CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- A pair of repeat winners from the top two teams during the regular season take claim to the final Player and Defensive Player of the Week awards. Boston U. junior attack Danielle Etrasco (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) takes home her second Player of the Week honor, while Stony Brook junior midfielder Demmianne Cook (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown East) brings in the Defensive Player of the Week. Cook's teammate freshman midfielder Amber Kupres (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) picks up her first Rookie of the Week award.
Etrasco ensured Boston U. claimed the America East Regular Season title outright with a nine-point performance in the 18-16 win at Binghamton in the regular-season finale. The junior notched five goals and a career-high four assists while also collecting six draw controls.
Etrasco closed out the regular season having scored at least one goal in every game. She is second in the league with 55 goals and 76 points on the season.
Cook, who also leads the nation in goals, posted a strong defensive effort in the Seawolves' 12-10 win over New Hampshire on Saturday. The junior midfielder collected season highs of six ground balls and four caused turnovers, and controlled five draws. She helped Stony Brook limit UNH to one goal in the second half, while also scoring four points with a hat trick and an assist on the offensive end.
Kupres scored two goals, collected two ground balls, caused two turnovers and controlled a draw in Stony Brook's 12-10 conference win. The freshman netted the first goal and the final goal of the game, put five shots on goal, and was part of the Seawolves' defense which held UNH to a single tally in the second half.
Kupres is tied for fourth on the team in goals this season.
The 2012 America East Women's Lacrosse Championship gets underway Thursday, May 3 and the champion will be crowned live on ESPN3 on Saturday, May 5. The winner will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament's field of 16 teams.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (10-5, 3-3 AE) grabbed the fourth and final spot in the America East tournament with a win over Vermont 12-10... Ariana Parker (Port Ewen, N.Y./ Kingston) and Jess Antelmi (Bridgeport, N.Y./Chittenango) each tallied four points in the victory over the Catamounts... Parker and Rachel Burek (Rensselaer, N.Y./ Columbia) each had three goals for the Great Danes... Anna Berman (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) had eight saves on 18 chances in net to secure the fourth seed for Albany... The Great Danes will look to avenge their loss to Boston U. earlier this season in the semifinals on Thursday, May 3 at Nickerson Field... The Great Danes are 4-2 on Nickerson Field against the Terriers, defeating them in the 2007 America East Semifinals 10-7.
Binghamton (3-12, 0-6 AE) concluded its season last week with a pair of home losses, falling to No. 12/13 Cornell 17-8 and battling first-place Boston University but coming up short 18-16... Against the 12th-ranked team in the nation, the Bearcats pulled within two midway through the first half, but the Big Red closed out the opening frame on a 4-0 run to take control of the game... Junior attack Kimberly McGeever (Northport, N.Y./Northport) led the Bearcats with a pair of goals and assists... Versus Boston, Binghamton gave the league-leaders fits throughout a high-scoring first half that witnessed six ties and five lead changes... Boston held an 11-9 advantage at the break, but Binghamton scored the final frame's first two goals to even the game... The Bearcats took a 14-13 lead with 14:48 remaining, but the Terriers responded with a 4-0 run and hung on for the victory... Junior Katherine Hunsberger had a game-high six goals to lead Binghamton... During the game McGeever set the Binghamton single-season record for assists with 33.
Boston U. (11-5, 6-0 AE) completed its first perfect America East season since 2009, as the Terriers improved to 6-0 with a win over Binghamton and clinched the outright America East regular-season title... Boston U. will host fourth-seeded Albany .. The Terriers have never lost to Binghamton, improving to 11-0 all-time over the Bearcats with Saturday's win... Junior Danielle Etrasco (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) had a career-high four assists and matched a career high with nine points... She also notched nine points against Vermont on April 30, 2011... Boston U. has won 10 of its last 11 games and has not lost a road game since March 7... Boston U. controlled 24 of the 37 draws against Binghamton on Saturday and eight different Terriers controlled at least one draw... Boston U. caused nine of Binghamton's 14 turnovers... Mallory Collins, Etrasco and Kristen Mogavero have each scored at least one goal in each game they have played this season.
