Congrats to Boston University

The Boston University women's soccer team finished off a historic season with a 4-0 win over Maine in the America East Championship game. Here are some highlights and interview from the win. AExtra would like to congratulate the Terriers on the victory.

Stony Brook Men's Lacrosse to support HEADstrong Foundation

While many college students across the country will be participating in "No Shave November", the men's lacrosse team at Stony Brook will be participating in a much more worthy cause. In order to support the HEADstrong Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for all blood cancers, the men's lacrosse will be growing out mustaches during the month of November. Here is the release from Stony Brook athletics, which gives some more detail on the HEADstrong Foundation:

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook men's lacrosse team will grow mustaches in the month of November in support of the HEADstrong Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for all blood cancers.
Individuals from high schools, organizations and lacrosse organizations will be sporting mustaches to support a foundation started by Nick Colleluori, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before passing away in 2006. HEADstrong's mission is to fund cancer research and provide support to families and survivors of blood cancer.
To support Stony Brook's cause in this, visit stashmadness.org and click on team roster. There, one will find Stony Brook Lacrosse. All donations are tax deductible.

Blogger Polls

Before I present my rankings I wish to clarify one point. My America East men’s basketball rankings were done with the assumption that Stony Brook junior Tommy Brenton will not be playing this season. If the injured Brenton is allowed to play this season, and is at least at 50% healthy, then Stony Brook would be at the top of my rankings.

Men’s

1. Boston University- New faces dominate this Boston University team. The Terriers do return three starters in Jeff Pelage and America East preseason first team players John Holland and Jake O’Brien. Can this be the BU team that fulfills their lofty expectations and partake in the big dance? The x-factor for this Terriers team is all the new faces. Transfers Matt Griffin, Darryl Partin, and Patrick Hazel should all get significant playing time, but fans do not know what to expect from them. There are also several intriguing freshman whose immediate impact is in question, but will certainly be the face of the team in seasons to come. Look for D.J. Irving and Dom Morris to get the most playing time among the freshman. My sleeper to keep an eye out for is Darryl Partin. Watch for him to come off the bench, much like Corey Lowe did last season, and be the Terriers’ third scoring threat as the team punches their ticket to the big dance.

Hitting The Links: Championship Style

With two fall champions set to be named this weekend, as well as the beginning of the men's soccer championship, we decided that this would be the perfect time for a championship edition of The Links.

At this moment, the semifinal round of the Field Hockey Championship is in full swing, with the No. 1 seed New Hampshire facing the No. 4 seed Maine. The Bangor Daily News previewed the matchup, with some great quotes from the Black Bears head coach Josette Babineau.

In the other semifinal encounter, the No. 2 Albany Great Danes take on No. 3 Boston University. The Daily Free Press not only previews this match up, but also breaks down each of the four participants and also discusses the Play-in game for the winner of the America East Championship.

Newman's Own Profiled on MSNBC

Over the past two years, Newman's Own and the America East have developed a strong relationship. For the second consecutive year, Newman's Own Inc. will sponsor the men's and women's basketball championships in Hartford, Conn. (click here for full release), while also working with each of the nine campuses for the Campus Community Service Challenge.

This commitment to community service was recently profiled on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, as part of the Making a Difference segment. This segment is courtesy of msnbc.com. AExtra encourages everyone to watch the clip as it will help develop a strong appreciation for the dedication Newman's Own has for the community.

Why We Do What We Do

People often ask me about my job. What is the role of the conference office? What is the most satisfying part of it? While aspects of the answer tend to vary, one constant is the gratification of serving the student-athletes by providing the nearly 3,400 of them with the best college athletic experience possible.

This weekend certainly embodies everything we are about. Starting at 3 p.m. today, six America East Championship contests will be held over a 30-hour span giving seven schools, 10 teams and approximately 220 student-athletes a championship experience. For two teams, the end result will be an America East Championship. One will automatically earn an NCAA berth, the other a chance to earn a bid in an NCAA play-in game Tuesday.

Replacing Brenton Requires Team Effort for Stony Brook

If you are a casual fan of America East basketball, it wouldn’t be difficult to find yourself starting to feel sorry for Steve Pikiell and the Stony Brook Seawolves. Following a banner season, in which the Seawolves set Division I program records in wins (22) and also won their first America East regular season title, it seemed that everything was set heading into the 2010-11 season and beyond.

However, with just a week remaining before the start of the season, Pikiell and his coaching staff face the challenge of incorporating four newcomers into roles they never figured they would have to play this season. Unfortunately, injuries have been the theme of the preseason for Stony Brook. Two projected starters have already been lost to serious injuries, and even Pikiell hasn’t been immune from catching the injury bug.

“It has been a weird preseason for us,” Pikiell explained. “I went down first with an injury, and then Tommy Brenton is out for probably the whole season, and then Marcus Rouse, who is another one of my top five players, is out after having knee surgery on Friday. It’s been a weird preseason and hopefully we are getting a lot of these negative things done now so that we can move forward.”

