America East Daily Word - August 26

As Hurricane Irene tracks her “extraordinary” course up the eastern seaboard, the America East is busy gearing up for the unofficial start of the fall season.  Field hockey, volleyball, women’s soccer and men’s soccer all in action tonight.

Rain and wind?  Soccer weather, people.

But before we get into previewing all of tonight’s action the Hartford women’s soccer team took to the pitch last night in Worcester, Mass., against the Crusaders of Holy Cross.  The Hawks struck in the 60^th minute when Caitlin Alves put home a loose ball after a scramble in front of the Holy Cross net.  The win, Hartford’s first on the young season, improves them to 10-1 versus the Crusaders all-time.

Binghamton's Jamie Holliday

On the hardwood last night, several squads continued their international exhibition tours.  The UNH men rebounded from a loss on Wednesday with an 75-65 overtime win over Quebec University.  Bill Herrion blogged about the contest afterward saying that “food really does taste better after a win.”  UAlbany wrapped up its Canadian tour with a win against Carleton University in Ontario.  The Danes went 4-1 on the trip.  On the women’s side, Boston U. fell to Unigirona 77-75 in Barcelona but did receive 15 points from senior Alex Young.  The Hartford women start their exhibition contests tonight in Rodez, France against FC Lyon.

The first men’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball games of the season will all happen today.  Boston U., preseason pick to win the AE soccer title, travels to Worcester tonight for a match with Holy Cross.  The Terriors edged out UMBC, who opens play tomorrow at home against Mt. St. Mary’s, for the top spot in the poll.  Vermont pays a visit to Central Conn. St., for its season opener.  Catamount TV has more on that game.  Elsewhere on the pitch, Binghamton is at Bucknell and New Hampshire hosts the Rams of Rhode Island. 

Seven of nine America East women’s soccer squads will take the field tonight.  Boston U., Binghamton, Maine and Albany will all play at home while UMBC, Stony Brook and New Hampshire all hit the road for early-season tournaments.

Field hockey gets underway with conference favorite and #19 Boston U. traveling to Maryland to deal with the #1 Terrapins.  Northeastern heads up to Orono to take on the Blackbears in Maine while Vermont welcomes #14 Boston College to Burlington for an afternoon bout.

Stony Brook's Evann Slaughter

And who could forget about Volleyball.  Not us here at AExtra.  Every volleyball team plays at least once today with several teams lacing up for two matches all over the country.  Conference favorites Albany and UMBC open up in tournaments on opposite coasts with the Danes taking on Kentucky in Tallahassee, Fla., at the Florida State tournament and the Retrievers doing battle with Long Beach State out in California.  Providence, New Hampshire, Binghamton, Hartford and Stony Brook are all in action, as well.

We’ve got some news from the diamond.  Literally, the ‘Diamond.’  Former Binghamton pitcher Scott Diamond will make his second big league start tonight for the Minnesota Twins.  Diamond made his MLB debut back on July 18 against Cleveland and will have to take on AL Central leading Detroit in his second go around. 

We’ll leave you today with a video from Binghamton.  It is the final installment of the men’s soccer preseason all-access tour.

For more news check out the links below:

Kentucky guard Bodine commits to UMaine women

Stony Brook primed for big year

UNH field hockey ready for solid season

America East Daily Word - August 25

No action last night for America East schools.  At least on domestic ground. 

Today's word will give you an inside look at some of the videos created by the men's and women's basketball teams traveling through Europe and update you on the two men's teams playing in Canada. 

The Hartford women have spent the last three days in France and will open up their exhibition tour tomorrow with the first of three games over the weekend.  Junior Ruthanne Doherty spoke about being in Paris, while standing at the base of the Eifel Tower.  No big deal. 


The Boston U. women have taken to the streets of Barcelona in Spain but that was after having a little fun during a delay at Logan International airport on Monday. The Terriers play tonight in the Saint Julia Tournament. 



Stony Brook's men's team has returned home from it's 11-day, 3-country trip with a 4-1 record.  I would say that's reason to dance and Marcus Rouse agrees.

