CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Undefeated University of New Hampshire received quite a bit of scoring last week from senior forward Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park), Tuesday's recipient of the America East Player of the Week Award. The Wildcats have now won each of the season's first two awards. University of Maine freshman back Annabelle Hamilton (North Vancouver, British Columbia/Carson Graham Secondary) also took home the Rookie of the Week accolade after lifting the Black Bears to two wins, including an upset over nationally-ranked Boston College.
Rausch scored big numbers last weekend to give UNH wins over Ivy League and Big East squads, and send the Wildcats to their highest national ranking since 1998. The senior forward finished the week with 13 points on six goals and an assist despite limited second-half playing time in both weekend games.
Rausch notched a hat trick with three tallies on Friday against Brown, then a seven-point afternoon with three more goals and an assist at Providence on Sunday. After the Friars scored the first goal, Rausch scored back-to-back goals spanning just 2:21 to give the Wildcats a lead they would hang on to.
Hamilton made her presence felt last week for the Black Bears with three goals, including the overtime gamewinner over 14th-ranked Boston College last Tuesday. The game-winning goal 2:21 into the extra session against the Eagles marked Hamilton's first collegiate goal. In Sunday's win over Bryant, the rookie set two more career firsts with her first multi-score game (two goals) and her first defensive save.
After an
impressive 11-1 week for America East field hockey squads which included
two wins over top-15 teams, five out of the six conference teams are
either ranked or receiving votes in the weekly NFHCA Division I Coaches'
Poll. Boston University moved up from #19 in the preseason poll to #11
in today's poll, while UNH entered the poll in the #12 spot. #16 Albany
rounds out the ranked teams, while both Maine (98 votes) and University
of Vermont (8) have made impressions on coaches in 2011.
Team Notebooks:
No. 16 Albany (3-1 overall, 0-0 in America East) went 2-1 in the last three games, with two straight wins in the trip to Evanston, Illinois… Senior forward Christina Patrick (Reading, Pa./Reading Catholic) scored three goals and recorded the game-winning goal in the match with Northwestern in the 69th minute for a 2-1 final score… Corrine McConville (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton), last year’s conference rookie of the year, registered two goals and three assists with nine shots… Sophomore Daphne Voormolen (Rotterdam, Netherlands/Erasmiaans Gymnasium) had two helpers and nine shots… Freshman Karlijn van Dijsseldonk (Eindhoven, Netherlands/Sondervick College) had two assists in the win over VCU… Graduate student Katharina Helling (Hamburg, Germany/Aquinas) tallied her second goal in the 3-1 victory over VCU, both gamewinners as a Great Dane… Junior goalkeeper Kristi Troch (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) has played every minute this season, improving her record to 3-1. Troch recorded eight saves last week and has a 1.25 goals against average… Albany, currently ranked in a tie for No. 16 in the NFHCA national poll, will travel to No. 4 Connecticut on Saturday before returning home on Sunday for a match with Yale.
No. 11 Boston University (3-1, 0-0 AE) was victorious in its first two home games of the season, posting a 5-1 victory over Providence on Friday before topping No. 13 Michigan State, 3-1, on Sunday... Juniors Macey Gaumond (Warren, Mass/Quaboag) and Jacinda McLeod (Whangarei, New Zealand/Whangarei Girls) scored in both contests to extend their goal-scoring streak to three games each... Freshman Valentina Cerda (Santiago, Chile/Deutsche Schule Santiago) made her first collegiate start on Sunday and picked up the win against the Spartans after making two saves in Friday's triumph... Sophomore Dana Centofanti (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) and redshirt freshman Anne Fruitema (Den Haag, Netherlands/American School of Paris) recorded their first collegiate points on Friday as each registered a goal and an assist versus the Friars... Senior Kate Murphy (Millbury, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) scored her first goal of the season against Providence and the assist on the tally came from redshirt freshman Nell Burdis (Salt Point, N.Y./Millbrook School), who notched her first collegiate point... Senior Julie Collins (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) earned the win in goal against Providence... Senior Andrea Greene (Santiago, Chile/Universidad Diego Portales) scored the game-winning goal in the win over Michigan State... The Terriers will host crosstown rival Boston College on Friday (Sept. 9) at Jordan Field.
