CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Conference play began in men's soccer over the weekend and two players who led their teams to wins are this week's award winners. Vermont senior Joe Losier (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) led his team to a 3-0 win over Binghamton to earn America East Player of the Week honors while Boston University freshman Nick Thomson (Cramlington, England/Cramlington Learning Village) recorded his second career shutout in a 1-0 win over Hartford to garner Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards for the week ending October 2 were announced Monday afternoon.
Elsewhere in league play over the weekend, Stony Brook beat New Hampshire, 1-0, on Berian Gobeil Cruz' score in the 71st minute on Friday for its fourth win in five games. On Saturday, UMBC overcame a late deficit on goals by Pete Caringi III (72') and Andrew Bulls (77') to knock off Albany, 2-1.
Playing in his 23rd career game, Losier scored his first two goals as a collegian and led Vermont to a win over Binghamton in the conference opener for both teams Saturday. A senior midfielder, who transitioned from back, Losier converted a penalty kick, which proved to be the game-winning score, in the 17th minute and added an insurance tally in the 66th minute by one-timing a feed from teammate Brad Cole into the back of the net. Losier, who has started all nine games for UVM this season, joins a group of seven America East players to have multiple goal games so far this season.
Thomson led Boston U. to a 2-0 week by making five saves and allowing just one goal in two games. The freshman goalkeeper stopped three shots in the Terriers’ 2-1 win at Harvard Wednesday, their first at the Crimson since 1994. Thomson then made three saves and recorded his second shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory over Hartford Sunday, Boston U.’s third straight in a league opener. A native of Cramlington, England, Thomson has started eight games in net for the Terriers and gone 4-4 with a 0.99 goals-against average, which ranks second among league leaders.
After midweek non-league games, conference play continues this weekend with four contests. Stony Brook hosts Vermont in rematch of last year's America East quarterfinal round on Friday at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Boston U. hosts UMBC at 1 p.m., Hartford visits Albany at 4 p.m. and New Hampshire welcomes Binghamton at 5 p.m.
Team Notes
Albany (4-5-0, 0-1-0 AE) dropped a close match to UMBC, 2-1, in the Great Danes’ America East Conference opener on Oct. 1 ... Senior goalkeeper Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/ Fatima) recorded a career-high 15 saves vs. UMBC ... Foncette now has 236 career saves and is 46 away from moving ahead of Bouna Coundoul for third all-time in career saves at UAlbany ... Freshman midfielder Pomare Te Anau (Auckland, New Zealand/ Mount Albert Grammar) scored the Great Danes lone goal vs. UMBC ... Te Anau has nine points on the season (3 goals, 3 assists) and is second on the team behind teammate junior forward Quintel Gates ... UAlbany goes on the road to face non-conference foe Colgate on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 pm ... The Great Danes are 1-6-1 all-time vs. the Raiders ... UAlbany’s last win vs. Colgate was on Oct. 4, 2000, a 5-3 score.
Binghamton (4-6-0, 0-1-0 AE) junior forward Jake Keegan (Stormville, N.Y./John Jay) has tallied assists in two of Binghamton’s last three games. He now has 36 career points at Binghamton, which ranks sixth in the program’s Division I era history (since 2001). Keegan is two points ahead of Graham Munro (2002-05), who is fifth with 38 career points ... senior back Jerome Robinson (Manchester, Jamaica/West Virginia Tech) has scored a pair of goals in the past three games. Both of his goals were assisted by Keegan ... Binghamton’s 2-1 win at Syracuse on Sept. 28 marked its first over a Big East Conference opponent since its 3-2 win over the Orange back on Sept. 1, 2009 at the Bearcats Sports Complex
Boston University (4-5-0, 1-0-0 AE) concluded its four-game road trip with two wins last week ... The Terriers snapped an eight-game winless streak at Harvard with a 2-1 victory ... Freshmen Cameron Souri (Corona, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt) and Taylor Washington (Somers, N.Y./Rye Country Day School) each tallied a goal on Wednesday night ... Opening the America East schedule against the Hawks, freshman Dominique Badji (Alexandria, Va./Episcopal) scored the game-winning goal in the 78th minute with assistance from sophomore Anthony Ciccone (Medford, N.J./Sparta) ... Freshman goalie Nick Thomson (Cramlington, England/Cramlington Learning Village) tallied three saves in the win against the Crimson and followed with two saves against Hartford for his second shutout of the season ... The Terriers will next host Providence on Tuesday (Oct. 4) at 7 p.m. and then UMBC on Saturday (Oct. 8) at 1 p.m.