 


Albany and New Hampshire continue their trips in Canada.  The Great Danes have rolled to a 3-1 record with one game to go on their exhibition schedule, tonight at 7 against Carleton University.  UNH opened its tour last night against McGill suffering a nailbiting 77-74 loss to the Montreal university.

Inside Lacrosse magazine continues to release its position rankings for the 2012 lacrosse season and a couple more America East laxers found themselves on the list of top 15 goalies in the country.  Vermont's Dan DiStefano comes in at #12 while UMBC's Wes Dirito checked in at #14. 

We've got one game on the soccer pitch tonight.  Hartford women's soccer travels to Worcester, Mass., to take on Holy Cross.  The Hawks are 9-1-0 all-time versus the Crusaders.

For more news from around the America East, check out the links below.

UVM men's soccer prepares for new season with home grown talent at captain   

Hoosier Wells commits to UMaine women's hoop program

UNH volleyball eyes return to top of America East

Wildcats head to Canada

This is the fifth and final installment of the America East summer basketball tour series on AExtra. The UNH Wildcat men’s basketball team rounds out the group of five squads that ventured to international territory this summer.

The UNH athletic department is one big family. 

Former men’s basketball player Tyrone Conley now dons shoulder pads and a helmet for Head Coach Sean McDonnell as a wide receiver for the Wildcat football team.  In exchange, McDonnell sent a member of his own family to Bill Herrion’s squad.  His son, Tommy, will suit up for the basketball team this winter.

Tommy and the rest of the Wildcat squad left Durham yesterday headed up interstate-89 to Montreal for a summer tune-up against some Canadian competition.  

“We’ve never done this before,” head coach Bill Herrion said in a phone interview last week.  “I think any time you can get your kids together this time of year, get in the gym, it’s exciting.”

Head Coach Bill Herrion

The NCAA allows for an international trip every four years and for UNH this was the perfect time to make the drive up to Canada.

“We had a couple of key injuries this past year, we had a transfer from Liberty University sit out and we’ve got some new guys coming so we felt the time was right to get in the gym, get some practices under our belt and get those guys into some game situations,” Herrion explained. 

Those key injuries were to Alvin Abreu and Ferg Myrick, both of whom put up solid numbers before being sidelined.  Patrick Konan sat out last season because of NCAA transfer rules but led his Liberty team with a 54% shooting percentage as a freshman in 2009. 

We’ve heard other coaches on AExtra say foreign trips are a great time to build chemistry and team report.  Herrion understands the importance of that but also knows his squad needs to focus on basketball as well.

“We’ve always prided ourselves at UNH on our defense and that will be established but what we’ve got to do is figure some things out on offense,” he said. 

UNH guard Jordon Bronner

The Wildcats were among the cellar dwellers in most offensive categories a year ago, ranking ninth in scoring offense, field goal percentage and 3-point shooting percentage.

“It’s no secret.  We’ve got to find ways to score more points,” Herrion said. 

That will be the emphasis in the four games UNH will play in Canada.  The team starts its exhibition tour tonight against McGill University and takes on the University of Quebec tomorrow before wrapping up the trip with contests against Lavelle University and Bishop’s University in Quebec City. 

With that emphasis on basketball, though, comes an opportunity to start building the connections within the team that will allow it to rebound from 12-18 campaign.

“We’ve got great kids,” Herrion said, “And I think our team is only going to be as good as our locker room.”

You can follow the UNH squad on the foreign tour by checking out Coach Herrion’s blog after every game and by staying tuned in with AExtra. 

America East Daily Word - August 24

UVM's Brian Voekel

As a freshman in Burlington, Brian Voekel put up staggering numbers for the Catamounts, numbers that don't normally belong to rookies.  

Voekel started all 32 games during his first season at UVM, scoring nearly eight points, grabbing a conference-leading 9.6 rebounds, dishing out 4.5 assists and registering 1.6 steals per game.  Voekel was the conference rookie of the year, a stat machine and a major reason why UVM captured the regular season conference title.   

