America East Daily Word - October 7

Thursday night is in the books and two women’s soccer teams remain unbeaten in conference play. One of those teams hasn’t lost a game all season.

Hartford put its 12-game unbeaten streak on the line against visiting Stony Brook last night. For the second straight game, the Hawks scored three times en route to a shutout win over the Seawolves. Caitlin Alves scored twice and had an assist to lead Hartford.

No. 21 Boston U. traveled up I-95 to Durham to take on New Hampshire. The Terriers and Wildcats played through a scoreless first half. Boston U.’s Jess Luscinski found Tiya Gallegos in the 61st minute, though, for the only goal of the game and a 1-0 win for the Terriers. Both Boston U. and Hartford are now 4-0 in America East conference play.

Vermont and Maine took to the pitch yesterday afternoon in Burlington. The Catamounts came out in a flurry notching three goals and cruising to a 3-1 win over the Black Bears. This was the first multi-goal win for Vermont and only the second time this season it has scored more than one goal.

In the final game of the evening, Albany and Binghamton squared off in the New York state capital. The Danes tallied the game’s only goal handing the Bearcats their seventh 1-0 loss of the season.

Yesterday Binghamton welcomed its new director of athletics, Patrick Elliot, in an official press conference at the Events Center. Elliot will leave the same post at St. Peter’s College in New Jersey for his new gig in Vestal. He replaces Jim Norris who led the Binghamton athletic department since 2009. The Vestal news, the Press and Sun Bulletin, the Pipe Dream and WICZ TV, flocked to the scene.

With conference championships only a few weeks away, this weekend could potentially set the stage for the rest of the conference season with plenty of intriguing and meaningful matchups.

We’ll start first in volleyball. The two unbeaten squads in conference, Albany and New Hampshire, hit the hardwood this weekend. Albany hosts Providence tonight and New Hampshire welcomes Stony Brook. But the most intriguing matchup features two teams that had solid non-conference starts when Hartford welcomes UMBC. Stony Brook and UMBC trade places on Sunday with the Retrievers heading to New Hampshire and Seawolves heading to Hartford. Lastly, Binghamton looks for its first conference win against Providence on Sunday

Field hockey conference matchups feature bouts between No. 12 New Hampshire and Vermont, Fairfield and No. 16 Albany and No. 19 Boston U. and No. 10 Maine. New Hampshire also plays No. 7 Stanford in Durham on Sunday.

And then we get to men’s and women’s soccer. The Vermont men take their-league leading 6-4 record to Stony Brook to face the Seawolves tonight. On Saturday, UMBC travels to Boston U. for a matchup between the preseason poll’s top teams. New Hampshire hosts Binghamton and Albany tries to right the ship against Hartford.

On the women’s side, Boston U., trying to stay perfect in conference, plays host to Binghamton. Albany, coming off a win against Binghamton, heads to Burlington to take on Vermont. UMBC makes the long trek to Orono for a match with Maine and Stony Brook is at New Hampshire.

For the complete schedule and all your news head to AmericaEast.com and take a look at the links below…

Times Union: 6-foot-9 and Growing Presence
Inside Lacrosse: Fall Ball 2011: Vermont Catamounts
Inside Lacrosse: What to watch this weekend - Cat Classic
Baltimore Sun: Local lacrosse teams experiment with new rules
Press and Sun Bulletin: Binghamton shutout again
Hartford Informer: Rough weekend for tennis
Binghamton Pipe Dream: Swimming and diving set to kick off season this weekend
Binghamton Pipe Dream: Men's tennis readies for Cornell Invitational
Binghamton Pipe Dream: Women's tennis head to Flushing for season's third tourney
Binghamton Pipe Dream: Women's soccer held scoreless again

America East Daily Word - October 6

The Vermont men’s basketball team isn’t getting much love in preseason publications’ predictions of the America East basketball season. After winning the conference regular season last year, the Catamounts take a back seat to Stony Brook and Boston U., and in some predictions, Albany. 

Some other major publications, though, dissected the Catamounts, getting any and all stories from the team’s new head coach, its former head coach and former high-flying, rim-rocking superstar. 

