CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- After winning twice last week to improve to 6-3, its best start since the 2000 season, Hartford has swept this week's America East men's lacrosse awards. Junior Carter Bender (Caledon, Ontario/Brewster Academy) claimed Player of the Week honors while freshman Tate Klidonas (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) earned Rookie of the Week honors. The awards for the week ending March 27 were announced Monday afternoon.
Bender racked up 12 points in two Hartford wins last week and is a major reason for the Hawks' fast start this season. A junior attack, Bender scored four times and added two assists in a 14-8 win over Sacred Heart on Wednesday. He followed that performance by tallying two goals and four assists in a 13-6 win over Wagner on Saturday. A first-team All-America East selection last season, Bender ranks second among league leaders this season in points (28) and assists (13) and is tied for fifth in goal (15).
Klidonas contributed to Hartford's two wins last week by tallying three points and six ground balls. The freshman attack scored a goal and had an assist in the Hawks' win over the Pioneers Wednesday. He then had a goal and four ground balls in a win over the Seahawks on Saturday. Klidonas has played in all nine of Hartford's games this season with a pair of starts and has 11 points on seven goals and four assists.
Stony Brook fell three spots in the USILA Coaches' Poll and four slots in Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll after splitting two games last week. The Seawolves fell to No. 10/7 Cornell, 17-9, Tuesday and rebounded with a 13-6 win over Bryant on Saturday. Albany, which had been ranked each of the last two weeks, fell out of both polls after losses to Marist and Colgate, but is still receiving votes.
League play gets underway this week with three games. Albany hosts Hartford on Wednesday at 7 p.m.to kick off the conference slate. UMBC and Stony Brook will play Friday night on Long Island while Vermont travels to Binghamton Saturday. The top four teams in the standings will qualify for the league tournament, which takes place the first week of May.
Team Notes
Albany (3-4) suffered non-league setbacks to Marist (12-7) and No. 17 Bucknell (11-9) last week … the Great Danes, who were ranked in the top 20 for the first time in two years, slid out of the national polls … Albany has played five of its opening seven contests against top-20 squads … UAlbany is 17-44 all-time against top-20 programs since moving to the Division I level in 2000 … Goalkeeper Edmund Cathers (Syracuse, N.Y./Corcoran) set the program’s Division I single-game freshman record with 21 saves at Bucknell … Kevin Rae held the previous mark of 20 saves that was set against Quinnipiac in 2002 … Cathers’ saves total ties the fourth-best mark in the school’s Division I history … Joe Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) totaled a career-high six points (3 goals, 3 assists) vs. Bucknell … the junior attack extended his point-scoring streak to 26 consecutive games … Resetarits, who has 13 career hat tricks, has scored multiple goals six times this season … Matt Johnson (Glenmont, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) matched career-highs in goals (3) and points (4) against Marist and came back with a career-best three assists at Bucknell … the senior midfielder has already matched last year’s scoring total when he had 16 points … Brian Caufield (Bay Shore, N.Y/West Islip) returned to the lineup at Bucknell after missing two games due to injury … the senior is eighth among NCAA active career assists leaders (78) … freshman Miles Thompson (Nedrow, N.Y./LaFayette) equaled a career-high with three goals against Bucknell … Ty Thompson (Hogansburg, N.Y./Salmon River), Miles’ cousin, had two goals and one assist vs. the Bison and has scored three points against four opponents this year … defenseman Travis Lyons (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had three caused turnovers, his best total as a collegian, at Bucknell … the Great Danes begin conference play against Hartford (March 30) in a game that will be televised on Time Warner Cable Sports.
Binghamton (4-4) saw its four-game winning streak come to a halt against Siena (6-2) on Tuesday ... the Saints defeated the visiting Bearcats, 10-3, at Siena Turf Field ... Both programs were riding four-game winning streaks heading into the contest, but Siena denied Binghamton the chance to match its longest winning streak in program history ... Senior midfielder David Raleigh (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) tallied two goals to lead the Bearcats offensively, while junior face-off specialist Chris Cook (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) managed the team's only other score at the 12:24 mark of the third quarter ... Bryan Neufeld had a hand in Siena's first three goals, posting a pair of goals and an assist as the host squad jumped out to a 3-0 lead ... Raleigh pulled the Bearcats within 3-1 less than a minute after Neufeld's second score ... Each team scored only once over the next 10 minutes, but Siena outscored Binghamton, 6-1, over the final 36 minutes to account for the 10-3 final ... Freshman defender Greg Cove (Rockville Center, N.Y./Southside) registered a career-high five ground balls and caused two turnovers in a solid defensive outing ... Sophomore goalie Kraig Heston (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) picked up his first loss in five games ... The Bearcats are back in action Tuesday for their third straight road contest against Lehigh at 7 p.m.