Slam Magazine took notice of the stocky forward profiling him in a recent article as reason for hope in Burlington.  After graduating first-team all-conference player (and mustache) Evan Fjeld and professionally-contracted Joey Accaoui, while also losing a head coach who led the program to three regular season conference championships, things would apparently seem gloomy in Burlington.  

Not with Voekel coming back.  He will assuredly make first-year head coach John Becker's life a little easier knowing that the 6'6" bruiser will be in his corner when the 2011-2012 campaign gets underway.

The first week of women's soccer is in the books which means the NSCAA national and regional rankings are out.  Boston University found itself right near the top of the Northeast regional rankings at No. 4 after a 1-0-1 opening weekend.  In the national rankings, the Terriers are not ranked but are receiving votes which means an appearance in the top 25 could be looming.  Our Game Magazine already has Boston U. at #23 with Lina Cords and Jessica Luscinski as 'players to watch' this week. 

In women's soccer action last night, New Hampshire tried to mount a late surge in its season opener against UMass but came up on the short end of a 2-1 decision.  Meanwhile in Burlington, Kristi Lefebvre was on the verge of her first  win as a collegiate coach but a late Rhode Island goal prevented that as the Catamounts and Rams fought to a 1-1 draw. You can check out highlights and reaction from those two games below. 

America East field hockey gets underway this week with a handful of games on Friday and the NFHCA released the Division I preseason poll yesterday.  University at Albany check in at No. 17 while Boston U. also cracked the top 20 at No. 19 and received one first-place vote in the poll.  

Men's soccer hasn't kicked off its season yet but UMBC continues to make news.  The Retrievers extended the contract of head coach Pete Caringi Jr. through the 2015 season and promoted long-time assistant Anthony Adams to associate head coach.  Caringi and Adams have coached at UMBC together for the last 15 seasons.

And even though hockey isn't a sport that the America East sponsors, we are still hockey fans.  And hockey fans love outdoor hockey.  Especially at Fenway Park.  Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine will all take to the frozen pond at the Fens this winter.  Those games will become official in an announcement on Friday.




 
For more news check out these links below:
Vermont, Rhode Island forge 1-1 tie

Blodgett to face former players in November

Watch Highlights from the Seawolves' European Tour

Bon Voyage Hartford

You would think that after winning a gold medal at the U-19 FIBA World Championships, in Chile no less, Jen Rizzotti might want to take a break, kick back, relax and enjoy the rest of the summer.

So when the chance arose to take her Hartford women’s basketball team to France, could she pass it up?

Never and now the lady Hawks are in Paris.

The defending America East Conference champions have spent the last five weeks in Hartford taking summer courses, according to their coach, and wrapped up their NCAA approved 10 days of practice on Monday.

“I think the kids had more energy today when practice was over than they did during practice,” Rizzotti joked in a phone interview after her squad’s final tune-up before leaving.

If energy is at all an issue after the flight to Paris, the team will have a couple of days to regroup and take in the sights around the city.  The Hawks will not play a game until Friday giving players and staff time with each other and with families who made the trip as well. 

Rizzotti brings several newcomers into the mix this season making the trip extremely valuable in terms of experience and relationships.  In fact, 40 percent of the 13-player roster will be freshmen.

“They need to start building those relationships,” Rizzotti said.  “Part of our success in the past has been the trust and passion our kids have had to play for each other.”

Success is certainly something Hartford is familiar with having won four conference titles and appearing in five NCAA tournaments in the 11 years Rizzotti has been at the helm. 

The basketball portion of the eight-day French adventure features three games in three days against members of the Division I Women’s French National League. 

“We’re going to have a pretty different look with who we lost and who we have coming in,” Rizzotti noted.  “We just want the kids to have a chance to play together and start to trust each other and build a foundation for this year’s basketball team.”

Hartford is the fourth of five America East schools AExtra has featured and Rizzotti echoed similar sentiments about the advantages of really starting the year earlier. 

