CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- America East teams went 2-2 on opening weekend and a pair of players who played key roles in one of those wins are the first weekly award winners of the 2011 season. UMBC's Dave Brown (Coopersvurg, Pa./The Hill School) and Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) received Player and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively. The honors were handed out Monday afternoon.
Brown, a sophomore midfielder, had a career day tallying four goals and three assists in the Retrievers' 16-10 win over Presbyterian Saturday. He had just one assist in 11 games all last season.
After his team built a 7-5 lead, Brown contributed on seven of UMBC's last nine goals. His biggest moment of the game came with 10:02 to play in the game. After the Blue Hose had trimmed the lead to 11-10, Brown found the back of the cage on an extra-man opportunity to preserve the lead.
Gregoire tallied three points in his collegiate debut. The redshirt freshman attack scored twice and added an assist in the Retrievers' win at Presbyterian. His third quarter score was the game-winner.
Elsewhere this weekend, Vermont won its opener, 9-4 over Colgate, behind a four-goal performance from sophomore Drew Philie. Hartford built a halftime lead on #16/17 UMass but was outscored, 6-1, in the third quarter and fell, 14-10. Binghamton played Penn State tough, but dropped a 9-7 decision in State College.
Team Notes
Albany (0-0) advanced to the America East Conference championship final for the eighth time in the last nine years … head coach Scott Marr, who enters his 11th season, has 24 letterwinners back from last year's squad … Brian Caufield (Bay Shore, N.Y. / West Islip), a two-time All-America East first-team selection, and all-conference attacker Joe Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y. / Hamburg) are back after each player's season was shortened due to injury one year ago … Caufield has 131 career points and is fifth on the program's all-time assists list (70) … the senior midfielder was chosen to the 2011 Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America Team and was picked in the sixth round by Rochester in the Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft … Resetarits, who played in just five contests last spring due to foot surgery, has a 19-game scoring streak heading into the season … goalkeeper John Carroll (Nesconset, N.Y. / Smithtown East) posted a .514 save percentage with an 11.33 goals against average … midfielders Matt Mackenzie (Stony Plain, Alberta / The Hill Academy) and Dwayne Stewart (Copiague, N.Y. / Copiague) were members of the 2010 America East All-Rookie Team … Kyle Crotty (Bethpage, N.Y. / Bethpage) and Caufield will serve as 2011 team captains … defenseman Mike Banks (Norwalk, Conn. / Brien McMahon) has started 43 of 46 games played as a collegian … Syracuse and Johns Hopkins are among five consensus national top-20 teams on the schedule … ESPNU will televise the clash with Johns Hopkins on Friday, April 8.
Binghamton (0-1) fell to Penn State University 9-7 in the season opener at Bigler Field Saturday. The Bearcats featured a young cast which included five starting freshman and seven underclassmen starters in all, yet played a resilient contest against a resurgent Penn State program. Neither team led by more than two goals at any point in the game and Binghamton only trailed the host Nittany Lions by one goal in the game's final two minutes. Sophomore Matt Springer (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) supplied more than half of the team's offense en route to his fourth career hat trick with a four-goal effort. He extended his consecutive game scoring streak to 15 games, which ranks among national leaders.
Despite building a 7-5 halftime lead, Hartford (1-0) could not hold off No. 16/17 Massachusetts on Saturday as it fell by a 14-10 final in the season opener on Al-Marzook Field ... With the loss, the Hawks fall to 0-9 all-time against the Minutemen ... Junior attackmen Aidan Genik (Toronto, Ontario/Malvern C.I./Univ. of Western Ontario) and Ryan Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) each had two goals and an assist to lead the Hawks while freshman Tate Klidonas (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) contribued one goal and an assist ... UMass went on to outscore the Hawks, 6-1, in the decisive third quarter to build an 11-8 lead before the final 15 ... Hartford held the advantage at the face-off X, winning 16 of 28 duels led by Tim Fallon's (Lowell, Mass./Lawrence AcademY) 16-of-27 effort, however the Minutemen held a commanding advantage in the third finishing 7-of-8 ... Fallon also collected a game-high 12 ground balls ... The Hawks converted on two of three man-up situations ... With his first quarter assist, junior Carter Bender (Caledon, Ontario/Brewster Academy) extended his scoring streak to 28 games ... The midfielder currently owns the longest scoring streak in the AE, and the seventh longest in the NCAA ... Hartford returns to action with a road date at Patriot League member Holy Cross on Saturday, February 26 (4:00 p.m.) ... The Hawks hold a 12-10 advantage over the Crusaders in the all-time series.