Hartford (6-3) went 2-0 on the week and extended its win streak to three games ... The Hawks defeated Sacred Heart, 14-8, on Wednesday before scoring a 13-6 win at Wagner on Saturday ... Hartford is off to its best start since 2000 when the Hawks opened the season 8-1 ... Junior attack Carter Bender (Caledon, Ontario/Brewster Academy) combined for 12 points (6 goals, 6 assists) on the week ... Against Sacred Heart, the Hawks, who are 3-1 at home this season, raced out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back ... Bender finished with a game-best six points (4 goals, 2 assists) while Rory Nunamacher (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland), a sophomore, netted a hat trick and compiled four points while Jared Franze (Glenville, N.Y./Niskayuna) and Martin Bowes (Quincy, Mass./Quincy) each scored twice ... Eight players found the back of the cage for the Hawks on Saturday ... Bender led the way notching his second-straight game with six points at Wagner (2 goals, 4 assists) ... The junior has now scored at least one point in each of his 35 games as a collegian and boasts the nation's fifth longest scoring streak ... Senior face-off specialist Tim Fallon (Lowell, Mass./Lawrence Academy) combined to finish 23-of-32 in the circle to lead the Hawks ... Hartford will next play at Albany on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. to open up America East Conference play.
UMBC (2-4) junior goalkeeper Brian McCullough (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) returned to the UMBC nets and made 13 saves, leading the Retrievers to a 9-7 victory over Quinnipiac in a non-conference match-up at UMBC Stadium ... McCullough had eight saves and alllowed two goals in the second half, including two stops in the final minute to protect a two-goal lead... He suffered a broken thumb during his 14-save effort in a 13-9 loss at North Carolina on March 5 and did not play vs. Johns Hopkins and Maryland... McCullough evened his season mark at 2-2 with the victory... It was the Retrievers first game at UMBC Stadium in one month...The Retrievers snapped a four-game slide, coming from four goals behind in the second quarter to defeat the Bobcats ... The win also snapped a seven-game home losing streak, which came on the heels of a 29-5 advantage at UMBC Stadium from 2006-09 ... UMBC was led offensively by sophomore attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) who scored a pair of goals and added an assist. Sophomore midfielder Scott Hopmann (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) added two goals, while junior attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y./Carthage) chipped in with three assists ... Hopmann scored the game winner on an extra-man goal with 6:23 remaining in the fourth quarter and Jones tallied an insurance marker with 3:16 to play ... Jones became the first Retriever to reach double digits (10) in goals ... the Retrievers matched their season high for goals in a quarter with five in the final stanza...UMBC was sparked by the efforts of freshman midfielder Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha), who won seven of 11 face-offs and led UMBC to an 11-8 advantage on draws ... Junior defender Tim Shaeffer (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) scored his first collegiate goal in the second quarter ... The Retrievers trailed, 5-4, after three quarters - UMBC's last win when trailing after three quarters occurred in the 2008 America East title game vs. Albany when the Retrievers were behind 12-9 after 45 minutes ... UMBC took a 1-0 lead for the first time in six games this season... The Retrievers open America East play on Friday night at Stony Brook... The Retrievers are 5-2 in conference openers,but had their five-game winning streak vs. SBU snapped in last year's lid-lifter at UMBC, 14-11 ... UMBC leads the all-time series, 11-5 ... The Retrievers are 30-7 all-time in America East play, including 14-4 on the road.
#15/14 Stony Brook (4-3) split its two games last week, losing to #10 Cornell, 17-9, and defeating Bryant, 13-6 ... Senior Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, British Columbia/New Westminster) had two goals and two assists in the loss to the Big Red ... He became the Seawolves' all-time leader in points with 202, breaking the old mark of 201 set by Jason Cappadoro in 2006 ... Stony Brook ended non-conference play for the second year in a row against Bryant ... The Seawolves rallied from a 4-1 first-half deficit, taking a 10-5 third-quarter lead ... the game featured Team USA head coach, Mike Pressler of Bryant, vs. his assistant, Rick Sowell of Stony Brook ... Crowley finished with five points (4g, 1a) vs. Bryant, giving him 207 for his career which is tops among all active Division I players ... senior Tom Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) finished with a goal and three assists, his highest total-point output this season ... senior Jordan McBride (New Westminster, British Columbia/New Westminster) added a goal as his 146 career goals is tops among all active Division I players ... Stony Brook opens America East Conference play on Friday, April 1 against UMBC at 7:00 p.m.
Vermont (4-4) dropped its only game of the week at Brown on Saturday, 12-10 ... The Catamounts led, 10-9, but the Bears scored the final three goals of the contest to earn the win ... Vermont scored the first three goals of the game and stormed out to a 4-1 lead after a goal from A.J. Masson (Newmarket, Ontario/St. Andrew's College) with 2:07 left in the first quarter ... A goal just before the buzzer from freshman Connor McNamara (Winchester, Mass./Brewster Academy) gave Vermont a 5-2 lead heading into halftime ... Brown answered with five straight tallies coming out of the locker room to take a 7-5 lead ... Vermont responded with four straight goals over the next 3:14 to regain a 9-7 advantage ... Sophomores Drew Philie (Sandwich, Mass./Deerfield Academy) and Luke Ryder (Worcester, Mass./Delaware) as well as junior Geoff Worley (Coronado, Calif./Coronado HS) each scored twice for the Cats ... Masson added a goal and three assists ... The Bears outscored Vermont, 5-1, in the fourth quarter … The Cats are ranked fifth in the latest New England poll, while the Bears are sixth … The Cats return to action next Saturday when they open America East play at Binghamton starting at 7 p.m.