CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The 2011 America East field hockey year-end individual awards feature three repeat winners as well as four first-time honorees. The top awards, announced the week of the 2011 America East Field Hockey Championship on Nov. 4 and 6, recognize at least one member from each of the four tournament participants. The conference office also announced the all-conference and all-rookie teams.
The University of New Hampshire coaches collect the Coaching Staff of the Year for the second straight year, while juniors Jacinda McLeod from Boston University and Kristi Troch from University at Albany earn Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year honors, respectively, for the second consecutive season. Wildcat senior forward Whitney Frates earns the Offensive Player of the Year accolade and University of Maine senior Stephanie Gardiner picks up the Midfielder of the Year trophy. Terrier goalkeeper Valentina Cerda and Black Bear forward Holly Stewart are co-recipients of the league’s Rookie of the Year award.
New Hampshire’s coaching staff led the Wildcats to their second-straight regular-season championship and top seed for the conference tournament. The squad had one of the best starts in program history, winning its first eight games, and becoming a mainstay in the national top ten rankings all season after only receiving votes in the preseason poll. Head Coach Robin Balducci, now a four-time honoree after winning the Coach of the Year award in 1998 and 2000 and the Coaching Staff of the Year last year, is in her 21st season at the helm. Assistants Margaux Shute, Ross Gorham and Meg Shea join her staff.
McLeod, a 5-11 back from Whangarei, New Zealand, also received the Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and the Rookie of the Year in 2009. Including this season, she has been a first-team all-conference member in each of her first three years in the league. McLeod brings both size and speed to the Terriers’ backfield and plays a key role on the penalty corner units. She has scored seven goals and assisted on four other tallies in 2011 for 18 points while also leading a defense which ranks second in America East in goals-against average and goals allowed and has recorded four shutouts.
Troch has followed up last year’s Goalkeeper of the Year season with another stellar campaign. The 5-4 junior out of Lehighton, Pa. leads America East with a 1.35 goals-against average, a mark which also ranks 10th in the country. Troch also tops the league with five shutouts including three straight in early October against Fairfield, Massachusetts and Vermont. She averages 3.61 saves per game, including a season-high eight in an overtime game against Yale on Sept. 11, with a .722 save percentage.
A three-time first-team all-conference honoree, Frates picks up the Offensive Player of the Year accolade for the first time in her career. Also garnering second-team all-conference and all-rookie honors as a freshman, the Wildcat has had prolific career and reached the 100-career-point mark earlier this season. Frates is second in the nation with 3.0 points per game and fourth with 1.22 goals per game, leading the conference in both categories. Despite missing one of the five conference games, the senior out of Woodstock, Vt. still leads all players in league play with 12 points and five goals. Frates’ 54 points and six game-winning goals also leads America East.
Gardiner is the center midfielder and main ball distributor for a Maine offense which ranks second in the country in scoring. The senior from Vancouver, British Columbia has played every minute for the Black Bears, scoring 12 goals and adding seven assists for 31 points. Her point total ranks fifth in America East while her goal and assist totals are each tied for sixth in the conference. The four-time all-conference honoree, who has twice been a unanimous pick for the first team, notched three multi-goal games this season including the season opener against Northeastern.
Cerda, a 5-5 goalkeeper out of Santiago, Chile, is a four-time rookie of the week and owns a conference-best .778 save percentage which also ranks 12th in the nation. The freshman has stepped into the starting role as netminder and has compiled a 1.43 goals-against average, which is second in America East and 12th in Division I. Cerda averages 4.38 saves per game and had a career-high 10-save performance against Syracuse. She is now one of six different Terriers to earn the Rookie of the Year over the last eight seasons.
Stewart is a 5-8 forward from North Vancouver, British Columbia who has earned an important starting role in Maine’s up-tempo offense. Starting all 19 games, she leads all America East freshmen with 12 goals and 30 points while also adding six assists. Stewart is a three-time rookie of the week with three multi-goal games including hat tricks against Lehigh and America East foe Fairfield. Her 30 points and 12 goals each rank sixth in the conference.
McLeod, Troch, Gardiner and Frates are all members of the first team. The team also includes Albany midfielders Corrine McConville and Katharina Helling, Boston U. midfielders Kate Murphy and Nicole van Oosterom, Fairfield University forward Marit Wetenberg, Maine forward Kelly Newton, UNH forward Hayley Rausch and back Kyle Lyons, and University of Vermont senior Mackenzie Williams.
In addition to Stewart, the second team includes Albany forwards Christina Patrick and Daphne Voormolen and back Taylor Luke, Boston U. forward Boston U. and midfielder/back Giovanna Monaco, Fairfield back Felecitas Heinen, Maine forward Jocelyn Mitchell and back Alexa Binnendijk, New Hampshire backs Kendall Deck and Megan Bozek and goalkeeper Katherine Nagengast.
Cerda, Stewart and Heinen are unanimous all-rookie team choices. Joining the pair on the all-rookie team are Albany backs Jordyn Homyak and Chloe Pachuilo, midfielder/forward Echo Bretz and forward Amy Nicklin, Maine backs Zoe Berkey and Annabelle Hamilton, and New Hampshire midfielder Kellie Joyce and back Maegan Grew.
Albany, Boston U., Maine and New Hampshire will take the field on Fri., Nov. 4 for the 2011 America East Field Hockey Championship hosted by UNH at Memorial Field. No. 1 UNH will play No. 4 Albany at 1 p.m., and No. 2 Boston U. and No. 3 Maine will follow at 4 p.m. The two winners will face-off in the final on Sun., Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. The champion will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship whose bracket will be announced on Tues., Nov. 8.
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