Vermont head coach John Becker

First-year UVM head coach, John Becker was featured by ESPN.com.  Dana O’Neil tells a great story about Becker and his ‘leap of faith’ to Burlington with his family.  Catamount fans in Burlington expect to win – a tradition started by Tom Brennan and continued by Mike Lonergan.  Becker is now charged with repeating that success.  “It’s already caused a lot of sleepless nights on the job without playing any games,’’ Becker confessed in the feature.  Still, though, he’s received tremendous praise from Lonergan who believes he has what it takes to keep the wins coming.

SLAM Magazine featured one of Lonergan’s and Becker’s former players, Marqus Blakely.  The magazine caught up with the former ‘Cat and current Houston Rocket.  Even though his NBA career is on hold at the moment, Blakely continues to make the best of it, speaking highly of his experience in the D-League and how it will translate to the NBA courts.  If he keeps throwing down like he did before signing with the Rockets, and knocks down the open jumper, he’ll be just fine.

ESPN.com’s Andy Katz blogged about Becker’s predecessor, Lonergan, and his “dream job” at George Washington.  Lonergan left the Green Mountain State to return to his old stomping grounds in Washington D.C. to coach the Colonials.  You can read Katz’s blog post here, as he details Lonergan’s decision to head to GW and how excited he is to be back home.

Hartford's Amelia Perreira

Two America East squads were in action last evening, both hitting the road before a weekend of conference play.  Unfortunately, neither was successful.  The sixteenth-ranked Albany field hockey team put forth a valiant effortat No. 5 Syracuse, but came up on the short end of a 3-2 decision against the Orange.  Hartford men’s soccer battled host Army into a second overtime, but fell flat early in the extra frame, conceding the winner.  The Hawks lost, 3-2. 

Thursday night means eight women’s soccer teams spike-up and take to the pitch.  League-leading Hartford looks to stay unbeaten against Stony Brook.  The Hawks and Seawolves battled to a 1-1 draw last season.  No. 21 Boston University heads up I-95 to Durham for a date with New Hampshire.  Vermont returns home after a brief road swing to host Maine, while Albany welcomes Binghamton to the state capital.

For all of the live stat and video links to tonight’s games, head over to AmericaEast.com. 

UMBC Top Ten Plays of the Month

A UMBC Athletics production ranks the top ten plays from the month of September featuring soccer and volleyball.

The video highlights some of the best Retriever goals, saves and kills.  The countdown is anything but boring.  When under pressure, there are diving headers, lethal kills and acrobatic saves, but I don't want to give away all the action.

The video production also presents September's athlete of the month nominees.

America East Daily Word - October 5

The conference realignment drama gripping the nation stretched onto the ice.  Numerous news sources speculated as to what Notre Dame ice hockey would be doing because of all the reshuffling in the Midwest. 

The Irish currently play in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association but that league is scheduled to disband after the season. Several of those teams plan on joining the new Big Ten hockey conference but Notre Dame needed a new home.

 

It found one, apparently, in Hockey East.

This means that Notre Dame, with a storied and rich tradition, will be an annual hockey opponent for several of our member institutions.  No, we do not sponsor hockey here, but this is still big news for our schools.  Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont will have the Irish on the schedule starting in 2013-2014.

It’s time for “In the Polls,” where we take a glance at what’s happening for our schools on the national and regional scene. 

Let’s start with America East field hockey, which maintained its four-team presence in the national poll.  For the first time this season, it’s Maine grabbing the high spot jumping to No. 10, with New Hampshire falling to No. 12. Despite weekend losses (to ranked opponents), Albany and Boston U. remained in the Division I poll at No. 16 and No. 19, respectively.  Fairfield also received a vote to be in the national top-20. Albany is in action tonight against fifth-ranked Syracuse out of the Big East.  America East squads have had the Big East’s number this year, winning four of seven games. 

Boston U. women’s soccer continues to impress the voters.  The Terriers impressed enough this week jumping the ‘receiving votes’ pool to the No. 21 national ranking.  This is the second time that Boston U. had been ranked in the NSCAA National Poll after earning the No. 23 ranking earlier this season.  The Terriers also ranksecond in the Northeast region, followed closely by unbeaten Hartford.  The Hawks sit at No. 5 in the Northeast and are receiving votes in the national poll, as well.  Those two teams get after it on the last day of the regular season, Oct. 23 at Nickerson Field in Boston.

