CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - After an opening weekend that saw America East men's soccer teams go an impressive 5-1-1, Boston University's Stephen Knox (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima College (HS)) and UMBC's Jordan Becker (Pocomoke, Md./Pocomoke) have been awarded with the first weekly honors of 2011. Knox earned Player of the Week recognition while Becker picked up Rookie of the Week accolades. The awards for the week ending Aug. 28 were announced Monday afternoon.
Knox earned his second career America East Player of the Week honor by netting both of Boston University’s goals in a 2-0 win at Holy Cross Friday. The senior forward, who also earned weekly accolades on Nov. 2, 2009, scored in the 10th and 66th minutes of the Terriers’ win, their first in a season opener since 2006. A first-team all-conference honoree last season, Knox now has 27 career points on eight goals and 11 assists in 53 career games.
In his college debut, Becker scored the only goal in UMBC’s 1-0 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday. The freshman forward, who was the only freshman starter in the UMBC lineup, knocked home a rebound off a free kick from Andrew Bulls in the 59th minute. The assist was Bulls’ 29th career helper, which set a new UMBC standard. The win was the Retrievers’ sixth straight in a season opener and extended their unbeaten streak to 10 dating back to last season.
In addition to Boston U. and UMBC picking up wins, Binghamton knocked off Bucknell, an NCAA tournament squad a year ago, 3-1, while New Hampshire upended Rhode Island, 2-1, and Vermont shut out Central Connecticut State, 2-0. Stony Brook and Lehigh played to a scoreless draw and Albany got edged by Hartwick, 2-1, to round out the first weekend's action.
Team Notes
Albany (0-1-0) fell to Hartwick, 2-1, on Saturday in its first action of the season ... The Great Danes will look ahead to the Hofstra Pride on Monday who they will face at Hofstra ... Jeff Pierre (North Miami Beach, Fla./University of Miami) tallied UAlbany’s only goal in the 81st minute to cut the deficit to one ... Adrian Foncette (Arima, Trinidad/ Fatima) played all 90 minutes of the match but was unable to record a save ... The Great Danes will look to visit Hofstra on Monday and then travel to New Jersey Tech on Thursday, Sept. 1.
Binghamton (1-0-0) won its third season opener in the last five seasons with its 3-1 win on August 26 against a Bucknell team that made the NCAA Tournament last year. In addition, the Bearcats have now won three season openers on the road since 2004 (at Marist in 2004 and at Radford in 2007) ... junior forwards Jake Keegan (Stormville, N.Y./John Jay) and Adam Whitehead (Rochdale, N.Y./Our Lady FC) each had a goal and an assist in the victory. Keegan’s three-point output ties his career-high, which he set against Boston University on Oct. 16, 2009. Whitehead, meanwhile, set his career high in the match ... Keegan now has 11 career goals in just over two seasons at Binghamton. After being named second-team all-conference as a freshman in 2009, he led the entire 64-team Professional Development League in scoring this past summer ... sophomore midfielder Tommy Moon (Endwell, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) scored the Bearcats’ first goal against Bucknell just 1:18 into the match. That represents the second-fastest goal the Bearcats have scored in their 10-year Division I era. Kyle Manscuk scored 1:14 into the Bearcats’ match against Lafayette on Sept. 17, 2011 ... since 2004, Binghamton has scored three goals three times in their season openers. The Bearcats beat Marist 3-2 on Sept. 1, 2004 and rallied to beat Syracuse 3-2 on Sept. 1, 2009 ... against Bucknell, Binghamton had three players make their first career start in a season opener for the first time since 2006. Senior Jerome Robinson (Manchester, Jamaica/West Virginia Tech) and sophomore Kevin Bunce (Hopewell, N.Y./John Jay) started in the backfield while freshman Tucker Sandercock (Bethlehem, Pa./Saucon Valley) got the nod at midfield.
Boston University (1-0-0) earned its first season-opening victory since 2006 by pulling out a 2-0 decision at Holy Cross on Friday night ... Senior Stephen Knox (Arima, Trinidad/Fatima College (HS)) led the Terriers with both goals ... The contest marked his second-ever multi-goal game ... In 2010, he only had one goal with six assists ... The Terriers started five freshmen, including goalkeeper Nick Thomson (Cramlington, England/Cramlington Learning Village) ... He posted four saves for the shutout ... Freshman Cameron Souri (Corona, Calif./Eleanor Roosevelt) assisted on Knox’s second goal ... Senior Ben Berube (Somerset, Mass./Somerset) earned the assist on the first goal ... The Terriers have two games this week, starting with a trip to No. 21 Monmouth on Thursday (Sept. 1) ... They then host St. John’s on Saturday (Sept. 3) at 7 p.m. as part of Terrier Tailgate ... In 2008, 5,935 fans attended Terrier Tailgate to watch the men host UMass.
