CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- After a successful 2010 campaign, America East field hockey programs opened up 2011 with big wins, including University of New Hampshire's upset over sixth-ranked Ohio State. Wildcats' senior forward Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) played a big role in both of UNH's wins last week to take home the first America East Player of the Week honor this year. University at Albany freshman forward Karlijn van Dijsseldonk (Eindhoven, Netherlands) captured the Rookie of the Week award after making her collegiate debut in the Great Danes' season-opening victory.
Frates, a 2010 All-American, scored two goals and assisted on two others during the opening weekend of the 2011 season. She established the tone for the Wildcats' two-win weekend by setting up a goal 3:23 into the game against sixth-ranked Ohio State. UNH went on to defeat the Buckeyes, 3-1.
Frates then matched her career highs in both goals (two) and points (five) to propel the Wildcats to a 5-1 victory over Kent State, a team receiving votes in the national preseason poll.
Van Dijsseldonk helped 2010 America East Champion Albany win its season opener at Robert Morris on Saturday. The freshman scored her first collegiate goal to kick off the second half of the game, picking up a pass from just inside the circle and knocking it into the left side of the cage. Van Dijsseldonk, who made the start for the Great Danes, finished with two shots.
Team Notebooks:
No. 17 Albany (1-0, 0-0 AE) won its first game of the 2011 season, defeating Robert Morris, 5-0… Senior forward Christina Patrick (Reading, Pa./Reading Catholic) scored one goal and recorded two assists to lead the Great Danes… Freshmen Karlijn van Dijsseldonk (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and Amy Nicklin (Stockport, England) each scored their first collegiate goals… Daphne Voormolen (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and Corrine McConville (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton), last season’s Rookie of the Year, also each scored one goal… Albany outshot Robert Morris, 17-0, and held an 8-1 advantage on penalty corners… The Great Danes open up the 2011 home slate on Wednesday, hosting No. 20 Stanford at 5 p.m. at Alumni Turf Field.
No. 19 Boston University (1-1, 0-0 AE) opened the 2011 season at the Conference Cup, hosted by Temple University... The Terriers dropped a hard-fought 3-1 contest to defending national champion and top-ranked Maryland on Friday before coming back with a dominating 5-0 victory over Bucknell on Saturday... Boston U. and Maryland were virtually even through the first 30 minutes before the Terrapins struck with back-to-back goals in the closing minutes of the opening half... Senior Rachael White (Norfolk, Va./Maury) got the Terriers within one on a redirect in front of the cage off an assist by junior Leslie Zules (Killingworth, Conn./Haddam-Killingworth)... Junior goalkeeper Jess Maroney (Media, Pa./Penncrest) recorded five saves in her first collegiate start... On Saturday, juniors Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass./Quaboag) and Tabi Hatch (Green Lane, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) each recorded two goals to lead the Terriers to the shutout victory... Junior Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls) opened the scoring on a sixth-minute penalty stroke and assisted on Gaumond's first tally... Maroney teamed up with senior Julie Collins (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) and freshman Valentina Cerda (Santiago, Chile/Deutsche Schule Santiago) for the shutout in goal and Gaumond added a second-half defensive save... The Terriers will open their home schedule this weekend, beginning with a contest against Providence on Friday (Sept. 2) at Jordan Field... No. 13 Michigan State visits on Sunday (Sept. 4) for an 11 a.m. contest at Newton Campus Field.
The Fairfield Stags (1-1, 0-0 AE) opened their season with a win against Saint Joseph’s, the team’s first win in a season opener since a victory against UMass in 2005… Goalkeeper Caitlin O’Donnell, who appeared in five games last season, started both games for the Stags and picked up a shutout in the season opener. She made six saves in the two games and played all 140 minutes… Two Fairfield freshmen scored a goal in the opening weekend. Sarah Wickles tallied a goal in her first collegiate game which gave the Stags a 2-0 lead against the Hawks. Felicitas Heinen posted her first college goal in the 2-1 loss to 18th-ranked Drexel University… The Stags play their third road game in as many chances when they travel to Siena College on September 1. Fairfield’s first home game is September 7 against Hofstra, the first of three straight home games that week. The team will also host Radford (September 9) and St. Francis (September 11) to finish up the home stand.