“Normally,” she laughed, “we can barely even check in with our kids and see how they are doing with their conditioning workouts so I think, for us, this will be a big step going forward.”

You can follow the Hawks’ basketball team in France by checking out its blog or just stay locked in to AExtra.

America East Daily Word - August 23

Miles Thompson

The UAlbany men's lacrosse team has the 18th-ranked recruiting class coming in for the 2012 season.  Tops among that class is someone that a couple of current Great Danes know pretty well.

Cousins Miles Thompson and Ty Thompson will welcome Miles' brother, Lyle, to the N.Y. state capital and the Great Dane lacrosse team in the coming weeks.  Lyle found himself listed at the top of some prestigious lists released by Inside Lacrosse Magazine.  In addition to being recognized as the top freshman in the nation to hit lacrosse rosters this fall, the Lafayette, N.Y., native was also tabbed the top midfielder in the country.  That means he's ranked ahead of first-tier players from Virginia, Duke and Johns Hopkins.

And he hasn't even played a collegiate game yet.  

Both Miles and Ty were all-rookie squad selections in 2011, tearing up opposing defenses, scoring a combined 55 goals and dishing out 16 assists.  The 'Thompson Trio' (AExtra's official nickname for Albany's big three) could make some serious noise in conference and at the national level.

On the women's lacrosse side, UMBC rising freshman Alyssa Blevins cracked the top-25 list of national recruits.  Blevins checked in at #24 and has had herself an impressive summer.  She starred on  the U.S. U-19 national squad that captured the world championship earlier this month and she was one of 44 players nationwide to be selected for the Under Armour All-American Lacrosse Classic.

Sa'Sha Kershaw

Last night on the pitch, the Stony Brook women's soccer team played its season and home opener against Iona.  The Seawolves trailed after an Iona "wonder strike" in the 21st minute of action but tallied two goals within about four minutes of each other in the second half to begin the season with a 'W.'  Sa'sha Kershaw scored the game-winner for Stony Brook with about 30 minutes to play.

More women's soccer squads are in action this afternoon.  UNH hosts UMass in the Wildcats' season opener while Rhode Island with travel north to the Queen City to take on Vermont in what will be Kristi Lefebvre's home coaching debut for the Catamounts. The second-youngest coach in the nation, Lefebvre's path to the sideline comes after numerous years watching the same Catamounts with her parents.  John Fantino of the Burlington Free Press has her story here.

On the men's side, no teams are in action but that doesn't mean they can't make news.  UMBC's Andrew Bulls, already named to the Hermann Trophy Watch list, can add another preseason accolade to his impressive collection.  Soccer America has named him one of 25 preseason All-Americans. 

For more news from around the conference check out the links below...

Fairfax's Rebeor named UVM soccer captain

Wildcats focused on another title run

Jen Rizzotti globetrotting again  

Danes fade, lose in Montreal

Barcelona Bound

What do the 2007 Boston Celtics, a team that brought the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Beantown, and the Boston U. women’s basketball team have in common?

The Celtics started their championship season with a little jaunt to Europe for the NBA Europe Live Tour.

And now the Terriers are hoping that their 12-day adventure to Spain will have the same effect come March.

“I keep comparing this trip to the one the Celtics took before their first year with the ‘Big Three,’” head coach Kelly Greenberg said.  “I really thought that the trip had a lot to do with their success.”

In 2010, Boston U. was on the cusp of what many Division I basketball programs deem a sucessful season - a berth in the NCAA Tournament.  The Terriers needed just one win - a victory against the University of Harford in the America East championship game and they would have been dancing.  Hartford ultimately won that game and went on to the tourney to face UConn in the first round.

The final days of pre-trip, NCAA approved, practice are in the books and the team is scheduled to depart for Spain later this evening.

“They came back in shape, they are intense, focused and we couldn’t be happier with their approach in the ten days [of practice],” Coach Greenberg said.

A twelve-day tour of Barcelona and Madrid will featuure four games and a whole lot of sight-seeing.

