CAMBRIDGE Mass.-- A stellar field hockey season continued last week as a pair of America East standouts each reached 100 points for their careers, sharing Player of the Week honors for the period ending September 11. University of New Hampshire senior forward Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) and University of Maine senior midfielder Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia/Crofton House School) each garnered the award. Boston University freshman goalkeeper Valentina Cerda (Santiago, Chile) put together a gritty outing to earn the conference's Rookie of the Week nod.
Frates recorded seven points (3 goals, 1 assist) to help UNH remain undefeated on the season. She recorded career highs in both goals (three) and points (six) to ignite a five-goal second-half at Dartmouth, giving the Wildcats a 4-1 lead in an eventual 5-2 win. On Saturday, the senior set up the first goal at home against Rutgers. UNH defeated the Scarlet Knights in overtime, 2-1. Frates' final goal against the Big Green on Sunday marked the 100 and 101st points of her career.
Gardiner finished the 3-0 week for the Black Bears with eight points on four goals, helping Maine capture Vermont's annual Catamount Classic. The midfielder notched two goals in a midweek home contest against Dartmouth, then struck the back of the cage twice more in the tournament-opener against St. Louis. Gardiner's 100th career point also came this weekend, on her first goal of the day against the Bilikens.
Cerda manned the Boston U. cage Friday night against #10 Boston College, putting together an outstanding effort with seven saves, including four in the first half. The only goal allowed came on a BC penalty corner shot which deflected off a Terrier stick. Cerda has a 0.83 GAA and .818 save percentage this season.
Team Notebooks:
No. 16 Albany (4-2 overall, 0-0 America East) split this week's contests in hard fought games... In the match against No. 4 Connecticut, the Great Danes' defense held the Huskies to eight shots and the lone goal came in the 61st minute... In the match with Yale, Christina Patrick (Reading, Pa./Reading Catholic) notched her second game-winning goal on the season (fifth overall) with the overtime tally... The Great Danes were trailing 3-1 in the 57th minute when Daphne Voormolen (Rotterdam, Netherlands/Erasmiaans Gymnasium) tallied off a penalty corner set-up by Patrick and Chantae Miller (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville)... The goal would spark a five shost-on-goal streak and, about ten minutes later, the equalizer... Corrine McConville (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) scored her second goal of the game when she received a crisp pass about five yards out from Voormolen... The Great Danes took a season-high 23 shots in the match... Goalkeeper Kristi Troch (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) made eight stops in the comeback win... Patrick and McConville have combined for 25 of the team's 45 points this season... Patrick has five goals and two assists (she registered 39 points last season, tying for first place in program single-season history), while McConville has five goals and three assists.
No. 11 Boston University (3-2, 0-0 AE) ended a three-game homestand on Friday, dropping a hard-fought 1-0 contest against No. 10 Boston College at Jordan Field... Freshman Valentina Cerda (Santiago, Chile/Deutsche Schule Santiago) earned her second consecutive start in goal and turned in a standout seven-save performance... The Eagles scored off a corner in the second minute... While looking for an equalizer, the Terriers did not allow BC to record a shot in the first 28 minutes of the second half... Juniors Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass./Quaboag) and Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls) had their three-game goal streaks come to an end... Boston U. will be on the road for the next four contests, beginning with a pair of games in Ann Arbor, Mich., next weekend... The Terriers will face Ball State on Friday (Sept. 16) before taking on No. 14 Michigan on Sunday (Sept. 18).
The Stags (4-2, 0-0 AE) went 2-1 last week during a three-game homestand... Fairfield fell to Hofstra, 4-2, in the home opener on Wednesday. Senior Marit Westenberg (The Hague, Netherlands/Maeriant Lyceum) notched a goal and an assist for the Stags... Fairfield then hosted Radford and St. Francis Saturday and Sunday in the Stag Classic, defeating both teams by 2-1 scores... Westenberg leads the team with 12 points on five goals and two assists... Freshman back Felicitas Heinen (Munich, Germany/Oskar-von-Miller Gymasium) is second for the Stags with seven points, including two goals and three assists, while making the start in all six games... Junior Maddy Sposito (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) has made the last three starts in net for the Stags, averaging better than four saves per game with a .696 save percentage... Fairfield is back out on the road for one contest this week, a 1 p.m. game at Lehigh on Saturday.