Hartford’s (0-0-0) 2011 season opener on Saturday against the Fordham Rams was halted after nearly 58 minutes of play because of torrential rain fall and unplayable field conditions due to Hurricane Irene ... The match was recorded as a “no contest” and neither team’s overall records were affected ... Fordham rode a pair of first-half goals just seven minutes apart from each other however the Hawks came out of the intermission and connected on their first shot attempt of the second half in the 55th minute to put their first notch on the scoreboard for 2011 ... Sophomore Jon Gil (Rocky Hill, Conn./Rocky Hill) tracked down a corner kick off the boot of senior Jorge Rodriguez (East Hartford, Conn./East Hartford) and beat the Rams’ keeper to the left from just a few yards out to cut the visiting teams lead in half at 2-1 ... Just three minutes later, Hartford and Fordham were taken off the field and play did not resume ... Before the match was called, the Hawks and Rams were deadlocked in the shot column recording six attempts each. Senior keeper Luke Citriniti (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) rejected three shots in the match ... Hartford and first-year head coach Tom Poitras will get a second attempt at its season debut on Thurs., Sept. 1 (7 p.m.) when it hosts Siena under the lights of Al-Marzook Field for a non-conference clash.
UMBC (1-0-0) senior midfielder Andrew Bulls (Millersville, Md./McDonogh) set a school record for assists, initiating the lone goal of the game, as the host Retrievers edged Mount St. Mary’s, 1-0, in the opening game for both teams ... The contest was played in steady rain and was delayed by lightning for 42 minutes in the 73rd minute of play ... In the 59th minute, Bulls’ free kick from 27 yards out floated into the six-yard area, where sophomore forward Pete Caringi III (Perry Hall, Md./Calvert Hall) grazed it to the left of Mountaineer goalkeeper Peter Steve. Freshman forward Jordan Becker (Pocomoke, Md./Pocomoke) knocked it in to an unguarded net from three yards away ... The assist was the 29th of Bulls’ career, surpassing James Hamilton, who recorded 28 from 1998-2001 ... Bulls, a preseason All-American, finished third in the nation in 2010 with 15 helper s... The win extended UMBC’s unbeaten streak to ten, dating back to Oct. 15 of last season ... They also extended their winning streak to nine and unbeaten streak to 14 vs. the Mountaineers. UMBC leads the all-time series, 22-11-2 ... UMBC senior goalkeeper Dan Louisignau (Wilmington, Del./Concord/U. Virginia) was credited with just one save in posting his sixth career shutout in 14 starts for the Retrievers... UMBC outshot Mount St. Mary, 12-9... The game was originally scheduled to being at 7:00 p.m, but was moved up due to the arrival of Hurricane Irene ... UMBC has won six consecutive opening games and have not lost a home opener since 2002 ... 17 Retrievers saw action in the game ... Bulls tallied at least one point in all of his four contests vs. Mount St. Mary’s and compiled seven points (2g, 3a) against the in-state rivals ... The Retrievers play game No. 2 in their opening six-game homestand when they entertain St. Francis (N.Y.) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
New Hampshire (1-0-0) finished its first week of action 1-0 … The Wildcats took down the University of Rhode Island, 2-1, in the team’s opener Friday evening at Bremner Field … Sophomore back Ugochukwu Uche (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) notched the game-winning goal for the ‘Cats, scoring with 1:18 remaining in regulation … Senior midfielder Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) provided the early offense for the home team when he scored a goal at 57:58 on a feed from Robert Palumbo (Kingston, N.H./Sanborn Regional) … Freshman goalkeeper Travis Worra (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) collected two saves in his collegiate debut … The Wildcats return to action when they kick off a two-game homestand Sept. 1 against Iona College (7 p.m.) at Bremner Field.
Stony Brook (0-0-1) opened the 2011 regular season with a scoreless draw against Lehigh ... the game was rescheduled from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m., in anticipation of Hurricane Irene ... it was the first match under new head coach Ryan Anatol, who took over the program in February ... the team was led by senior Serigne Sylla (Dakar, Senegal), who played outstanding defense in helping the Seawolves record a shutout ... junior goalkeeper Stefan Manz (Bronx, N.Y.) only had to make two saves in the match to record his 10th career shutout ... junior forward Berian Gobeil Cruz (Montreal, Quebec) had two shots on goal, including one in overtime that Lehigh’s goalkeeper made a great save on to preserve the tie ... Sverre Ofstad (Oppegaard, Norway) was the only freshman to play and made an impact early with a shot on goal in the 11th minute that the Lehigh goalkeeper had to make a fantastic save on ... Stony Brook is back in action this weekend at the Duquesne Invitational, taking on Pittsburgh Friday and host Duquesne Sunday.
Vermont (1-0-0) opened the 2011 campaign with a 2-0 shutout victory at Central Connecticut ... Seniors Juan Peralta (Queens, N.Y./Ulster CC) and Yannick Lewis (Toronto, Ontario/Bramalea Secondary) each scored for UVM ... Junior Dave Ramada (Essex, Vt./Essex) made four stops to pick up his fourth career shutout in the UVM net ... Vermont improves to 6-1-1 in season openers under head coach Jesse Cormier (8th season) … The Catamounts opened the year on the road for the first time since 2008 (at Michigan State Tournament) ... UVM moves to 25-14-8 in season openers since 1964 … The Catamounts will play a rescheduled match at Rhode Island on Tuesday (Aug. 30) at 3 p.m.