In men’s soccer, Vermont is the only America East team currently ranked in the Northeast region, grabbing the No. 8 spot.  The Catamounts have the conference’s best record at 6-4, but did fall to Dartmouth last night in Hanover, 2-0.

Elsewhere on the pitch last night, Boston U. played its fourth Big East opponent of the season when Providence invaded Nickerson Field.  The game was scoreless until the 88^th minute when the Terriers’ Stephen Knox corralled a pass in the box and fired it home for a 1-0 lead andthe win.  Providence entered the game ranked No. 25 in the College Soccer News Poll and received the most votes of any team not ranked in the NSCAA Top 25.  Also in action, UMBC battled through two overtimes against Bucknell and neither team could find the goal-scoring touch, in the 0-0 draw.  Lastly, Albany’s struggles continue dropping its fourth straight contest, 3-0, to Colgate. 

And in volleyball, Connecticut swept Hartford, 3-0.

For more news, here are some links from around the league. 

The Retriever Weekly: Men's swimming and diving competes at Bucknell to start the season
The Retriever Weekly: Women's swimming and diving swims at Bucknell
The Retriever Weekly: Spotlight on: Sean Rothe
The Retriever Weekly: Chattin With: Joe Glos
The Retriever Weekly: Women's cross country runs at Paul Short Invite
The Retriever Weekly: Men's cross country improves at Paul Short Invite
The Retriever Weekly: Women's soccer struggles
Daily Free Press: Too big for the both of them

Catching up with....Adam Whitehead

This interview with junior Adam Whitehead from the Binghamton University men's soccer team can be seen in Binghamton University's Pipe Dream, October 4 2011.

Aaron Gottlieb: You’re from England originally. Where exactly?

Adam Whitehead: Rochdale. It’s just outside of Manchester.

AG: What’s it like?

AW: Rochdale? Hmm…

AG: Is it more like Binghamton or more like New York City?

AW: I’d say it’s more of a Binghamton. Kind of like [Vestal].

AG: What’s it been like for you to come to America for college? Had you been here before?

AW: Well I’d been as a kid to, like, Florida. But I’d never been out here and really looked at stuff. When I first came out for college, I came with my family and went to New York City … really nervous. But then once we got to know everyone, I love it. It’s my favorite place. I want to stay out here.

AG: What went into your decision to come to Binghamton? Where else were you looking?

AW: I went for a trial for everyone who wanted to come out to America. And then [former Binghamton assistant coach] John Scott was out watching and came up to me, told me all the details of what’s going to go on. I spoke to coach Marco, and me and my mom looked at Binghamton and knew it was good for academics, so that was a big plus. And then speaking to Marco on email and Skype as well, we spoke and I liked him a lot.

AG: How often do you get to go back to England and visit?

AW: Over the Christmas break and summer.

AG: So mainly you’re just here?

AW: I’m here all the time.

AG: So what kind of stuff do you do when it’s not soccer season, and it’s not even during a semester?

AW: I have a girlfriend out here, so for the Thanksgiving breaks and spring breaks I’ve been going to her house.

AG: And where’s she from?

AW: Long Island.

AG: Figures.

AW: (laughs) Yeah, I’ve found that out.

AG: Did you experience any kind of culture shock when you came here?

AW: Mainly in regard to academics. That’s what shocked me the most, because in England you

do the year of learning and then you have one big test at the end. I came here and there’s quizzes that go toward your grade and midterms and I’d never heard of anything like that before.

AG: What’s one of the tougher parts about being a student-athlete?

AW: The time commitment and scheduling around things, catching up with work that you missed. What people don’t understand is that going to training, even though practice might be 3-5, we get there at like 2:15 and don’t leave until like 6. So it’s a lot bigger of a time that we’re in there. And then you’ve got to schedule your classes around that big time slot.

AG: What’s one of your favorite classes?

AW: I’m not going to lie; at the moment I really like the Spanish class I’m in.

AG: Which class is that?

AW: It’s 211. I did Spanish in high school and I didn’t do the first level of Spanish over here because I figured I knew it. I like learning different languages so Spanish is enjoyable right now.

AG: One of your bigger roles on the team right now is being the kicker on set pieces; what’s one of the more important things to know to be good at that?

