America East Daily Word - September 9

The rain has subsided for now, leaving us with some fine weekend weather.  That’s great news because, per usual, the weekend schedule looks like a movie theater lobby before the next Harry Potter movie.

Yeah, that packed.

But before we get there, several America East stars got some national pub yesterday. 

Andrew Bulls (left) and Travis Jankowski

Let’s start with UMBC men’s soccer standout Andrew Bulls.  The Baltimore Sun featured Bulls yesterday, talking to him about leaving a winning legacy and his ability to find open teammates.  Bulls broke UMBC’s all-time assists record with a helper he dished out in a 1-0 win over Mount St. Mary’s two weeks ago.  He’s received plenty of national attention already this year being named a preseason All-American and a candidate for the Hermann Award given to the nation’s best soccer player.  As successful as Bulls has been finding his teammates he’s no slouch when it comes to scoring goals, either.  In fact, he has as many goals (29) as he does assists in his career as a Retriever.  Bulls leads the unbeaten Retrievers into a showdown with Navy tomorrow at Retriever Soccer Park.

The phrase ‘September baseball’ means two things.  One, some of the most exciting baseball is played in September in the bigs with playoffs right around the corner.  But the one we are more concerned with here at America East, is that Baseball America has had time to evaluate some of the collegiate summer leagues and release its top prospects lists.  Travis Jankowski, an outfielder from Stony Brook, grabbed the #10 prospect spot in the Cape Cod League, according to a Baseball America release.  Jankowski was named Cape League MVP last month and earned himself a spot in the Cape League All-Star game held at Fenway Park.  He was one of 7 Seawolves to play in the Cape’s prestigious summer league.

We had two games on the slate last night, both women’s soccer contests, featuring teams on the up-and-up.  Vermont traveled down Intersate 89 to battle Dartmouth and Hartford hosted (rain and all) in-state rival Quinnipiac.  Vermont fell short to the Big Green 2-1 but Hartford scored midway through the first half en route to a 1-0 shutout win over the Bobcats.  With the win, Hartford improves to 4-0-1, its best start since the 1999 season when it captured the America East championship.  Head coach John Natale spoke about last nights win...



Now, on to the weekend schedule.  Far too many games to list for this reader-friendly AExtra post, so we’ll take a look at some notable games. 

The biggest matchups are on the field hockey turf.  Tonight, #11 Boston U. takes on crosstown rival and 10th-ranked Boston College.  No. 16 Albany travels to #4 UConn.  America East field hockey teams are a combined 18-7 this year.  In men’s soccer, Stony Brook’s Ryan Anatol has two more chances this weekend to notch victory #1 at the helm of the Seawolves with games against High Point and Radford in North Carolina.  In women’s soccer, Boston U. looks to continue its torid start with two games on the road tonight at UConn and Sunday at UMass.  The Terriers are 5-0-1 in the early going.  We’ve also got two volleyball tournaments played in memory of former players.  UNH hosts the Holly Young Invitational.  UMBC hosts the Madison Bingaman Memorial Tournament. 

For the rest of the conference scores and schedule make sure to head over to AmericaEast.com and for more news and notes, here’s a few links for your viewing pleasure...

Women's soccer weekend preview

BU heads to Ohio State for Sunday matinee against Buckeyes

Stony Brook athletic director thwarts drunk driver

Women's soccer sets high expectations

America East Daily Word - September 8

The weather is nasty.  

Binghamton volleyball head coach Glen Kiriyama

Rain has wreaked havoc on sports schedules the last few weeks, and now a few brief showers have turned into torrential downpours and prompted flood warnings, postponed games and class cancellations.

Our friends in Binghamton are using the university’s Event Center and West Gym as an evacuation site for more than 1,000 people because rain has bombarded the city’s flood walls and water is expected to spill over as rain continues to fall.

Record flooding of the Susquehanna River occurred in Binghamton in 2006.  This storm is projected to bring its level to nearly 37 feet, three inches above that 2006 high, according to the Press and Sun Bulletin. 

Binghamton’s women’s soccer contest against Bucknell was postponed yesterday because of the weather.  The Bearcats do not have another home contest until next Friday’s men’s soccer match against Central Connecticut. 

Despite the rainfall, the Binghamton-Siena volleyball match went on as scheduled last night.  Bearcat head coach Glenn Kiriyama entered the contest sitting at 199 career victories.  His squad put little doubt in the fate of his 200^th, sweeping the Saints 3-0.  Kiriyama has a career record of 200-176 since arriving in Binghamton in 1999.