Maine (1-1, 0-0 AE) split its opening weekend at home with a 3-2 loss on Friday night followed by an 8-0 win over Siena in a game moved from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night due to Hurricane Irene... Senior captain Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia) scored the first goal of the season for Maine as the Black Bears jumped out to an early 1-0 lead over Northeastern when Gardiner found the back of the cage just 1:10 into the season... Gardiner added a second goal against Northeastern and one against Siena, along with an assist, to give her a seven-point opening weekend... Maine exploded for eight goals against visiting Siena, its most goals since an 8-2 victory over Brown on Oct. 11, 2009... Freshmen Holly Stewart (North Vancouver, British Columbia), Hannah Keating (York, Maine) and junior Meghan Miller (Turner, Maine) each notched their first career goals in the win over Siena while senior Jocelyn Mitchell (Kanata, Ontario) tallied a pair of goals and an assist... Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia) brought her school record in career points to 115 with two assists against Northeastern and one against Siena. Newton now has a point in Maine's last nine games dating back to Oct. 10, 2010... Sydney Kolysher (White Rock, British Columbia) started her first career game in the cage for Maine and picked up the win against Siena... The Black Bears now travel to #14 Boston College for a Tuesday affair at 4 p.m.
UNH (2-0, 0-0 AE) opened the 2011 season with a 3-1 road victory against sixth-ranked Ohio State... Katherine Nagengast (Westborough, Mass.) matched her career high of 12 saves, including nine in the first half; she stopped 13 of 15 shots in the two games for an .867 save percentage and 1.12 GAA... It marked the Wildcats' first win vs. a top-10 team since defeating #7 Boston College in September, 1998... UNH then improved to 2-0 for the third time in five years with a 5-1 victory vs. Kent State in which the 'Cats recorded an 18-4 shot advantage... Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) recorded six points on the weekend, including a two-goal, one-assist effort vs. KSU to match her personal bests in both goals and points (five)... Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) scored the game-winning goal vs. OSU when she gave the 'Cats a 1-0 lead, then set up each of the first two goals vs. KSU... Kyle Lyons (White River Junction, Vt./Kimball Union) was the other 'Cat to record a point in both games with an assist in the opener and a goal against Kent State... Both Mackenzie and Kellie Joyce (South Pomfret, Vt./Kimball Union) recorded their first collegiate point with an assist vs. KSU; Kellie set up the team's second goal and Mackenzie had a helper on the fifth tally... Eleven Wildcats recorded a point opening weekend with seven different players tallying at least one assist.
Vermont (0-2, 0-0 AE) dropped its opening two games to start the 2011 campaign... The Cats fell to No. 14 Boston College, 5-1, on Friday and then lost to Massachusetts on Monday, 4-2... Senior Emily Bastiaanse (Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) scored UVM's lone goal against the Eagles off a corner with assists going to classmate Holly Davis (Greene, N.Y./Greene) and sophomore Sally Snickenberger (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley)... Sophomore Stephanie Zygmunt (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) recorded a career-high 15 saves in the loss... Vermont was scheduled to play UMass on Sunday, but due to Hurricane Irene that got pushed back to Monday... Senior Lauren Goracy (Glen Gardner, N.J./Voorhees) and sophomore Colleen Slaughter (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) each scored for the Cats, while Snickenberger picked up her second assist in as many games... Vermont returns to action this weekend when it travels to Hamilton, N.Y. for a pair of games starting on Saturday vs. Hofstra (2 p.m.) and then on Sunday against host Colgate (2 p.m.).