For the second time this season, UMBC (8-8, 3-2 AE) knocked off a ranked opponent, as the Retrievers defeated No. 19 Johns Hopkins 7-6 on April 25 at Homewood Field... Senior midfielder Alicia Krause (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) scored four goals, including the game-winning goal with 7:30 remaining... Krause converted all three free position attempts... She reached the 30-goal plateau for the second consecutive season and now has 153 career points... No other Retriever scored multiple points in the game, but junior midfielder Lindsday Cox (High Bridge, N.J./Voornees) did score her 40th goal of the season...Freshman goalkeeper Anna Barnett (Midland, Texas/Midland) went the distance and improved to 5-2 on the season... UMBC played in six games decided by single goal during the regular season and went 2-4 in those decisions... For the third consecutive year, the Retrievers will take part in the America East Championships... The Retrievers have reached the title game in each of the past two seasons.
UNH (5-10, 2-4 AE) built a 9-5 halftime lead but was outscored 7-1 in the second half to fall 12-10 on the road to Stony Brook on April 28… UNH entered the game with a 4-0 record when leading at halftime… With the loss, the Wildcats were eliminated from postseason contention and it ended their league record of consecutive tournament appearances at 14 years (1998-2011)… Ilana Cohen (Andover, Mass./Andover) recorded her 50th career assist with the second of her two assists… Amber Casiano (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) recorded three goals and two assists for a season-high five points; the two assists matched a career high… Casiano was also credited with two ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control, and was named UNH’s America East Player of the Game… Taylor Hurwitz (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) tallied a career-high 10 saves… Kate Keagins (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) extended her point streak to 20 games with two assists, but her goal streak ended at 17… Laura Puccia (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) extended her goal-scoring streak to nine games with three tallies. Puccia was UNH’s top point producer (18pts; 15g 3a) in America East conference games… Kayleigh Hinkle (Glenelg, Md./Glenelg) matched her personal bests in both goals (two) and points (three)… UNH concludes the 2012 season May 1 at nationally-ranked Boston College.
Stony Brook (13-4, 5-1 AE) came back from a four-goal, halftime deficit to defeat New Hampshire 12-10 and finish the regular season with 13 wins overall and five in America East, matching the 2007 team for best records in program history... SBU went 8-1 at home, the best home record in program history... The team's current five-game home winning streak also matches the 2007 team for the program's longest... The four-goal deficit represents the team's largest comeback victory of the season... The Seawolves will enter the America East Championship as the No. 2 seed, looking for their first-ever tournament victory and tournament championship... Junior Claire Petersen (Wantagh, N.Y.) scored the game-tying and game-winning goals vs. UNH as part of a seven-point day. It was Petersen's sixth hat trick of the season, the 10th time she's assisted on three or more goals and the ninth time she's totaled six or more points. She leads the nation in points per game at 6.20... Junior Demmianne Cook (Nesconset, N.Y.) also posted three goals vs. UNH for her 12th hat trick of the season. Cook also had a season-high six ground balls, five draw controls and a season-high four caused turnovers. Cook leads the nation in goals with 66... Junior Janine Hillier (Farmingdale, N.Y.) also notched a hat trick with three goals, her ninth hat trick of the year, four of them coming during conference play... Stony Brook will battle UMBC in the America East Championship semifinals. A win will put SBU in the title game for the first time ever against either Boston U. or Albany.
Vermont (9-8, 2-4 AE) tied the school record for most wins in a season (9) for the fourth time in program history and the second time under head coach Jen Johnson… Vermont's senior class of Laura Barber (Middlebury, Vt./Middlebury), Caitie Izzo (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow), Natalie Jones (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga), Allison Pfohl (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna), Adison Rounds (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) and Samantha Stern (Cherry HIll, N.J./Cherry Hill East) finished their careers with 30 wins, the most by a four-year class in the history of the program… Stern finished the season with 41 assists, setting a new UVM single-season mark. She also set a new single-season school record for points with 68 on the year… Stern, Pfohl and Sydney Mas (Bedford, N.Y./St. Georges) each reached the 100-point milestone during the 2012 campaign… Stern finished her career with 161 points and Pfohl with 113 points… Izzo, Jones and Stern played in their 66th career games Saturday, second all-time at UVM… Rounds closed out her career with 122 draws, just the third player in school history to record 100 or more draws… Barber is just the fourth goalkeeper in program history to record 20 wins and the third with over 300 saves.