It only took Kiriyama one shot to grab #200, which is six (and counting) fewer than Tim Wakefield.  But he also didn't have the Red Sox bullpen to implode when the win seemed in reach.

Elsewhere on the volleyball scene, Hartford beat up on Holy Cross, downing the Crusaders in straight sets to improve to 3-5.  Providence couldn’t outlast Ivy League opponent Brown, falling 3-1 last night.

We’ve got a couple of field hockey games to chat about, as well.  Maine continues its winning ways, making it four straight victories with a 7-3 win over Dartmouth.  Maine scored three goals before the ten-minute mark to put the Big Green away early.  Fortune wasn’t as kind for Fairfield last evening.  The Stags fell to Hofstra, 4-2. 

The Towson-UMBC men’s soccer game fell victim to the rain as their battle in Baltimore was cancelled. 

The conference released the men’s and women’s basketball schedules yesterday afternoon, sparking in-office discussion and our own preseason polls.  It’s September, after all, so it’s never too early to think basketball preseason polls.

Mark Macon (second from left)

CBSSports.com featured the Albany’s men’s basketball team in its Trippin’ Series in which Matt Norlander and Jeff Bordello chat with teams after they’ve returned from international exhibition tours.  Head coach will Brown talks about who impressed and what the squad needs to work on when official practice start in a few weeks.  Meanwhile, Binghamton University Magazine put together a great feature on men’s head coach Mark Macon detailing his journey from Temple, to the NBA and to the head of the Bearcat program.

For tonight’s schedule, make sure to head over to AmericaEast.com and for more news and notes, check out these here links…

Women's soccer looks to maintain early season momentum

Moving on up: Boston U. field hockey

Breaking through: Men's soccer aims to end scoreless drought

Field hockey prepares for rival BC

UMaine women's soccer improves to 2-1-1

UAlbany hoops schedule set

Conference Schedule Released

For the past three weeks, America East basketball programs released non-conference schedules.  They’ve got all their fans pumped for big showdowns with some national powerhouses.  And now, there is even more reason to be excited. 

The conference schedule is officially out!  And its chalk full of rivalry games, championship rematches and nationally televised games. 

Our conference Tip-Off celebration is only five weeks away people.  Basketball season is almost here.

Every team will play two games against every conference opponent during the regular season and once again this year the conference championships will be held at Hartford’s Reich Family Pavilion.  The championship game will be played at the home venue of the highest remaining seed, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Let’s take a look at some quality matchups.

The men waste no time getting into some heated battles.  On the first day of the conference schedule Vermont, 2011 regular season champ, travels to 2011 conference tourney runner-up Stony Brook on Jan. 2.  Vermont gets right back at it three days later hosting 2011 conference champion Boston U.  Stony Brook gets early tests from Albany at home on Jan.8 and then travels to Boston U. for a rematch of the 2011 tournament championship game.  The Maine at New Hampshire matchup on Jan.  25 will also be a contest to keep an eye out for as both teams should be in the thick of the conference race. 

We’ve got to wait a bit from some rematches on the women’s side but that just means plenty of mid-season battles between teams perennially at the top of the conference.  But Binghamton and Boston U. tangle at Agganis Arena on Jan. 8 in what will prove to be an intriguing early season duel.  UMBC travels to defending conference tournament champion Hartford on Jan. 16.  That matchup will head to Baltimore in late February.  Boston U. hosts Hartford on Jan. 22 in a rematch of last season’s conference title game.  And what a way to finish regular season play with those two teams going at it again on Feb. 25 to wrap up 2011-2012. 

Plenty of squads got an early start to the season venturing to foreign soil for exhibition tours this summer.  The men’s squads from Stony Brook, Albany and UNH and the women’s teams from Hartford and Boston U. all took international trips to play some top competition over the last few weeks. 

It’s only September but it’s never too early to talk basketball and we are in for another competitive season in the America East. 

The season officially gets underway on Oct. 13 with the Basketball Tip-Off Event at the state capital building in West Hartford, Conn.

America East Daily Word - September 7

In 2006, Andre Agassi played his final match as a tennis pro, our beloved crocodile hunter Steve Irwin was killed by a sting ray and Vince Young led Texas to an upset of USC in college football’s national championship game.

2006 was also the last time the America East Conference had a women’s soccer team ranked in the NSCAA top-25 when both Boston U. and Maine were ranked.