Maine (6-1, 0-0 AE) extended its winning streak to six games with a midweek victory over Dartmouth (7-3) and two wins in the annual Catamount Classic over St. Louis (8-0) and Cornell (2-0)... Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia) had a pair of goals against Dartmouth and St. Louis. Her first goal against St. Louis marked her 100th career point as a Black Bear joining Kelly Newton as current Black Bears with 100 career points... Gardiner now has 21 total points this season on nine goals and three assists... Fellow senior Jocelyn Mitchell (Kanata, Ontario) currently sits at 93 career points... Alicia Frisch (Calgary, Alberta) picked up her first career win in the cage with a shutout victory of St. Louis before Brittany Fleck shutout Cornell on Sunday... Maine has not given up a goal in its last 185:03 dating back to the first half of the Dartmouth game... Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia) notched a pair of goals to go with five assists this past week, extending her points streak to 14 games dating back to Oct. 10, 2010... Freshman back Zoe Berkey (Duncan, British Columbia) notched her first career goal on Saturday as 13 Black Bears have now recorded at least one point this season... The Black Bears were named the official winners of the Catamount Classic as they went 2-0 and had the greatest goal differential... Gardiner, Newton, Lelia Sacré (North Delta, British Columbia), and Alexa Binnendijk (Den Haag, Holland) were named to the All-Tournament team... Maine continues non-conference play as it travels to battle Providence on Friday at 2 p.m. before meeting Michigan State in Providence on Saturday at 2 p.m.
No. 12 UNH (6-0, 0-0 AE) entered the national polls at #12 last week to mark its highest ranking since September 1998 (#10)… The Wildcats extended their season-opening win streak to six games last weekend with a 2-1 overtime victory vs. Rutgers and a 5-2 win at intrastate rival Dartmouth… Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) became the third UNH Wildcat to attain the 100-point milestone with the last of her career-high three goals at Dartmouth; she has 36 goals and 29 assists for 101 points to rank #6 in goals, #2 in assists and #3 in points on the program’s all-time leaderboards… UNH scored five second-half goals at Dartmouth; it marked the highest total in a half since scoring five first-half goals vs. Davidson in September 2009… Through five games, Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) has factored in 13 of the team’s 26 goals. Rausch scored both goals in the OT win vs. Rutgers and scored her team-leading 10th goal of the season at Dartmouth; the 10 goals are already a personal single-season high… Kyle Lyons (White River Junction, Vt./Kimball Union) extended her point-scoring streak to five games with an assist on the game-winning goal vs. Rutgers… Lyons and Rausch have combined to record 58 shots and UNH has yielded a total of 46 shots to the opposition… The Wildcats have allowed six goals this season; both Rausch (10) and Frates (seven) have single-handedly outscored the opposing teams…. Megan Bozek (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Lakeland) recorded a defensive save vs. RU; it was her second of the season.
Vermont (4-2, 0-0 AE) won a pair of games last weekend as part of the Sheraton Catamount Classic… The Cats defeated Cornell 2-0 on Saturday as seniors Allison Barnaby (Hampton, N.H./Governor Dummer Academy) and Emily Bastiaanse (Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) each scored goals… Sophomore goalkeeper Stephanie Zygmunt (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) earned her first career shutout by making five saves… Vermont followed that up by topping St. Louis on Sunday 4-1 behind a pair of goals and an assist from senior Mackenzie Williams (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy)… Bastiaanse added a goal and an assist in the win, as UVM has now won six straight games in its own tournament and is 10-2 all-time… The win over St. Louis was the fourth straight for the Cats, marking the longest streak since they won five in a row to open the 2007 season… Williams and Zygmunt were joined on the all-tournament team by junior Taylor Silvestro (Walpole, Mass./Walpole)… Silvestro has now been named to the Sheraton Catamount Classic All-Tournament Team in each of her three years… The four goals scored were a season-high for UVM… Vermont returns to action this week with a pair of road games at Monmouth (Saturday, 12 p.m.) and Lafayette (Sunday, 1 p.m.).