AW: The set pieces change depending on how the other team defends, so they change every week. It’s about remembering what runs we’ve been told and where I’ve got to put the ball so that’s kind of an issue. But then also if I see something different, I’ll try it, and coach knows that. He’s given us one thing to do, but if another thing’s clearly on then we try it differently.

AG: You’re one of two Bearcats to make a penalty kick in D-1 history. What goes through your head when it’s just you and the goalie standing there?

AW: I’ve always had this thing for penalties. I’ve just always enjoyed taking them. I practice penalties and free kicks the most out of what I do in life. I go to practice early and take hundreds of penalties, even though there’s no goalkeeper in net, it’s just about getting used to it. So right now, I’m really confident in taking it but there’s always that little nerve that’s inside that’s like, “What if I miss?”

AG: With that in mind, would you rather be the one taking the penalty kick or the one trying to stop it?

AW: I would definitely rather be the one taking it.

AG: Is it really just a guessing game? I mean, I play FIFA, and that’s really my only experience with it.

AW: FIFA is slightly different because being the goalkeeper you can guess the right way and you’ll save it. But with being in net, you can guess the right way and it’ll just go flying past you before you know it.

AG: I know I’m probably asking a biased source on this, but which is better, American football (NFL) or European football (soccer)?

AW: I don’t know the rules for American football that well, but I’ve been watching a lot. Obviously I like soccer, I’ve grown up playing it and I feel like it’s more exciting because I know what everything’s about, but watching the games, you feel like there’s a lot more energy going into American football.

AG: Do you have any favorite teams?

AW: I always forget who I’ve watched so I can’t really answer that one. The only team I remember, and this is going to sound like I’m a girl, is Oregon because I really like the jerseys they wear. You know, the black and the green? It sounds like I’m a girl for saying that, but that’s my reason for liking them.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Aaron Gottlieb

Assistant Sports Editor, Pipe Dream

Binghamton University '12

America East Daily Word - October 4

Today’s Daily Word is all about basketball – and we’ll throw in a little bit of soccer and lacrosse for good measure. 

Practices have officially started and we are about a week away from the annual Tip-Off event in West Hartford, Conn., where we unveil the preseason polls and the preseason all-conference teams.  That means two things – basketball season is pounding on the door and our lives here at the conference office will no longer be the same. 

Some organizations released their predictions for the America East season this week.  CBS Sports made the leap first,selecting Stony Brook to win the conference.  The Seawolves were a half court buzzer-beater away from going to the ‘Dance’ a year ago but fell to Boston U., which grabbed the No. 2 spot according to CBS.  Albany and 2010 regular season champ, Vermont, come in at 3-4 with a healthy New Hampshire squad and Maine taking the next two slots.  Hartford, UMBC and Binghamton round out the CBS poll.  

Preseason all-conference selections include the league’s top-returning scorer and rebounder and the conference’s active scoring leader.  UMBC’s Chris De La Rosa led the league with 15.5 ppg a year ago and Vermont’s Brian Voelkel grabbed close to ten boards a game during his rookie of the year campaign. Maine’s Gerald McLemore is a two-time all-conference selection and has scored 1,199 points in his career. Boston U.’s Darryl Partin was dubbed preseason conference player of the year and Stony Brook’s Bryan Dougher rounds out the five-member squad. 

After an off-season full of coaching changes and the graduation of many top players, it will be up to underclassmen, according to Jeff Goodman, to provide the spark for many teams this year.  Several players who were on the shelf in 2011 also return and expect to contribute. 

In lacrosse this weekend, one America East squad will be playing in a scrimmage with experimental rules put in place by the NCAA hoping to increase the pace of play.  UMBC will host Georgetown undersome new guidelines, which you can read about here.  Also in lacrosse this weekend, the Catamount Classic: Lacrosse for a Cure event takes place in Braintree, Mass.  We will be there, and so will several America East schools, so stay tuned to AmericaEast.com for some cool features. 

National stats were released today for women’s soccer and Hartford continues to impress.  The Hawks rank third in GAA (0.25) while Erin Quinlan is second in GAA (0.17) and save percentage (.968).  Hartford sits atop the America East standings at 10-0-2 and is off to the best start in program history.   