Four Seniors Selected to Play in 2010 NFHCA Division I Senior Game

With four teams either ranked, or at least receiving votes, in the latest NFHCA Top 20 poll, the America East is in the process of putting together a banner year in Field Hockey. The achievements on the field have been recognized at a national level, as four seniors were recently selected to play in the 2010 NFHCA Division I Senior Game (Click here for Full List of Participants). The four America East student-athletes selected to play in this prestigious event are:

Suzy Clephane- University at Albany

Kara Connolly- University of New Hampshire

Maire Dineen- University of Maine

Allie Dolce- Boston University

In The Polls - Wednesday, November 3

We have a lot to cover in the first November edition of "In The Polls."

The big news is the Boston University soccer teams as the men's and women's teams each entered one of the national polls this week.

The Terrier women (15-5 overall record, 8-0 in America East) entered the Soccer America poll at #22, the first time they have been nationally-ranked since 2006. Boston U. will be vying for the America East Championship crown Saturday at 1p against #6 Maine (9-8, 3-5) (Free video stream of the game HERE!) They are also tied for 4th in the NSCAA Northeast Region going into this weekend's game.

The Boston U. men's team (11-4-1, 6-1-0) is #30 in the College Soccer News poll. The same organization tabbed Terrier senior Aaron O'Neil a member of the National Team of the Week through games of Sunday. The Terriers, who have a quarterfinal bye for the America East Championship, also landed in a tie for 7th in the coaches' Northeast Regional top-10, along with UMBC (10-4-2, 4-1-2) which is ranked 9th.

UMBC Swimming and Diving Sweeps Boston U.

Here's video of the 200-yard medley relay from UMBC women's swimming and diving vs. Boston University on Oct. 30 at the UMBC Natatorium. The relay team (lane 5) of Kathryn Moorby, Talor Tadena, Sarah Ryan and Ashley Miller broke the pool record in a time of 1:46.09. The previous record was set by UMBC two weeks earlier with a time of 1:46.70. The Retrievers went on to defeat their America East rivals 156-144

Basketball Season is Offically (Well not Quite) here

Over the weekend, both the men's and women's basketball teams at University of Vermont opened up the exhibition season. The men's basketball team hosted Concordia, while the women's team hosted Saint Anselm. Here are some highlights from both games courtesy of UVM athletic.


Men's Basketball




Women's Basketball

Blogger Polls

Men's

1. Boston University
2. Maine
3. UNH
4. Stony Brook
5. Vermont
6. Hartford
7. Binghamton
8. UMBC
9. Albany

Boston University, Maine, UNH, and Stony Brook could all have interchangeable positions as the season goes on. Those four teams have a strong core of experienced and talented players. As of now though, Boston U. is the favorite, with senior guard/forward John Holland leading the way for the Terriers. Maine will rely on guard Gerald McLemore's outside shooting prowess, while UNH returns arguably its three best players from last year in seniors Alvin Abreu, Tyrone Conley and Dane DiLiegro. Stony Brook will have to replace 2010 America East Player of the Year Muhammad El-Amin, but the Seawolves have the depth and talent to do just that.

Last year's tournament champion Vermont will be hurt by the loss of four starters, including two-time America East Player of the Year Marqus Blakely. But the Catamounts will not fall far from the top spot with strong coaching, a solid program foundation and Preseason All-Conference Selection Evan Fjeld. Senior forward Greer Wright will have to carry the load for a Binghamton team that is still getting on the right track. Both Albany and UMBC will look to rebound from rough conference records last year.

UNH: The Wildcats did not lose any key players from last year's graduating class, maintaining a core that has made it to the semifinals of the America East tournament in each of the last two seasons. It is arguably the deepest team 6^th year head coach Bill Herrion has ever fielded while at UNH.

Senior captains Alvin Abreu and Tyrone Conley will continue to provide solid scoring from the guard and small forward positions. Conley, barring injury, will join Abreu this year as one of only 28 Wildcats to score 1000 points in their career. At the center position, senior Dane Diliegro is a defensive presence who rebounds as well as any big man in the league (8.1 rpg last year) and can provide some scoring in the post as well.

Sophomore forward Ferg Myrick is another key component to this deep UNH roster. Myrick was impressive down the stretch last season on his way to making the All-Rookie Team. With the ability to play both the small forward and power forward spot, the 6'6 Myrick is a versatile scorer with All-Conference potential. Classmate Chandler Rhoads will likely man the starting point guard position this year for UNH. Rhoads is an imposing point guard at 6'4 and has the ability to get to the basket at will with his quickness and strength. Both sophomores will be crucial to UNH's success this season.

The Wildcats will also need contributions from forwards Brian Benson and James Valladeres, as well as center Chris Matagrano and guard Ryan Herrion, to be successful. Those four will give UNH a strong bench. The incoming freshman class of Jordan Bronner, DeAndre Buckley and Scott Morris have impressed Coach Herrion thus far in the preseason and could have an impact for the Wildcats this season.