“The number one goal, really, is that our team comes together,” Greenberg said.  “The coaches do have some things we want to see [on the court] but this is really a time for our club to gel and take in everything we will be experiencing.”

The Terrier women won’t play their first game until three days into the trip so the first thing on the agenda is a little exploration of Barcelona, including a stop at the 1992 Olympic sites .

While in Barcelona, the team is also scheduled  to play three games against some top professional talent, featuring a tilt in one of the biggest basketball tournaments in Spain, the Saint Julia Tournament on Aug. 27.

That tourney boasts 3-point shooting contests, dunk contests and Greenberg called it, “almost a mini-Olympics.”  

“There will be over 200 teams, men’s and women’s, playing in that tournament so it’s going to be pretty fascinating to be a part of that,” Greenberg said.  “We’re going to show up and experience it!”

After Barcelona, it will be off to Madrid for a few days, another game and some more relaxation.

“We will really learn to appreciate the opportunity, appreciate each other and appreciate being a member of BU women’s basketball,” Greenberg said.  “And we’ll come back with a lot to lean on as we move forward in the season.”

You can follow the Terriers’ trip on their official Spanish Tour webpage and, as always, we’ll have updates for you on AExtra.  Also, the UNH men’s basketball team heads to Canada and it’s Bon Voyage to the Hartford women as they leave for France.  AExtra will have those exclusives later this week.   

America East Daily Word - August 22

If you didn't 'believe' the America East women's soccer preseason coaches' poll that had Boston U. as the unanimous choice to win its fifth straight conference title come November, then the first weekend of soccer action the fall should have quickly change your mind. 

Jess Luscinski

The Terriers opened their season with a couple of crosstown rivalry games - Boston College on Friday afternoon and Northeastern last night. After a doozy of a thunderstorm, a 75-minute delay and one fairly wet (yet, not bitter) videographer, Boston U. finally got to tussle with the team that eliminated it from last year's NCAA tournament. The game ended in a 1-1 draw but Boston U. controlled play for a majority of the afternoon and had several chances in the OT sessions. On Sunday, the Huskies of Northeastern seemed plenty over matched to the tune of being outshot 19-2 and the ultimate 2-0 final. Jess Luscinski, the conference's 2010 Striker of the Year,  has scored two goals for the Terriers already. Both of them have been on free kicks just outside the 18.  

Bend it like...Jess?

Elsewhere on the pitch...

• Binghamton was the only other women's soccer team to notch a tally in the win column when it defeated Delaware St., on Sunday. The Bearcats suffered a tough-luck loss in their season opener to Buffalo at home on Friday in OT. You can check out highlights here courtesy of Fox 40 in Vestal.  

• Hartford drew even with Old Dominion in the 76th minute to squeeze out a 1-1 tie in Virginia.  

• Lightning struck down Stony Brook's season opening tilt at Siena on Friday. The Seawolves, instead, will play their opener tonight at home against Iona. Forecast looks pretty good for that game.  

• Vermont and UMBC could not find the win column over the weekend. The Retrievers dropped two non-conference battles with losses to American and Campbell while Colgate sent the Catamounts home to Burlington with a 5-1 defeat. Tough way to start for first-year head coach Kristi Lefebvre. 

It doesn't matter if it's August, there is always time for some basketball chit-chat.  The Stony Brook men return from their 11-day, five-game, three-country jaunt to Europe. Head Coach Steve Pikiell guided the 'Wolves to a 4-1 mark with some impressive wins against high caliber international competition. Now let's take the conversation north, to the True North in Canada where Will Brown and the UAlbany Great Danes have put a hurting on some Canadian opponents. Two wins and no losses so far for Brown's gang with three more games to go.  

Staying on the hardwood, a couple more America East basketball teams hit the road this week with the UNH men heading to Canada and the women at Hartford and Boston U. taking their talents to France and Spain, respectively. You can bet AExtra will have a little something about those trips.

You can find more America East news by clicking the links down below. 

UNH women take aim at AE soccer title
Former Seawolf has hand in one-hitter
Former UMaine star finishes second in NH senior games