That was 5 years ago…

The half-decade hiatus from the national rankings came to an end yesterday when Boston U. climbed into the top-25 of the NSCAA poll at No. 23.  The Terriers are also ranked 20^th by Soccer America and 25^th in Soccer Times.  A 2-0 showing at the Nike/Husky Invitational over the weekend convinced national voters that Boston U. can play with anyone in the country.  But head coach Nancy Feldmen knew that well before her team’s wins over Washington and Portland.

"We respect all our opponents because on any given day you can be beat," Feldman said after the Portland win. "But we feel confident that we can play with any team in the country, and we proved that this weekend. It's not only a good win for BU, but it's also a good win for our conference and for the Northeast."

SoccerAmerica featured the Terriers because of their impressive weekend.  The New England school in a mid-major conference won’t be able to surprise opponents anymore – Boston U. is on the map.

One national poll where there is never any shortage of America East schools is in the NFHCA rankings.  We said yesterday in the Word there was a chance four of the six America East field hockey teams could be national ranked by day’s end.  Well, three are ranked and two others are receiving votes and could be just a couple wins away from cracking the list.  Boston U. is the highest ranked team at #11 making the jump from #19 in the preseason.  But the biggest mover of the week is unbeaten New Hampshire.  The Wildcats were not ranked in the preseason but thanks to a 4-0 start, they checked in at #12 this week.  Albany moved up one place to #16 after a 2-1 week.  Maine just missed out on cracking the top-20 sitting just a few votes away while Vermont is also in the receiving votes category.

We aren’t done on the national scene just yet.  In men’s soccer, UMBC is receiving votes to be in the NSCAA top-25.  Meanwhile, three America East schools appear in the Northeast regional rankings.  Binghamton leads the pack at No. 6, UMBC grabs the No. 8 spot and unbeaten Vermont sits at No. 10. 

Several cross country teams also hold down slots in the preseason regional rankings.  The Boston U. and Albany men are ranked sixth and ninth in the Northeast, while UMBC is No. 12 in the Mid-Atlantic.  On the women’s side, Stony Brook, Boston U. and Vermont check in at No. 5, No. 9 and No. 15, respectively.  

UMBC's Allie Spaay

America East squads in action went 2-2 last night.  Maine women’s soccer squeaked out a 1-0 win at Holy Cross and UMBC volleyball beat Navy in straight sets in Baltimore.  Hartford men’s soccer came up short in a 1-0 loss to rival Central Connecticut and New Hampshire volleyball is still searching for its first win of the season after being swept by Northeastern.

For today’s complete schedule make sure to check out AmericaEast.com.

And for more news from around the conference, check out the links below…

Magic Johnson to be speaker at Albany

Primetime Performer - Lina Cords

Comm. Ave. Globetrotters

Drive for five straight AE titles begins for women's soccer

Road to Redemption

Scholar athletes are students first, athletes second

All of the Lights

AOTW: Dan Louisignau

Chattin' with: Dan Welsh

Tim Thomas returns to UVM!

Over the weekend Tim Thomas paraded the Stanley Cup up Burlington's famous Church Street. Below are some exclusive videos of the parade and a press conference with the former Catamount!

America East Daily Word - September 6

Don’t look now, but America East teams are making some serious noise around the nation.

As a matter of fact, the conference success stretches to international soil this fall. 

Most athletes would agree that the biggest honor you can receive as a competitor is to be invited to represent your country on the world stage.  Two soccer players from Hartford received exciting phone calls during the past few weeks.

Hartford's Amelia Pereira

Hartford women’s soccer midfielder Amelia Pereira and men‘s soccer defender JorgeRodriguez answered those phones.  Pereira just returned from a two-game stint with her native Portugal.  She helped her country earn two friendly-match victories over Turkey last week.  Rodriguez is currently with Puerto Rico’s national team playing in two World Cup qualifying matches against St. Kitts and Nevis and Canada.

TheHartford Courant featured the two student-athletes detailing their respective pathsto international competition.  For both, playing for their native countries is a dream come true but comes at a tough time as their fall seasons with the Hawks kick into full gear.  And the commitment to the national squads could become tougher with both likely to be called again later in the fall during the thick of conference play.  Pereira missed one collegiate game during her trip but the Hartford women are off to a fast and impressive 3-0-1 start.  The men could have used Rodriguez on Saturday in a 1-0 defeat to Fordham but he will be back after Puerto Rico’s match today against Canada. 

