CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Two of America East's top goal scorers each netted five goals on Saturday and have earned men's lacrosse weekly honors as a result. Stony Brook's Jordan McBride (New Westminster, British Columbia/New Westminster) earned Player of the Week honors while Albany's Miles Thompson (Nedrow, N.Y./LaFayette) picked up Rookie of the Week recognition for the third time in four weeks. The awards for the week ending April 24 were announced Monday afternoon.
McBride racked up five goals to help Stony Brook clinch a share of the America East regular-season title and the top seed for the league championship with a 23-11 win over Albany Saturday. A senior attacker, McBride scored four of his five goals in a key stretch midway through the game. With the Seawolves leading only 9-6 late in the second quarter, he scored four of the game's next five goals during a 9-0 Stony Brook run. McBride, who also had two ground balls, leads America East with 2.45 goals per game and ranks third with 3.00 points per contest.
Thompson earned his fourth Rookie of the Week award of the season by tallying a career-high seven points on five goals and two assists in Albany's to Stony Brook. The freshman attack, who also earned Rookie of the Week honors on March 7, April 4 and April 18, tallied five of those points (3 goals, 2 assists) when the game was still close in the first quarter. Thompson, who also picked up a pair of ground balls, has tallied multiple points in seven straight games and is tied for third among league leaders and leads all conference rookies with 26 goals this season.
After winning its fourth straight game and improving to 8-3 on the season, Stony Brook remained at 13th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and 14th in the USILA Coaches' Poll. UMBC, which has won four straight games to improve to 6-5, is receiving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Poll. In addition to the Seawolves locking up the top seed for the America East Championship, UMBC, Binghamton and Hartford also secured bids for the tournament, which begins May 4 with semifinal action and wraps up with the nationally televised championship game (CBS Sports Network) May 7.
Team Notes
Albany (4-9, 0-4 AE) will miss the America East Conference postseason tournament for the first time since joining the league in 2002 … the Great Danes have dropped four straight contests and eight of their last nine ... Albany has lost seven consecutive road games, dating back to last year's conference championship game … the Great Danes allowed the most goals by an opponent in the 12-goal loss at Stony Brook since Virginia scored 23 in the 2005 NCAA Tournament’s first round ... Miles Thompson (5 goals, 2 assists) tallied the most points by a freshman since Brian Caufield (Bay Shore, N.Y./West Islip) had seven against Stony Brook on May 1, 2008 ... Thompson has totaled two or more points in seven consecutive games … Caufield has moved past Kurt Randall (1992-94) into eighth place on the school's all-time scoring list with 156 points (67 goals, 89 assists) ... Caufield is sixth among the active NCAA career assists leaders (89) … Dean Steinmann (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown East), who is now playing with a long pole, tallied his first goal as a collegian ... Joe Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) has scored a goal in 31 consecutive games, tying Virginia's Chris Bocklet for the nation's longest streak… Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) owns a 32-game, point-scoring streak, the seventh-longest in the nation … senior defenseman Mike Banks (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) tied season-highs in ground balls (3) and caused turnovers (1) at Stony Brook … Travis Lyons (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) collected three ground balls vs. the Seawolves, the seventh time he has had three-plus this spring … senior midfielder Derek Kreuzer (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool), plagued by two knee injuries during his career, scored his first point since March 5th with a fourth-quarter assist … Albany has played seven national top-20 teams this season.
Binghamton (6-7, 2-2 AE) clinched a spot in the America East Championship on the strength of a 10-8 triumph over Hartford on Saturday night ... The Bearcats will be making their seventh postseason appearance in the school's 10-year Division I history ... Sophomore attackman Matt Springer (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) led the team to its fourth consecutive win at home and eighth consecutive victory over the Hawks with a team-high four goal performance ... Springer scored three straight times in a span of 3:37 midway through the third quarter in a pivotal run that gave the host squad a 6-5 lead ... He collected his eighth career hat trick in the process, tying the program record for all-time hat tricks ... Junior Jordan Marra (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) notched his first start in goal since March 1 and recorded a career-high 15 saves, picking up his first win of the season ... Classmate Chris Cook (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) provided a scrappy effort in the face-off circle, winning 10-of-22 draws against Hartford's Tim Fallon, who ranks eighth nationally in face-off win percentage ... Cook also scooped up a game-high nine ground balls ... Senior Derrick Danieu (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) caused a game-high five turnovers and helped shutout Hartford's leading scorer Carter Bender ... Binghamton will honor its seven seniors next Saturday as they host the University at Albany at 7 p.m.
Despite suffering a 10-8 setback at Binghamton on Saturday night, Hartford (8-6, 2-2 AE) locked up its first America East tournament bid since 2003 thanks to its victory over Vermont earlier this month ... With eight wins this season, the Hawks have equaled their win total from the last four seasons combined ... Junior attack Aidan Genik (Caledon, Ontario/Malvern C.I./Univ. of Western Ontario) scored a game-high five goals to finish with six points in the loss ... With the game tied for the fifth time since the opening face-off at 7-7, Genik delivered his 20th goal this season to give the Hawks an 8-7 edge ... The advantage was short-lived however as three different Bearcats went on to net goals within a span of 1:31 to gain a two-goal lead, one that Binghamton would hold on to for the final 8:43 ... Tate Klidonas (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus), a rookie midfielder, scored twice while junior attackman Ryan Compitello (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) rounded out the scoring with one goal and an assist to crack the 100-point milestone ... Compitello is the third Hawk to accomplish the feat this season joining classmates Genik and Carter Bender (Caledon, Ontario/Brewster Academy) ... Still vying for home field advantage for the first round of the conference tournament, Hartford wraps up its regular season on Saturday, April 30 when it welcomes UMBC to Al-Marzook Field ... Prior to the 7:00 p.m. start time, the eight members of the Hawks' senior class will be honored in a ceremony.
