CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- University of Hartford and Boston University each picked up important wins in America East men's soccer contests over the weekend and a pair of key contributors to those victories have earned the conference's weekly honors. The Hawks' David Bernhardsson garnered Player of the Week recognition while the Terriers' Dominique Badji took home Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards for the week ending Oct. 23 were announced Monday afternoon.
Bernhardsson (Tjorn, Sweden) tallied three points in Hartford’s lone game last week, a 3-1 win over UMBC Saturday. The win was the Hawks’ first conference victory of the season, while the loss was UMBC’s first in five conference games. A sophomore forward, Bernhardsson buried a shot in the 33rd minute to give the Hawks a 1-0 advantage and then set up Anthony Santaga’s score in the 57th minute. Bernhardsson has nine points (4 G, 1 A) despite playing in just eight games this season and leads America East with 1.12 points per game.
Badji (Alexandria, Va.) tallied his league-best third game-winning goal of the season in Boston University’s 2-1 win over Albany Saturday. The victory moved the Terriers into a first-place tie with UMBC in conference play at 4-1-1. The freshman forward sent home a loose ball in the 67th minute to break a 1-1 tie. Badji leads Boston U. is and tied for second among league leaders with four goals while his 10 points are tied for ninth and also a team best.
With one week to play in the regular season, the Retrievers and Terriers are tied atop the conference standings at 4-1-0 (12 points). Stony Brook follows closely behind in third place at 3-1-1 (10). Vermont is in fourth at 2-2-1 and seven points while Hartford and New Hampshire are tied for the final two playoff spots at 1-2-2 (5). Albany (0-2-3, 3) and Binghamton (0-4-1, 1) round out the standings.
Team Notes
Albany (4-8-3, AE 0-2-3) dropped last week’s matches against non-conference opponent Lehigh, 2-0, on Tuesday, Oct. 18 and to Boston U., 2-1, on Saturday, Oct. 22 ... The Great Danes are seventh in the conference standings and two points behind for the final conference playoff spot with two matches left against Vermont and New Hampshire ... Albany is 3-6-3 all-time vs. Vermont and 4-4-2 vs. New Hampshire ... Freshman forward Brandon Wilson (Troy, N.Y./Troy) netted Albany’s lone goal last week vs. Boston U. ... Wilson’s goal gives the Great Danes 18 goals on the season which is a vast improvement on last season’s 13 ... Junior midfielder Jeff Pierre (North Miami Beach, Fla./ Miami U.) tallied his first assist of the season vs. Boston U. ... Senior goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima) recorded two saves vs. Boston U. ... One of Foncette’s saves was off a penalty kick, which makes him a perfect 3-for-3 against penalty kicks this season ... Junior goalkeeper Scott Kessler (Jericho, N.Y./Marist) made his third start in goal vs. Lehigh ... Kessler recorded six saves on eight chances to give him 18 saves in three matches.
In the past four games, two of the four goals surrendered by Binghamton (4-9-2, 0-4-1 AE) have come on penalty kicks. Only two of the goals have come during the run of play ... junior forward Jake Keegan (Stormville, N.Y./John Jay) now has 15 career goals, which ties Bryan Arnault (2003-06) for fifth place all time during the program’s 10-year NCAA Division I era.
Boston University (8-7-0, 4-1-0 AE) split its two games last week with a 1-0 loss to No. 17 Boston College followed by a 2-1 victory at Albany ... The Eagles led 19-11 in shot attempts and scored in the 67th minute ... Freshman Nick Thomson (Cramlington, England/Cramlington Learning Village) stopped five shots for the Terriers against BC and then had two against the Great Danes ... the Terriers moved into a tie for first in the conference standings with the win over Albany ... Senior Ben Berube (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) scored the first goal and assisted on freshman Dominique Badji’s (Alexandria, Va./Episcopal) game-winning goal in the 67th minute ... Badji now leads the Terriers with 10 points off four goals and two assists ... Boston U. will hold a Senior Day ceremony on Wednesday night before hosting New Hampshire and will then conclude the regular season on Saturday night at Binghamton.
Hartford (4-8-4, 1-2-2 AE) scored its first league victory of the year when it shut the door on UMBC, which was previously unbeaten in league play, by a 3-1 final on Saturday in West Hartford ... The victory gave the Hawks their first mark in the win column in five games ... Sophomore transfers David Bernhardsson (Tjorn, Sweden/Katrinelunds Gymnasiet/UW-Green Bay) and Anthony Santaga (Green Bay, Wisc./Green Bay Notre Dame Academy/UW-Green Bay) each finished with three points on the match to lead the squad ... Bernhardsson notched the first goal of the game in the 33rd minute while senior defender Jorge Rodrgiuez (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) followed suit with the eventual game-winner on a direct kick in the 51st minute ... Santaga wrapped up the scoring just six minutes later with his third marker on the season ... UMBC’s lone goal came in the 79th minute on a penalty kick ... With the victory and five points on the season, the Hawks are tied with New Hampshire for the fifth slot in the league rankings ... the Hawks close out the home portion of their 2011 regular season schedule with Binghamton on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ... Six senior members of the 2011 squad will be honored prior to the start of the match ... Hartford then wraps up its regular season with a trip to Stony Brook on Sunday (5 p.m.).
