Hitting the Links: 5/12/2011

Good afternoon, AExtra fans. We've made it all the way to Thursday of our Mad Mid-May week. Today, softball takes center stage at the BU Softball Field on the campus of Boston University. That is where the Terriers will host Albany, Binghamton and UMBC for the 2011 America East Softball Championship.

Heading into the tournament, the conference office released the All-Conference teams and individual awards. A pair of outfielders, Boston U.'s April Setterlund and Binghamton's Jessica Phillips, highlighted the teams as co-Players of the Year.

The Maine and UMBC softball players selected to the all-conference squads also received recognition in their local media through mentions in the Bangor Daily News and Baltimore Sun, respectively.

Hitting the Links: 5/11/2011

America East is once again all over the media within its footprint. Just like Monday and Tuesday, the busy May continues as we head towards the middle of the month. So let's get right into it.

Maine women's basketball again leads off the major America East news of the day as new head coach Richard Barron was introduced in Orono, Maine for the first time in fans and media. His introduction was extensively covered by Maine media, with multiple stories in the Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald.
Bangor Daily News:
UMaine Alumni, supporters unite to back Barron
Barron appears to be right man for job
New UMaine coach Barron exhibits poise, confidence, humor (video)
Portland Press Herald:
The leader of the search, and the leader that he found

While Maine was certainly a big story, don't overlook the move that was made in Burlington, Vt., where John Becker was named interim head coach for men's basketball, filling the shoes of the recently departed Mike Lonergan. Lonergan was named head coach at George Washington.

Hitting the Links: 5/10/2011

Yesterday, the Links hit the weekend championships and the stories that comprised their aftermath (at least the aftermath through yesterday afternoon). However, in going through those championships, a lot of other important stories got pushed to Tuesday. So here it is...May Madness continued!

Up in Orono, the coaching carousel made a stop to drop off a passenger. Yesterday, Maine announced the hiring of its new women's basketball coach. The Black Bears named former North Carolina State assistant Richard Barron as the women's head coach. Maine announced the hire yesterday and will introduce Coach Barron in Orono today with a press conference that you can watch live via web stream.

In the Polls: Lacrosse Edition

Following a thrilling weekend of America East lacrosse action, it should come as no surprise that the America East is well-represented in the national polls. On the men's side, both Stony Brook and Hartford appear in the latest rankings, which marks the second time this season that two America East teams have earned a spot in the national rankings.

Hartford, which earned its first-ever America East Men's Lacrosse Championship this past weekend, makes its first appearance in the rankings since 2000 at No. 20/19. The Hawks will  play in their first NCAA Tournament game this weekend, when they head out on the road to face No.2/2 Cornell on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU. 

Despite falling at home to Hartford in the title game, Stony Brook checks in at No.17/16 in the latest set of lacrosse polls. The Seawolves, who entered the matchup with Hartford on a seven-game winning streak, became the first America East team to go unbeaten against conference foes in back-to-back seasons since Hofstra in the late 1990's.

On the women's side, Albany looks to continue its historic season this weekend when it travels to face Dartmouth in its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The Great Danes completed an undefeated regular-season with an 11-4 victory over UMBC in the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship. Albany checks in at No. 8/6 in the lacrosse polls and enters the NCAA Tournament as the lone undefeated team in the nation.

AExtra would like to congratulate all three teams on earning spots in the national rankings. AExtra would also like to wish both Hartford and Albany the best of luck as these teams prepare for the NCAA Tournament.

Hitting the Links: 5/9/2011

Slow news day? In the midst of May Madness? Not a chance!

Today, America East is buzzing with stories from all sorts of courts, fields, tracks and just about any other area a story could come from. Much of this buzz owes its existence to the spring championship season. Just this weekend, in fact, America East crowned four champions! (Albany took three of those titles: women's lacrosse and men's and women's track and field. Hartford took the men's lax crown.)

The lacrosse championships garnered a good deal of weekend coverage from all sorts of outlets. Take a look at women's lacrosse. The Great Danes' win over UMBC, 11-4, in the championship game, was covered by the Times Union, the Troy Record, the Daily Gazette, Lax Power and Inside Lacrosse! Then, when the Danes learned their seeding in the NCAA tournament, Albany hit the press with another wave of coverage. Inside Lacrosse even goes as far as saying that the NCAA tourney matchup between No. 7 Albany and Dartmouth (Sunday, May 15 at 1 p.m. in Hanover, N.H.) is the "Most Intriguing First Round Game."