CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- After clutch performances that led to wins, University of Vermont's D.J. Edler (Atlanta, Ga./Pace Academy) and Boston University's Nick Thomson (Cramlington, England/Cramlington Learning Village) have earned America East weekly honors for the week ending Oct. 16. Edler received Player of the Week recognition while Thomson garnered Rookie of the Week accolades.
Making his first start of the season, Edler responded by giving the Catamounts an unlikely 2-1 win against Hartford Saturday. After Vermont tied the contest at 1-1 on a goal in the 79th minute, the senior forward secured the win as he sent home teammate Juan Peralta’s corner kick with just 25 seconds left in regulation. The win snapped the Catamounts’ three-game losing skid and moved them into fourth place in the conference standings. Edler’s goal was his first of the season and fourth of his career.
Thomson continued his strong rookie season by registering a pair of shutouts in two Boston U. wins last week. The freshman goalkeeper made a career-high seven saves in 1-0 win at Vermont Wednesday then stopped four shots in a 1-0 overtime victory against Stony Brook, who was averaging a league-best 1.38 goals per game coming into action, Saturday. On the season, Thomson has posted a league-best 0.74 goals average and ranks third with a .812 save percentage.
With two weeks left in the regular-season, UMBC sits atop the league standings at 4-0-0 with 12 points and are lone America East team to have clinched an America East tournament berth to date. Just behind UMBC is Boston U. (3-1-0, 9 points) and Stony Brook (2-1-1, 7).
Team Notes
Albany (4-6-3, 0-1-3 AE) came away with two conference points last week after scoreless ties against Stony Brook and Binghamton ... The Great Danes sit in the sixth and final spot for the America East Conference postseason tournament … Four games remain on the schedule, including three conference matches (vs. Boston U., at Vermont, vs. UNH) ... Senior goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad / Fatima) tallied two shutouts this past week giving him three on the season and 11 for his career ... Foncette has now recorded 54 saves on the season giving him a total of 252 for his career, which is 20 away from third all-time in Great Dane history ... Albany’s offense has hit a rough patch by scoring just three goals in the last seven games ... The Great Danes defense has stepped up in the last three conference matches allowing only one goal to preserve three crucial conference points in three consecutive ties ... Albany continues the 2011 season with a non-conference match on the road against Lehigh then back home against Boston U ... the Great Danes are 0-0-1 against Lehigh and 2-8-2 against Boston U. all-time.
Binghamton (4-8-1, 0-3-1 AE) wraps up a three-game homestand on Tuesday with a non-conference match against Colgate at 7 p.m. ... the Bearcat backline of junior Trey Jasenski (Schenectady, N.Y./UNLV), sophomore Kevin Bunce (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) and freshmen Jamie Forbes (London, Ontario/Sir Frederick Bunting) and Derrick Ladeairous (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) allowed 0.45 goals per game this past week ... against Albany on Oct. 15, sophomore goalkeeper Chris Hayen (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta) recorded his first shutout of the season and fifth of his career ... Forbes, Ladeairous and freshmen midfielders Tucker Sandercock (Bethlehem, N.Y./Saucon Valley) and Ben Nicholson (Richmond, England/Thames College) were all starters this week, marking the first time this season that four true freshmen have been in the starting lineup.
Boston University (7-6-0, 3-1-0 AE) moved above .500 for the first time since winning the season opener with two 1-0 shutout victories over conference opponents ... On Wednesday, the Terriers first won at Vermont and then came home on Saturday to pull out a thrilling overtime victory over Stony Brook ... Freshman Nick Thomson (Cramlington, England/Cramlington Learning Village) was stellar in goal with a total of 11 saves to increase his shutout total to five ... He first tallied a season-high seven saves against the Catamounts and then posted four against the Seawolves, as his goals against average dropped to 0.74 ... Senior captain Stephen Knox (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima College (HS)) scored the game winner on Wednesday with assistance from classmate Colin Henry (Norwell, Mass./Norwell) ... Freshman Dominique Badji (Alexandria, Va./Episcopal) headed in his third goal of the season with 1:15 remaining in the first overtime off a cross from sophomore Anthony Ciccone (Medford, N.J./Sparta) ... The Terriers will next host No. 14 Boston College in the final non-conference game on Tuesday (Oct. 18) at 7 p.m. before traveling to Albany on Saturday (Oct. 22) at 2 p.m.
Hartford (3-8-4, 0-2-2 AE) finished its most recent week of action with a 0-1-1 mark ... the Hawks grabbed a point in league play with a double-overtime tie at New Hampshire, 1-1, on Tuesday and went on to suffer a 2-1 loss to Vermont at home on Saturday ... Hartford has not won a match since a 3-0 oust of Sacred Heart (September 27) and has gone 0-3-2 during that winless span ... Sophomore transfer David Benhardsson’s (Tjorn, Sweden/Katrinelunds Gymnasiet/UW-Green Bay) game-tying goal in the 76th minute at New Hampshire secured the point for the Hawks ... Senior Luke Citriniti (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) finished with seven saves, a career-high, on 16 total shots faced ... on Saturday, senior Patrick Boucher (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) broke open a 0-0 deadlock with his first goal on the season in the 59th minute, but the Hawks went on to concede two goals, the first in the 78th minute and the game-winner with just 25 seconds remaining in regulation ... Hartford’s record of 0-2-2 in the America East is Hawks’ worst start in league play since 2004 when it also went 0-2-2 to open the conference slate ... That year, Hartford finished 0-6-3 in the AE ... Fifteen games into the 2011 season, the Hawks have netted 17 goals, surpassing their season total of 11 from last year’s 15-game slate ... Hartford continues its three-game home stretch with UMBC on Saturday, Oct.22 (7 p.m.).