In past years, UNH's success has lied in its defensive play, as the Wildcats gave up just 62.4 points per game last season. This year, in order to rise to the top of America East, UNH needs to become better at scoring the ball. With the likes of Abreu, Conley and Myrick on the court, putting the ball in the basket should not be a problem for the Wildcats this season.

Interview with Jessica Luscinski following 2-0 win

Boston University athletics was able to catch up with junior forward Jessica Luscinski following the 2-0 win over Albany. The victory clinched a spot for the Terriers in the America East Championship game.

Highlights from Maine vs. Stony Brook

Here are the highlights from women's soccer action between Maine and Stony Brook. The No. 6 Black Bears picked up the big road victory to advance to the America East Championship game.

Senior Leadership Could Lead New Hampshire to Historic Season

During his first five years as the men’s basketball coach at New Hampshire, Bill Herrion has diligently worked to get a full roster of players that can fit his system and style of play. Heading into this season, Herrion and his staff finally have the experience that has been slowly gathering since the current group of seniors stepped foot on campus four years ago. After reaching the America East Conference tournament semifinals in back-to-back seasons, there is a sense that this could be the season that the Wildcats take the next step and bring home the America East Championship

In order for New Hampshire to reach these lofty expectations, it will have to rely on the experience of four seniors who each have played key roles in the rise of the program. Through the work that has gone into building and developing the program at UNH, Herrion has been impressed by the dedication and improvement of his key senior leaders.

“I think anytime that you have a group of veteran players that take on your personality as a coach, I think that is always a positive,” explained Herrion. “I’ve been really fortunate here at UNH. When we turned this program over about four years ago, we really made a lot of changes, and really the first class we brought in, those are the guys that are seniors now. When they came in here as freshmen about four years ago, we only had nine or ten guys in the program. With Alvin (Abreu) and Tyrone (Conley), since the day they stepped foot on campus as freshmen, they have been two of the hardest working players I have been around in my 20 years as a Division I head coach.”

After being forced to rely on young talent due to the lack of players on the roster, Herrion finally has a full group that is a mixture of experience and youth. It’s this blend of talent across the roster that has UNH fans thinking this group could be capable of putting together a special season.

“If you are going to be good and you are going to have a successful season, you need good veteran players,” emphasized the sixth-year coach. “It’s hard to compete at a championship level with young guys. What we did with these guys, and I hope that it is paying dividends now, is when they came on campus, we threw them right into the fire. They had to play because we had no bodies. We have kind of ridden them and lived with them ever since. Now that they are seniors it is their time. I think you have a good program when the older guys hand down the work ethic to the younger guys in the program and I hope this leadership translates into wins.”

The combination of Alvin Abreu and Tyrone Conley gives UNH arguably the most experienced and talented backcourt in the America East. With all the experience they have gathered throughout their careers, Herrion expects to ride this duo as far as it can take the team this season.

“I think the number one thing they provide is leadership,” Herrion said. “With Alvin and Tyrone, they have to play like seniors. I have told them that they need to act and play like seniors. They have to improve their shooting percentages. It’s going to be hard because they both are going to be marked men when we play other teams. So, their maturity and how they handle that is going to be very important. I have always been a firm believer that you get out of this game what you put into it. Both of these kids have put a lot of time into their game.”

While much of the attention is paid to Abreu and Conley because of their ability to score the basketball, senior center Dane DiLiegro does much of the dirty work that often goes unnoticed by casual fans. However, his size and presence in the paint is vital to the success of this team.

“I think to be good, and to try and win a championship, you have to have a combination of inside/out,” Herrion told AExtra. “We have been relying on too much perimeter play at UNH as our inside game has developed. We have taken a lot of three’s, and I don’t think you can ultimately win at the end of the year being a three-point shooting team. You have to have a balance on offense. With Dane, when he came here as a freshman, he was not a heavily-recruited kid and I think his basketball experience was a little bit behind. However, the two things he has always had since day one are a very high motor, which can be hard to find in big kids, and he has been a very good rebounder. Now, he has improved offensively and I think we trust him a little more inside with the ball.”

Instead of ignoring the buzz and expectations surrounding the team this season, Herrion has embraced the fact that this group has the potential to be special. With that said, this team needs to play with a veteran moxie and confidence in order to reach the NCAA Tournament.

“We have to now finally play like a veteran and experienced college basketball team,” Herrion emphasized. “We have not had that effort on a consistent basis the past couple of years because we have had to play a lot of young guys. We have had to live with the young guys because we just haven’t had a lot of bodies. I tell the kids everyday that our focus, concentration and commitment to being a better basketball team has to be at an all-time high. If we can get that, we will have a chance to do something special.”

There is a genuine sense that this season has the potential to be something the fans in Durham, N.H. will remember for a long time. No matter how much talent any team has, it’s impossible to emphasize how important experience is at every level of athletics. Abreu, Conley and DiLiegro know the system and expectations that this coaching staff has and are capable of leading the Wildcats to an NCAA Tournament berth.