UMBC (6-5, 3-1 AE) sophomore attackman Scott Jones (Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) scored three goals, added two assists and recorded the game-winning goal with 41 seconds remaining as the host Retrievers nipped Vermont, 9-8, in a critical America East Conference game ... The Retrievers won for the fourth straight time and clinched a spot in the four-team America East Tournament for the eighth time in eight conference campaigns ... The four-game winning streak is the longest for UMBC since a six-game surge in 2009 ... UMBC is now 33-8 in eight years of America East competition and 18-3 at UMBC Stadium ... Retriever sophomore attackman Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Wading River) operated behind the cage and fed a cutting Jones, who buried his three-yard shot past Vermont netminder David Barton and inside the far left post...Senior midfielder Jamie Kimbles (Centreville, Md./Queen Anne’s) and junior attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y./Carthage) each added two goals and one assist for the hosts ... Competing in just his third game of the season, freshman midfielder Conor Finch (Westminster, Md./Boys’ Latin) scored his first two collegiate goals, both in the first quarter to give UMBC leads of 1-0 and 3-2 ... Jones now has 20 goals and leads the Retrievers in goals and points (28) this season... He has back-to-back five-point games and game winning goals in crucial conference victories... Jones has been credited with the GWG in all three UMBC America East victories ... Retriever sophomore Joseph Impallaria (Lutherville, Md./Calvert Hall) came off the bench and won 12 of 17 draws as UMBC outdrew Vermont, 13-8... Junior netminder Brian McCullough (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) made 11 saves ... McCullough is now 6-3 on the season and is over the 50 percent mark (50.3) in save percentage for the first time this season ... He has 63 stops and 55 goals allowed (53.4 percent) in UMBC's 5-1 six-game surge... UMBC is 4-0 in games decided by three goals or less this season and 23-11 in those situations since 2007 ... They have won their last six games decided by a single goal, dating back to a 6-5 loss to Princeton in 2009... The Retrievers have never lost to Vermont (8-0), but three of the last four games have been decided by one or two goals...The Retrievers conclude the regular season at Hartford on April 30 ... The Hawks own a two-game winning streak over UMBC after the Retrievers won the first five meetings by an average of 9.4 goals per game.
#14/13 Stony Brook (8-3, 4-0 AE) claimed a share of its second straight America East regular season title with a 23-11 win over Albany on Saturday ... More importantly, the Seawolves have clinched the top seed and home-field advantage in the America East Conference Championship, which begins on May 4 ... They have not lost an America East game (11 games) since falling to UMBC in the AE Championship game on May 2, 2009 ... senior Jordan McBride (New Westminster, British Columbia/New Westminster) led Stony Brook with five goals against Albany, giving him 161 for his career ... the 161 goals is tied for 21st all-time in Division I history ... 11 different players scored for Stony Brook on Saturday ... Stony Brook outscored Albany, 18-6, after a 5-5 first quarter ... senior Timmy Trenkle (Commack, N.Y./Commack) tallied his fourth career hat trick and third of the season ... each starting attack and midfield scored at least one goal ... 23 goals was tied for the second most goals scored by a team this season ... junior Jared LeVerne (Jericho, N.Y./Syosset) added a goal and a career-high three assists ... with a win next week at Vermont, Stony Brook would become the first team in America East history to go undefeated in back-to-back conference seasons since Hofstra did it from 1996-98.
Vermont (6-8, 1-3 AE) dropped its only game of the week, falling to UMBC on Saturday 9-8 … The Cats came back from a three-goal deficit, but UMBC's Scott Jones broke a tie game with 41 seconds remaining … Junior Geoff Worley (Coronado, Calif./Coronado) led Vermont with three goals and an assist … UVM trailed, 8-5, midway through the third quarter before sophomore Drew Philie (Sandwich, Mass./Deerfield Academy) set up Worley and junior Cal Case (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) for goals and sophomore Thomas Galvin (Cockeysville, Md./St. Paul’s) knotted the score with 5:51 remaining in the contest … After the Retrievers went on top 9-8, the Cats had one last chance with Galvin’s shot going wide with three ticks on the clock … Vermont falls to 1-7 on the road this season … Two of Vermont's three conference losses this season have been one-goal games … Worley has now scored a goal in nine straight games … Vermont wraps up the season on Saturday when it returns home to host Stony Brook on Senior Day starting at 3 p.m. The game will mark the final contest for Catamount seniors Derek Lichtfuss (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul's), Liam Thomas (Spring Lake Heights, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy), Max Gradinger (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Torrey Pines), Evan O'Brien (Winthrop, Mass./Phillips Exeter Academy), Matt Jankow (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown HS West), Kyle Sminkey (White River Jct., Vt./Hartford), Tom Frasca (Medfield, Mass./Medfield), Harris Middel (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchil) and Granger Jewett (Summit, N.J./Summit).