UMBC (1-0) sophomore midfielder Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) scored four goals and added three assists as the Retrievers opened the 2011 season with a 16-10 victory at Presbyterian (0-2)...Brown was part of a potent UMBC starting midfield unit which accounted for 11 goals. Sophomore midfielder Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) contributed four goals and one helper, while classmate Scott Hopmann (Annapolis, Md. /St. Mary’s) tallied three times...Retriever junior attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y,.Carthage) had a goal and a career-high four assists... Brown, who competed in 11 games, but only tallied one assist in 2010, lscored or assisted on seven of UMBC's final nine goals... Brown scored the Retrievers' lone extra-man tally of the game and scored UMBC's 12th goal with 10:02 to play after PC had cut the lead to 11-10... Red-shirt freshman Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) debuted on as a starting attackman and scored two goals and added an assist... He netted a goal and added an assist in the second quarter and was credited with the game-winning goal in the third quarter... The Retrievers also controlled 25 of 29 draws, as senior J.D. Harkey (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) captured 13 of 15 and sophomore Joseph Impallaria (Lutherville, Md./Calvert Hall) won 12 of 14...UMBC opens the home schedule on Saturday, Feb. 26 when they host Rutgers (2-0) at UMBC Stadium... Rutgers outscored Wagner and Manhattan, 28-8, in wins at home on Friday and Sunday respectively... UMBC holds a slim 7-6 series lead after a 6-5 victory at Rutgers in 2010.
Stony Brook (0-0), which captured its first America East title since 2002 and won an NCAA first-round contest for the first time last season, is the preseason favorite to repeat as league champion this season ... SBU returns 94 percent of its scoring from a team that ranked fourth nationally with 13.2 goals per game. That group consists of three All-Americans in seniors Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, B.C./New Westminster/Simon Fraser), Tom Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) and Jordan McBride (New Westminster, B.C./New Westminster), who combined for 136 goals and 69 assists in 2010. Crowley, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft earlier this month, Crowley ranked third nationally last year averaging 4.43 points per game after tallying 77 points on 51 goals and 26 assists. He received the USILA’s Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award, given to the nation’s top player, and was a Tewaaraton Award finalist ... Rick Sowell’s squad, which is ranked No. 6 in the USILA preseason poll and No. 8 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll, opens its season against No. 1/2 Virginia on Feb. 26 in a rematch of last year’s epic NCAA quarterfinal contest in which the Cavaliers edged the Seawolves, 10-9.
Vermont (1-0) won its season opener on Sunday at home, knocking off Colgate 9-4 … Sophomore Drew Philie (Sandwich, Mass./Deerfield) led the Catamounts with six points on four goals and two assists … UVM improves to 1-0 and has now won four of its last five home openers … Vermont scored the opening three goals of the contest and the final three, as the Cats also received four points from junior Thomas Galvin (Cockeysville, Md./Loomis) … The Cats jumped out to a quick 3-0 advantage in the first 6:37 of play … Sophomore Luke Ryder (Worcester, Mass./Delaware) added two assists for the Catamounts, while junior Geoff Worley (Coronado, Calif./Coronado) added a goal and an assist … Junior David Barton (Hanover, Mass./Boston College HS) earned the win in the cage with eight saves on the day, as Vermont held a 30-21 shot advantage for the game … Vermont returns to action on Friday when it travels to face Air Force starting at 9:30 p.m. and will then stay on the road to take on No. 12 Denver on Sunday at 2 p.m.