The Stags (2-1, 0-0 AE) improved to 2-1 with a one-goal victory against Siena College on September 1, the team’s only game of the week... Marit Westenberg scored both goals in that victory, giving her three of the team’s four goals scored through the first three games. She has a team-high seven points… Freshman Sarah Wickles places second on the team with three points, picking up the assist on the game-winning goal against Siena. She has scored a point in two of her first three games as a Stag, scoring a goal in the Saint Joseph’s game…Goalkeeper Caitlin O’Donnell played a scoreless first half against Siena before yielding to Maddy Sposito in the second half. O’Donnell has given up just two goals this season in 175 minutes of work, both of those scores coming against nationally-ranked Drexel University. She owns a 0.80 goals against average and a .750 save percentage with six saves and two goals allowed in 175 minutes of work… Fairfield plays its home opener on Wednesday when it hosts Hofstra University on September 7 at 4 p.m. The game is the first of three home games for the Stags, as they will host Radford University and St. Francis College on September 9 and 11, respectively.
Maine (3-1, 0-0 AE) pushed its winning streak to three games with victories over #14 Boston College and Bryant... The Black Bears were able to battle back and pick up a huge road win over #14 Boston College on Tuesday... Senior captain Stephanie Gardiner (Vancouver, British Columbia) tied the game at 3-3 with just 1:10 remaining in the second half. Freshman Annabelle Hamilton (North Vancouver, British Columbia) then notched her first career goal, the overtime gamewinner, 2:21 into the extra frame to give the Black Bears a 4-3 overtime win... Alexa Binnendijk (Den Haag, Holland) and Hamilton each added a pair of goals as Maine rolled over Bryant, 7-3, on Sunday... Kelly Newton (Vancouver, British Columbia) had a goal and two assists against Boston College and an assist against Bryant to push her points streak to 11 consecutive games dating back to Oct. 10, 2010. Newton also picked up her 120th career point on Sunday and needs just three goals to become Maine's all-time goals leader (47)... The Black Bears pressured Bryant for the full 70:00 minutes as Maine racked up a total of 19 penalty corners in the game to go along with 24 shots... Maine's offense continues to click as the Black Bears are now averaging 5.2 goals per game and have racked up 58 points on 21 goals and 16 assists... Maine will look to continue its winning streak with a home contest on Wednesday against Dartmouth before traveling for a pair of games in the Catamount Classic on Saturday and Sunday.
No. 12 UNH (4-0, 0-0 AE) remained undefeated in 2011 with a 5-0 victory against Brown in its home opener followed by a 6-1 win at Providence… The Wildcats have opened with four consecutive wins for the second consecutive year… UNH has not began a season with five straight W’s since 1984 (10-0)… In outscoring the opposition 11-1 last weekend, the Wildcats recorded a 50-9 shot advantage with a 22-10 edge in penalty corners… PC took a 1-0 lead to mark the first time the ‘Cats trailed in any game this year… Six different Wildcats recorded an assist against the Friars… Hayley Rausch (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) established a career high of three goals vs. Brown, then matched that total and recorded a career-high seven points at PC… A Wildcat had not posted a three-goal game since October 2009, and no ‘Cat had recorded back-to-back three-goal efforts since 1986 (Karen Geromini)… Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) ascended to #5 on UNH’s career points leaderboard with her five-point effort vs. Brown; it marked the second consecutive game Frates matched her personal bests in both goals (two) and points (five)… Frates enters this week with 94 career points and Rausch has 91 career points to rank #7… Katherine Nagengast (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) has stopped 16 of 19 shots on goal for a 0.86 GAA and .842 save percentage… UNH has outscored the opposition 19-3 through four games… The ‘Cats have scored 3+ goals in the first half of every game.
Vermont (2-2, 0-0 AE) went 2-0 last week after earning a pair of wins over Hofstra and Colgate… The Cats picked up their first victory of the year on Saturday in a neutral site game vs. Hofstra behind goals from senior Emily Bastiaanse (Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) and Colleen Slaughter (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City)… Slaughter broke a 1-1 tie 11:32 into the second half when she redirected a Whitlee Burghardt (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) shot in… Sophomore goalkeeper Stephanie Zygmunt (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) made 12 saves in the win for UVM… On Sunday the Catamounts won their second straight game by a 2-1 margin, but this time junior Taylor Silvestro (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) provided the dramatic finish with a goal 1:48 into double overtime. Silvestro set up the first goal of the day for UVM with an assist to Slaughter, as Slaughter now has a goal in three straight games and leads the Cats with six points on the year… For the third time this season Zygmunt recorded double digit saves, as she made 10 stops on Sunday… The contest marked the first overtime game of the season for the Catamounts … Vermont will return home to host the Sheraton Catamount Classic on September 10-11. St. Louis and Maine will open the classic on Saturday at 11 a.m., followed by UVM vs. Cornell at 2 p.m. On Sunday Cornell and Maine face-off (12 p.m.), while Vermont will host St. Louis starting at 2:30 p.m. in the finale.