijsseldonk (Eindhoven, Netherlands/Sondervick College), and Luke each scored a goal in the victory... Albany defeated Massachusetts in a penalty stroke-off competition as goalkeeper Kristi Troch (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) denied all four UMass attempts, and the Great Danes scored two of three attempts... Corrine McConville (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) had two assists on the week, while Chantae Miller (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville) had one assist… The Great Danes will continue conference play Fri., Oct. 14 when Vermont comes to the Capital Region.
No. 19 Boston University (8-5, 2-0 AE) recorded a pair of key road wins, first topping Dartmouth, 2-1, on Friday before defeating No. 10 Maine by the same score on Sunday to remain in a tie for first place in the league standings... Juniors Nicole van Oosterom (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Chilton Saint James School) and Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass./Quaboag) scored unassisted goals 41 seconds apart in the first half to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead against the Black Bears... On Friday, Boston U. also took a 2-0 lead with tallies by sophomore Dana Centofanti (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) and senior Kate Murphy (Millbury, Mass./Notre Dame Academy)... Murphy added a late defensive save to secure the win, while junior Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls) added a defensive save as well in the first half... Junior Tabi Hatch (Green Lane, Pa./Towson) earned an assist on Centofanti's goal and van Oosterom set up Murphy's tally... Freshman Valentina Cerda (Santiago, Chile/Deutsche Schule Santiago) recorded eight saves over the weekend while picking up two wins in the Terrier cage... The Terriers will host No. 12 New Hampshire on Friday (Oct. 13) in a match-up of the lone undefeated teams in America East play... Boston U. will honor its senior class prior to the game.
Fairfield (8-5, 0-2 AE) dropped their second conference road game with a 4-0 decision against 16th-ranked University at Albany on Saturday... The Great Danes outshot the Stags, 16-3... Marit Westenberg (The Hague, Netherlands/Maeriant Lyceum), Shealyn Testa (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy), and Lindsey Hatch (Sewell, N.J.) each had a shot in the game... Starting goalkeeper Maddy Sposito (Ridgefield, Conn.) kept busy throughout the match with an impressive 12 saves on the day... The Stags dropped their second game of the weekend with a to 3-1 decision to Brown University... Fairfield dominated much of the game, outshooting the Bears by double (18-9) but the Stags were unable to put the ball past Brown goalkeeper Shannon McSweeney who had seven saves on the day... Assisted by Sarah Wickles (Hatfield, Mass.), Hatch scored her first goal of the season from the five yard line... Fairfield hosts Maine on Saturday before traveling to Yale for a Sunday afternoon contest.
No. 10 Maine (11-2, 1-1 AE) had its 11 game win streak snapped with a 2-1 loss to #19 Boston University... It was the fifth straight game between Maine and the Terriers that was decided by just one goal... Zoe Berkey (Duncan, British Columbia) tallied Maine's lone goal, the second of the season for the freshman back... Jocelyn Mitchell (Kanata, Ontario) assisted on the goal for the Black Bears which came off a penalty corner... Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia) failed to tally a point in the game against Boston U., snapping her consecutive points streak at 19 games dating back to Oct. 10, 2010... The Black Bears have now tallied 66 goals on the season, just six shy of tying the all-time record of 72 goals in a season... The game against Boston U. marked the first time Maine has been held to just one goal since Oct. 30, also against Boston U., an overtime game lost by the Black Bears, 2-1... Maine, now 4-2 at home, hosts Holy Cross before heading out onto the road for a four-game road trip starting with an Oct. 15 matchup at Fairfield, then traveling to battle Hofstra on Oct. 16.
No. 12 UNH (12-2, 2-0 AE) extended its winning streak to four games with a 2-1 victory at Vermont followed by a 6-3 win against seventh-ranked Stanford… The Wildcats have won nine consecutive conference games dating back to the 2009 season… UNH has two wins against top-10 teams in ’11… The 12-2 record is the team’s best mark through 14 games since the 1986 squad also went 12-2… Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union) factored in six of the team’s eight goals with three goals and three assists; she matched a personal best of three goals as part of a career-high seven-point performance vs. Stanford… Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) extended her point-scoring streak to 14 games with a goal at UVM followed by a two-goal effort vs. Stanford… Carlie Tarbell (Wakefield, Mass./The Rivers School) made her first career start at Vermont and earned her first collegiate victory with a five-save effort… Frates ascended to #2 on UNH’s career points leaderboard; she has 120 points on 43 goals and 34 assists, which is one less than the school benchmark… Both Frates and Rausch (44 goals) climbed past former teammate and current assistant coach Meg Shea (42) into the top five on the all-time goals list… UNH has outscored the opposition 32-9 in the first half with a 136-57 shot advantage… UNH is unbeaten in six home games and has outscored the opposition 24-4 with a 102-34 shot advantage... UNH's 27 shots at UVM marked the second-highest total of 2011.
Vermont (6-7, 0-2 AE) dropped its only game of the week, falling at home on Friday to No. 12 New Hampshire, 2-1… The Catamounts have now dropped their two America East games, both against nationally-ranked teams, each by one goal… Senior Emily Bastiaanse (Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) scored the Catamounts’ lone goal, giving her six on the year… Classmate Mackenzie Williams (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy) recorded an assist on the goal… Williams looked to have a goal of her own that would have given Vermont a 2-1 lead early in the second half, but it was called off for being too high… Sophomore Stephanie Zygmunt (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) made nine saves in goal for the Catamounts… The loss snaps a four-game winning streak at home for Vermont… Each of the Cats' last three losses have all been one-goal games… Friday marked the first of four ranked opponents over the Catamounts' final five regular season games... UVM returns to action this week with a pair of road games against nationally-ranked opponents… Vermont travels to face America East rival No. 16 Albany on Friday (4 p.m.) and then is at No. 5 Syracuse on Sunday (12 p.m.).