In field hockey, Maine leads the nation in scoring while the conference collectively has four of the top-10 scoring players in the country – New Hampshire’s Hayley Rausch and Whitney Frates and Maine’s Kelly Newton and Stephanie Gardiner.  Valentina Cerda, rookie goalkeeper for Boston U., also leads the nation in save percentage. 

Vermont men's soccer ranks fifth in shutout percentage at 0.67. 

On Monday, former two-time conference Midfielder of the Year and UMBC standout, Matt Watson, was named to the NASL Best XI team.  Watson had 3 goals and two assists for the Carolina RailHawks. We’ve also got four men’s soccer squads in action tonight – all non-conference games.  Vermont heads to Hanover, N.H., for a tilt with Ivy League member, Dartmouth.  UMBC looks to build on its win against Albany when it hosts Patriot League foe, Bucknell.  Boston U. faces its fourth Big East opponent of the year when Providence invades Nickerson Field and Albany tries to rebound when it travels to Colgate.  

Hartford is the lone volleyball team with a match tonight traveling to Storrs to do battle with Connecticut. 

For all your America East news, here are some links from throughout the conference.

Baltimore Sun: Tolliver chosen as America East ROTW
Portsmouth Press Herald: UNH falls to Bradley
Daily Free Press: Off on the right foot
Daily Free Press: Smooth sailing for women's soccer
Pipe Dream: For Holmes, recovery a day-by-day ordeal
Pipe Dream: Men's cross country impresses with runner-up finish
Pipe Dream: Weekend losses drop volleyball to 0-3 in AE
Pipe Dream: Rollercoaster ride continues for men's soccer
Pipe Dream: Women's soccer unable to get on a roll

UNH Opens America East Play With Victory Over Fairfield

After dealing with two tough losses, The UNH Field Hockey team needed some home cooking to get back on track, and with some very important games on the horizon, the timing couldn’t have been better.

The Wildcats snapped its two game losing streak by defeating Fairfield 2-0 at Memorial Field Friday afternoon. UNH improved to 9-2 on the season, and won its first game in America East play.

The game featured more of the same lockdown defense that the Wildcats have shown at home this year, while on the other side of the field, UNH had trouble capitalizing on numerous scoring opportunities.

In the early moments, it looked as though UNH was going to have no problem scoring as Casey Pohlmeyer pushed a redirect into the net to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead only 6:25 into the game.

Fairfield did hold its ground and kept UNH from scoring again for the majority of the game, despite being outshot 14-4 by the pressing Wildcat offense.

UNH did feel as though they let some scoring chances slip through their grasp, but won’t let it take away from their victory.

“I think we could have definitely generated some more scoring opportunities with passing patterns,” said Pohlmeyer. “It can only go forward from here.”

Pohlmeyer was involved in a scary moment in the later moments of the second half, when she was hit under the eye off of a redirect. She managed to walk off on her own power and said that she would not miss any time because of it.

Pohlmeyer’s injury was a tough blow for a team that was already playing without star forward Whitney Frates, who was not at the game after a passing in her family.

Despite the losses of some of their best players, the Wildcats held strong to keep Fairfield out of the net.

Tensions mounted as Fairfield had some good opportunities to score, including a heart stopping moment where Fairfield got passed a diving Katherine Nagengast, only for a storming Kyle Lyons to come and knock the ball away seconds before it trickled in.

UNH was finally able to breathe easy after Mary Quill scored with less than two minutes to go on an empty net to seal the game.

“It kind of took the stress off our shoulders,” said Hayley Rausch, who had two assists on the day. “If they were to happen to score it would be a tie game, so it was nice to have that cushion.”

The victory was more important that the average game for the Wildcats, as they managed to secure their first America East conference game on their schedule.

UNH knows that they need to play their best in their conference games. The Wildcats have to compete with some quality teams, including 10-1 Maine and 8-3 Albany, who knocked out the Wildcats in the America East Championship Game last year.

Head Coach Robin Balducci knows how important these games are, and had to make sure the team started out this vital stretch strong.

“Well that’s game one of the conference and that’s really how we have to look at it,” said Balducci. “It’s a season within a season and you got to get the first conference win under your belt. That’s really important and that has to be a focus for sure.”

UNH will return to Memorial Field on October 9^th after a two game road trip to play Stanford.

Black Bears Take Down Albany

This article appeared in the latest issue of the 'Maine Campus.'

