CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - After a weekend, which saw America East's women's soccer teams go 9-6-1, a pair of student-athletes who led their teams to wins are America East's weekly award winners for the week ending Sept. 3, which were announced Tuesday afternoon.
University of Hartford's Amelia Pereira racked up seven points in just two games to earn the Player of the Week award while Lauren Swant was perfect in between the pipes in leading University of Maine to two wins and is the Rookie of the Week as a result.
Pereira (Madeira Island, Portugal) scored three of Hartford's six goals on the week and added an assist to pick up her second career weekly honor. The junior striker, who was a first-team all-conference choice last year, scored Hartford's lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Yale on Friday. She then tallied her first multi-goal game of the season and added an assist in routing previously unbeaten St. Joseph's, 5-2, on Sunday. Pereira headed home a feed from Sidney Spremullo in the 17th minute, which proved to be the game winner, and added an insurance tally in the 60th minute. Pereira's five-point game is the first in America East since Oct. 20, 2011 when Maine's Christine DuBuc had seven.
Swant (Oakville, Ontario) recorded a pair of shutouts as the Black Bears won a pair of 1-0 contests at the Sleep Inn Bulldog Classic over the weekend. The freshman goaltender kept South Carolina State scoreless on Friday by making seven saves before teammate Nikki Misener found the back of the net in overtime ('104) to win it. Swant, who played every second in goal during the two games, then made a pair of stops in Sunday's win over Francis Marion.
In addition to the wins by Hartford and Maine, Albany downed UNC-Asheville, 6-3, Binghamton beat Lehigh, 4-0, Boston U. upended Monmouth 2-0 then tied Harvard 2-2, UMBC picked up its first win a 5-0 rout of St. Peter's and Stony Brook extended its win streak to four and unbeaten streak to five with wins over Army (1-0) and Yale (2-1).
2012 America East Women's Soccer Weekly Award Winners
Aug. 20 - Player of the Week: Brea Hewitt (Boston U.); Rookie of the Week: Aley Leonardi (Stony Brook)
Aug. 27 - Player of the Week: Caitlin Pfeiffer (Stony Brook); Rookie of the Week: Elise Galipo (Hartford)
Sept. 3 - Player of the Week: Amelia Pereira (Hartford); Rookie of the Week: Lauren Swant (Maine)