UMBC (7-5-3, 4-1-1 AE) had not lost an America East Conference game since Oct. 15, 2010, but the host Hartford Hawks snapped that streak with a 3-1 victory in a card-filled league contest at Al-Marzook Field on Saturday... The Retrievers had won seven consecutive league games dating back to a season ago... The contest was No. 400 for head coach Pete Caringi as bench boss of the Retrievers... UMBC senior goalkeeper Dan Louisignau (Wilmington, Del./Concord) made three saves, but allowed the three goals in 60 minutes of work ... Classmate Miguel Calderόn (Bowie, Md./Roosevelt) saw his first action of the year and made one save in the final 30 minutes ... Louisignau had played 2,605 consecutive minutes dating back to last season... Senior midfielder Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) scored his 32nd career goal on a penalty kick in the 79th minute ... Bulls has two goals and two assists vs. the Hawks in the last two meetings ... UMBC played two men down for the final 39 minutes vs. Hartford, yet outshot the Hawks, 8-7, in the second half ... Penn State avenged a UMBC win at University Park last season with a 1-0 win at UMBC Stadium on Oct. 19 ... The contest was played on the turf at the stadium due to unplayable field conditions at Retriever Soccer Park ... The Lions’ goal in the 71st minute halted UMBC’s streak at 478 minutes without allowing a score ... UMBC can finish no worse than in fourth place in America East, guaranteeing at least one home playoff contest ... The Retrievers will honor seven seniors prior to Wednesday’s home game vs. Stony Brook.
New Hampshire (6-7-2, 1-2-2 AE) finished its most recent week of action 1-0-1 … The Wildcats opened the week with a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Holy Cross (Oct. 18) at Bremner Field … Josh Bronner (Belchertown, Mass./Belchertown) punched in the game-winner with just over two minutes remaining in extended play … Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) set up the tally and was credited with an assist on the play … Ryan McNamara (West Nyack, N.Y./ Don Bosco Prep) notched the game’s first goal in the 17th minute of the first half, giving the home team the early 1-0 edge … David Schlatter (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) claimed an assist on the score … New Hampshire held the edge in both shots (14-11) and corner kicks (9-8) in the contest … Later in the week the ‘Cats battled Vermont to a 1-1 double-overtime tie at Bremner Field (Oct. 22) … Bronner carried the Wildcat offense once again notching his second goal of the season in the 84th minute of play … Hilton tallied an assist on the goal .. Vermont held a 21-11 advantage in shots and also won the battle for corner kicks by an 11-10 margin … Goalkeeper Travis Worra (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) recorded nine saves in between the pipes in the contest … The ‘Cats return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 26 when they visit Boston U. at 7 p.m.
Stony Brook (7-5-3, 3-1-1 AE) bounced back last week to defeat Binghamton 2-1 to snap a modest two-game winless streak ... with the win, the Seawolves clinched their spot in the America East Championship for the third consecutive season ... the team can still finish anywhere between first and sixth ... the win over Binghamton was also the third straight in the series between the two SUNY rivals ... Stony Brook is now 6-2-2 against SUNY rivals Binghamton and Albany since the start of the 2007 season ... Leonardo Fernandes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) played a large role in the victory, garnering a goal and an assist...he converted a penalty kick for a 1-0 lead and then his free kick into the box assisted Berian Gobeil Cruz (Montreal, Quebec) and his header goal...it was Fernandes’ second three-point game during conference play ... for Gobeil Cruz, it was his America East-leading seventh goal of the year...it was also his third game-winning goal of the season, also tying him for the league lead ... Stony Brook wraps up the regular season at UMBC Wednesday and at home vs. Hartford on Sunday...the Seawolves will honor four seniors who potentially will be playing their final home game on Sunday: Kyle McTurk (Hauppauge, N.Y.), Steven Medwinter (St. Albans, N.Y.), Mame Samb (Dakar, Senegal) and Serigne Sylla (Dakar, Senegal).
Vermont (7-6-1, 2-2-1 AE) played to a 1-1 draw at New Hampshire in the lone game of the week for the Catamounts ... Vermont took a 1-0 lead behind D.J. Edler’s second goal in as many games, but the Wildcats answered in the closing minutes of regulation ... Vermont will wrap up the regular season with a pair of home games. UVM hosts Albany on Wednesday (Oct. 26) at Centennial Field ... Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. ... the Catamounts will close out the regular season hosting the defending America East Champion UMBC Retrievers on Saturday (Oct. 29) at 1 p.m.