“This says a lot for Hartford,” Hartford women's coach John Natale told the Courant. “We're recruiting top level players to come here and I think in the future it will help [the programs out]…”

America East field hockey could have four of six schools nationally ranked by the end of the day.  This week, field hockey squads were a combined 11-1, and 10-0 over the long weekend.  The only loss came last Wednesday when #20 Stanford knocked off #17 UAlbany, 3-2.  New Hampshire is still unbeaten and laying the hurt on its opponents.  The Wildcats have outscored their foes 19-3 during a 4-game winning streak to start the season.  Maine, meanwhile, poured in another seven goals in a win over Bryant this weekend.  The Black Bears have the conference’s most potent offense thus far, leading the league in scoring.  And the best part about those two teams…they aren’t even ranked.  No. 19 Boston U. scored wins over two power conferences this week, downing Providence and Michigan State.  And despite Albany’s loss to Stanford, the #17 Danes notched a 2-1, come-from-behind win over Northwestern to close the week.  Vermont got off the snide with two wins this week and Fairfield registered a W in its only contest.

 

The Boston U. women’s soccer team is off to its best start since the 1996 season.  The 5-0-1 Terriers traveled to Washington to take on the Huskies and No. 8 Portland this weekend.  Boston U. won both games, Kylie Strom was named Offensive MVP of the tournament and the Terriers cracked the national Top-25, sliding in at #20. 

Maine's Riley Masters

America East cross country squads got their seasons underway over the Labor Day weekend.  Maine and UNH competed in a tri-meet with Providence in Durham.  Maine’s RileyMasters, 2010 America East champion, took second overall while both UNH squads finished second in the team totals.  Stony Brook picked up opening weekend wins against Quinnipiac and C.W. Post.  Haley Green took first for the women while three Seawolve men tied for first.  UMBC opened at the Mount St. Mary’s Dual 5Ks with the men taking second and the women fourth.
 

There was almost a perfect game last night in the majors.  It’s okay if you didn’t know about it because it was a relatively meaningless game in Minnesota between the Twins and the White Sox.  In game 2 of a doubleheader between two out-of-contention teams, Chicago’s Zach Stewart twirled 7 innings of perfect baseball before Danny Valencia led off the eighth with a double to break it up.  The starter for the Twins?  Former Binghamton Bearcat Scott Diamond.  After picking up his first career win last time out, the southpaw hurled five innings, giving up only two runs.  He was on the wrong side ofperfection last night, though, as he suffered the loss dropping him to 1-3 in the show.

Onto tonight’s action, a quiet night compared to the jammed-packed weekend we just had.  Maine travels to Holy Cross in women’s soccer tilt.  The Hartford men’s soccer team, without Jorge Rodriguez, is at in-state rival Central Connecticut.  And in volleyball, UNH is on the road at Northeastern while UMBC plays host to Navy.

For more new, check out the links below...

Women's soccer drops FDU after slow start to weekend

Bearcats split weekend contests in West Virginia

Binghamton takes two of three at UConn tourney

Tailspin at the Tailgate

With Barrage of Shots, Binghamton Defeats FDU 2-0

Following its third 1-0 loss of the season, the Binghamton University women’s soccer team knew something had to change.

And change it did. After being limited to seven shots in their loss to Lehigh University on Friday night, the Bearcats came out strong to defeat Fairleigh Dickinson University on Sunday afternoon at the Bearcats Sports Complex by a score of 2-0.

Binghamton outshot the Knights by a wide margin of 28-6, including a 16-2 advantage in the second half.

“I think we were ready from the [last] game because we had a great game but didn’t get the result we wanted,” junior forward Sarah Furminger said. “With that in mind we just wanted to come out strong today.”

Senior AnnMarie Rizzi opened the scoring for the match in the 20^th minute with her first goal of the season. With a nice piece of ball handling, she chipped the ball just above the outstretched hands of FDU goalie Stephanie Tanzi and into the back of the net for Binghamton’s first goal of the match.

Furminger, who was credited with an assist on Rizzi’s goal, also added one of her own nine minutes into the second half to give her team some insurance.

“I pressured the defense with the other forwards and we won the ball,” she said. “[And I] got past the defender and found the back of the net.”

With the win, Binghamton improves to 3-3.

“We worked from the back all the way up to the top so it’s really a team effort and moving the ball together [as] a team,” Furminger said.

The Bearcats began their season 2-1 but then lost their next two games, each by scores of 1-0 including one in overtime. So coming into Sunday with a 2-3 record, the team was looking for some stability in its seesaw of a season.

Its next chance at doing so will come on Wednesday as the team is set to host Bucknell University at 7 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.

“[The question every year is] ‘how do we get momentum going into conference play?’,” head coach Sarah McClellan said. “The next step is going to be that we have a game on Wednesday night and we want to put another good performance after this one.”