Hitting the Links: America East and CFES

Good afternoon, AExtra fans.

So many times, when we talk about sports, we concentrate on successes and accomplishments on the field of play. Too many times, though, we forget that the sports world can have such an awesome impact off the field as well.

This is evident in college athletics, where the student-athlete must be exactly that... a student and an athlete. The student-athlete also gets the opportunity to use their status as an athlete to make an impact on the community.

That is exactly what took place on April 9, when all nine America East member schools took some time to give back, teaming up with College For Every Student for a day of service around the America East.

UMBC Women's Lacrosse edges Binghamton 9-8 to clinch spot in AEC Tourney

The UMBC women’s lacrosse team (10-5, 4-1 AE) defeated America East rival Binghamton (3-11, 1-3 AE) by a score of 9-8 Sunday afternoon in its final home game at UMBC Stadium to clinch a spot in the four-team America East Championships for the second year in a row. The Retrievers improve to 10-5 on the season, their best record after 15 games since 2002, when they were 11-4. In addition, after winning 11 games last season, UMBC has 10 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002-03, and the Retrievers’ four America East victories are their most since going 5-1 in 2006, the year they won a share of the league’s regular-season title. Here are highlights and post-game comments.

Wildcats upend Stony Brook at home

The saying goes 'quality over quantity.' On Saturday afternoon, the UNH women's lacrosse team flipped that phrase around to its own advantage.

The Wildcats peppered the Stony Brook net with 34 total shots on their way to a 12-6 win over the visiting Seawolves on a cold and windy Saturday at Memorial Field. It was the second most shots UNH had taken all season, as well as the least amount of goals allowed since the team's 20-4 win over Presbyterian on March 18.

“We took too many shots to get to 12 goals today, the shooting percentage wasn't as good as we've been working on, but we'll take the win,” head coach Michael Daly said. “That was a good America East win for us.”

The Wildcats got off to a hot start, scoring five straight goals to jump out to an early lead. Freshman Meghan Bridges started off the scoring at 29:26 before junior Hayley Rausch scored back-to-back goals to give UNH a 3-0 lead. Junior JoJo Curro scored yet another goal for the Wildcats at 23:21 before Curro's classmate Kate Keagins scored just ten seconds later.

But that is where the scoring binge ended, as the Wildcats did not score again until the final minutes of the first half. During that time, Stony Brook slowly crept back into the game, scoring three unanswered goals until UNH's Ilana Cohen finally ended the scoring drought with a goal at 2:16. As the Wildcats entered halftime with a 6-3 lead, Daly knew that the Wildcats needed to generate more quality scoring opportunities in the second half.

“I just told them to continue to be aggressive, and not to force things and to be smart about what we're doing with our shots and not just throw the ball at the net,” Daly said. “In the second half, we actually took the extra time to finish our shots and that was the difference.”

Nonetheless, both UNH and the Seawolves had trouble scoring to start the second half. A goal by Stony Brook's Samantha Djaha at 27:13 was the only goal for either team until Cohen finally struck the back of the net for UNH at 15:46. Eight seconds later, sophomore Jenny Simpson scored on a breakaway off the draw control to give UNH an 8-4 lead.

After a Stony Brook goal at 12:26, the Wildcats scored four straight to separate themselves from the Seawolves. Senior Allie Duclos started the run by diving straight in front of the Stony Brook net and and avoiding multiple defenders before firing a shot into the right side of the net at 10:11. A minute later, Keagins scored her second of the game to give UNH a 10-5 lead.

The Wildcats continued to control the ball, and Simpson struck again at 7:31. Cohen, who ended with three goals and two assists, scored at 3:35 for UNH's twelfth and final goal of the game. Stony Brook closed the scoring with a meaningless goal with 1:34 left in regulation.

Rausch matched Cohen's five points with two goals and three assists of her own, while Keagins, Duclos and Simpson all contributed multi-point efforts in the win.

“It was a huge win,” Rausch said, noting that the win keeps the Wildcats in the top four in the America East, keeping them in playoff contention.

In addition to the offensive efforts, sophomore goalkeeper Kathleen O'Keefe played all 60 minutes and matched her season-high with eight saves.

“The defense was huge, Kathleen made some great saves, some crucial saves at times that we definitely needed it,” Rausch said. “The defense played as a unit and I thought they did really well pressuring [Stony Brook].”

The Wildcats are now 7-6 overall and third place in the America East with their 2-2 conference record. The Seawolves fall to 4-9 overall and 1-4 in conference.

UNH will take on the University of Vermont next Saturday in the Wildcats' second-to-last home game of the season. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at Memorial Field.