Hartford (3-6-2, 0-1-0 AE) split a pair of matches last week, first claiming a 3-0 win at Sacred Heart on Tuesday before falling to Boston University in both teams’ America East Conference openers by a 1-0 final on Saturday ... An offensive outburst by junior James Stamopoulos (Mississauga, Ontario/Port Credit Secondary) led the Hawks’ to a 3-0 oust of Sacred Heart in Fairfield ... Stamopoulos had a share in each of his team’s three goals and racked up five points en route to the win ... He finished with two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist, marking the highest single game output for a Hawk since Carlos Villa netted a hat trick against Bryant in the 2008 season ... Senior keeper Luke Citriniti (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) made five saves to earn the shutout, his fourth this season ... Dominique Badji broke a 77 minute scoreless deadlock in favor of Boston University at Alumni Stadium on Saturday ... Saturday’s loss to the Terriers snapped a four-game unbeaten streak for the Hawks ... With seven regular season games remaining, Hartford’s 12 goals this season already surpasses the team’s offensive output from last season (11) ... The Hawks will next visit non-conference opponent Army on Wednesday (7 p.m.) before traveling to Albany on Saturday (4 p.m.).
UMBC’s (4-3-2, 1-0-0 AE) primary offensive targets Pete Caringi III (Perry Hall, Md./Calvert Hall) and Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) scored in a five-minute stretch deep into the second half as the host Retrievers rallied to edge Albany, 2-1, in the America East Conference opener for both squads ... Bulls was named UMBC’s America East Player of the Game as he recorded his 15th career game-winning goal, two shy of Giuliano Celenza’s school record ... Bulls put all 10 of his game-high shots on frame. He became the fourth player in school history to reach the 90-point plateau and the ninth to score 30 career goals ... He is the first “30-30” player in UMBC school history ... For the seventh time in nine games in 2011, the contest was scoreless at the break and for the sixth consecutive game, the Retrievers conceded the first goal as Albany took the lead in the 62nd minute... But Caringi scored in the 72nd minute and Bulls tapped home junior midfielder Milo Kapor’s (Toronto, Ont./Emily Carr) shot off the post in the 77th minute to earn the three points... Kapor has a team-high four assists on the season, all in the last three games... UMBC has won three straight vs. Albany and improved to 5-3-1 in the all-time series and 4-0-1 in Baltimore...The Retrievers are 5-1-3 in nine home openers in America East play... The Retrievers dropped a heart-breaking 2-1 decision at La Salle on Tuesday... Senior forward Kingsley Onwuka (Baltimore, Md./Kenwood/CCBC-Essex) drew UMBC even in the 87th minute, scoring in back-to-back games, but La Salle converted with 13 seconds to play to earn the home victory... The Retrievers take on non-conference rival Bucknell at Retriever Soccer Park on Tuesday and the contest will be televised regionally by the Live Well Network... UMBC returns to America East play on Saturday in just their second matinee of the season at Boston U.
New Hampshire (4-5-0, 0-1-0 AE) finished its most recent week of action 0-1 ... New Hampshire outshot Stony Brook, 14-9, but the Seawolves held a 5-2 edge in corner kicks ... Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) led the Wildcats with a game-high five shots, including one on goal attempt ... Hilton leads the Wildcats with six points on two goals and two assists on the season ... He ranks ninth in the conference in total points ... Goalkeeper Travis Worra (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) ranks third in the league in saves per game (3.43) and shutouts (3), while ranking fourth in goals against average (1.14) and save percentage (.750) ... The Wildcats are back in action when they take on Bradley University Monday, Oct. 3 (1 p.m.) at Lewis Fields.
Stony Brook (5-4-2, 1-0-0 AE) opened conference play with a 1-0 win at New Hampshire ... the road win makes the Seawolves unbeaten over their last six conference road matches (4-0-2), dating back to Oct. 24, 2009 ... the shutout was also the program’s eighth conference clean sheet since the start of the 2009 season, which is more than 50 percent of the team’s conference games (53.3 percent) ... The win was SBU’s first at UNH since the 2005 season ... junior Berian Gobeil Cruz (Montreal, Quebec) scored the match’s only goal, producing a second-half tally off an assist from Kyle Schlesinger (Selden, N.Y.) ... it was Gobeil Cruz’s fourth goal over the last five matches and his first game-winner of the season...he leads the team in goals (4) and points (9) ... Schlesinger has now either scored or assisted on the game-winning goal in three matches this season ... the defense pitched its second shutout of the season, behind top defender and senior captain Kyle McTurk (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and junior goalkeeper Stefan Manz (Bronx, N.Y.), who made five saves...he has two shutouts this season and 11 for his career, four shy of the program all-time record ... Stony Brook has one match this week, a home game against Vermont Friday at 7 p.m.
Vermont (6-3-0, 1-0-0 AE) blanked Binghamton, 3-0, in its lone match of the week ... the Catamounts improved to 6-3-0 overall and 1-0-0 in league play ... UVM also improved to 4-1 on its home turf this season ... senior Joe Losier (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) scored his first two career goals as a Catamount to lead UVM past the Bearcats ... he converted a penalty kick in the 17th minute for his first goal of the game and the first of his career and added his second tally in the 65th minute ... David Ramada (Essex, Vt./Essex) made four saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season ... All six Vermont wins have been by shutout ... UVM is 2-for-2 on penalty kicks this season … The three goals against the Bearcats are the most Vermont has scored this season in a single game ... UVM travels to Dartmouth on Tuesday (Oct. 4) and Stony Brook on Friday (Oct. 7).