UMBC (7-3-2, 4-0-0 AE) ran its unbeaten streak to five with two more shutouts over America East foes... The Retrievers nipped Binghamton, 1-0 in Vestal and edged UNH, 2-0, in front of 2,463 fans at home and a national television audience on Fox Soccer... UMBC is off to their first-ever 4-0-0 start in league play and has clinched a spot int the America East Championship Tournament for the third consecutive season and sixth time in nine league campaigns ... Senior goalkeeper Dan Louisignau (Wilmingotn, Del./Concord/U. Virginia), who was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week, posted shutouts in both contests this week and now has four shutouts in a row and seven on the campaign... He faced 11 shots in each game... Louisignau has not allowed a goal in 408 minutes, lowered his GAA to 0.82 and has now authored 12 shutouts in his 26 UMBC starts... Sophomore forward Pete Caringi III (Perry Hall, Md./Calvert Hall) scored the game-winning goal at Binghamton... He scored on a penalty kick on the first PK attempt of his career in the 41st minute... UMBC is now 3-1-1 in the last five meetings against the Bearcats... The Retrievers scored a pair of second half goals, including the 31st of senior Andrew Bulls’ (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) career as the host Retrievers defeated New Hampshire, 2-0... UMBC got on the board first on an own goal in the 47th minute...The goal snapped a string of 265 minutes of scoreless soccer between the two teams after a pair of 0-0 double overtime draws in 2010... Bulls scored in the 82nd minute after collecting a long-range pass from Caringi... Caringi posted his team-leading fifth assist of the season, which ties his season total from 2010... The Retrievers will host Penn State at Retriever Soccer Park on Wednesday before returning to league play at Hartford on Oct. 22.
Last time out New Hampshire (5-7-1, 1-2-1 AE) dropped a 2-0 decision to UMBC on Oct. 14 at Retriever Soccer Park ... Freshman goalkeeper Travis Worra (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) compiled a career-high seven saves in net for Wildcats ... The Retrievers outshot the Wildcats 13-11 in the contest … UMBC put nine shots on goal, while UNH posted two ... New Hampshire claimed a 7-4 edge in corner kicks, including a 5-1 advantage in the second stanza ... Worra posted the second highest save total of any Wildcat goalkeeper this season, racking up fives stops in the first half alone ... in its previous outing UNH battled to a 1-1 double overtime tie against Hartford on Oct. 11 at Lewis Fields ... Freshman forward David Schlatter (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) punched in his team-best third goal of the season ... Jeffrey Turner (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood) serviced a ball into the box on a corner kick, connecting with Schlatter for a header that laced the back of the net at 14:15 ... Turner was credited with an assist on the play ... Worra finished with six saves in net for the Wildcats ... the Wildcats held the edge in shots by a margin of 16-14 in the contest, but the visitors controlled the corner kicks with a 10-5 advantage ... The Wildcats are back in action Tuesday, Oct. 18 (7 p.m.) when they return home to battle Holy Cross on Bremner Field.
Stony Brook (6-5-3, 2-1-1 AE) tied Albany last Wednesday and then saw its conference road unbeaten streak end Saturday with an overtime defeat at Boston University ... the Seawolves had won or tied six straight league road games, dating back to the 2009 season ... the goal allowed to the Terriers in the 99th minute snapped a shutout streak of 274 minutes...Stony Brook has allowed only three goals in four conference matches so far... last season, the Seawolves allowed only four goals in seven conference matches ... with a shutout vs. Albany, junior Stefan Manz (Bronx, N.Y.) is closing in on the program’s all-time career shutouts record ... he is three away from tying Dan Ferrin (2000-03)’s record of 15 ... Stony Brook hosts Binghamton Saturday ... a win and a Hartford loss or tie will clinch the Seawolves a spot in the America East Championship.
Vermont (7-6-0, 2-2-0 AE) dropped a 1-0 decision at Centennial Field to start the week, but rebounded with a 2-1 victory at Hartford ... Junior D.J. Edler (Atlanta, Ga. / Pace Academy) poked in a corner kick from Juan Peralta (Queens, N.Y./Ulster Community College) with 25 seconds remaining to finish off UVM’s come-from-behind win ... Senior Joe Losier (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) added a penalty kick against the Hawks to net his fifth goal in five games for Vermont ... He also improved to 2-for-2 in PK’s and the team is 3-for-3 on the year ... UVM travels to New Hampshire on Saturday (Oct. 22) for a 7 p.m. game in the lone game of the week.