Riding a 10-game win streak, the University of Maine field hockey team wasn’t going to let a little drizzle rain on their parade.

After a hotly contested 70 minutes, the No. 15 Black Bears and the No. 17 University of Albany Great Danes were deadlocked at 3-3, with overtime ahead.

Extra time has been a good omen for the Black Bears this season, entering the game 2-0 in overtime contests, with wins over Quinnipiac University and Boston College. The Black Bears would add a third victory to that list, after a goal by senior forward Kelly Newton less than three minutes into the overtime clinched it for UMaine.

“Overtime is really beneficial for us, we’re a very fit team,” Newton said. “We put a lot of time on our fitness and conditioning. When we go to overtime everyone is really confident that we can come out with the win.”

The Black Bears up their win streak to 11 games, improving their record to 11-1 and 1-0 in AEC, while Albany falls to 8-4 and 0-1 in conference.

Jocelyn Mitchell

The goals started early, with the Black Bears gaining the lead less than a minute into the game. Senior midfielder Jocelyn Mitchell tallied her 100th career point after scoring off a pass by freshman forward Holly Stewart. Mitchell is the third Black Bear on the roster to eclipse 100 points, joining Newton and senior midfielder Stephanie Gardiner.

Twenty minutes into the half the Black Bears doubled their lead, as Newton scored her ninth goal of the season. In the center of their offensive zone, sophomore midfielder Alexa Binnendijk fired the ball towards the net, only to have it tip off Newton’s stick, over the crowd of players and over the goalie into the back of the cage.

After taking the 2-0 lead into the break, the Black Bears relinquished it in a matter of minutes. With less than 15 minutes gone in the second half, Great Danes senior forward Christina Patrick cut the deficit in half, only to tie things up five minutes later.

The Black Bears immediately responded after earning a penalty corner. Mitchell hit the ball to Newton, who stopped it, faked the lay-off to senior back Lelia Sacré and pushed the ball backwards between her legs to Gardiner, who fired it toward the cage where Mitchell tipped it past junior goalie Kristi Troch.

“[The ball] got pulled out to me and I stick stopped it,” Newton said. “I held it for a second so the first runner from their defensive unit would run out to the top of the circle. Then I put it through my legs to Steph and Steph shot it to the far corner side where Jocelyn tipped it in.”

With less than nine minutes to go, it seemed as though the Black Bears had wrapped up another victory, until the Great Danes found an opening with just over three minutes remaining. After a relentless attack, junior forward Daphne Voormolen put back a rebound past senior goalie Brittany Fleck to even the score.

As the regulation buzzer sounded, Newton and the Black Bears huddled together, confident as can be, with Newton announcing to everyone that “This is our [stuff].”

She made good on her word, as the Black Bears outlasted the Great Danes as Newton tipped in a rebound off Stewart’s shot for her 10th goal of the season.

“It was similar to BC, that back-and-forth game,” Newton said. “This just has that added excitement because it’s an American East game, we need it that much more important.”

When asked if there was a better way to start the conference season, Newton poked fun at the rainy overtime game.

“I guess we could have won in regular time, but overtime’s more exciting,” she said.

The Black Bears look to keep their win streak alive when they take on Boston University in Orono next Sunday at 3 p.m.

-By Jesse Scardina

America East Daily Word - October 3

We’ve got a lot to talk about today after the first full weekend of America East Conference play.  Men’s soccer teams started their conference slates as did field hockey squads, while the volleyball and women’s soccer races are starting to take shape.  Even cross country got in on the act this weekend with plenty of teams hitting the trails. 

Albany men’s basketball coach Will Brown (@UAHOOPSWB) was watching the Jets-Raven game last night and couldn’t help but tweet about a call that Rex Ryan did not agree with.  “Very easy to read his lips.  Outstanding usage of four letter words.  #entertainment.” 

Congrats Coach, you gave us our Tweet of the Day! 

Say goodbye to Twitter for the time being and let’s head out to the soccer pitch where we had a busy weekend for the men and women.  We’ll start on the men’s side where some teams were looking to shake off the non-conference woes and turn them into conference success.  Boston U. was certainly one of those teams, heading down to Hartford for the opener against the Hawks.  The Terriers broke a 77^th minute deadlock to down Hartford, 1-0.  Elsewhere, Vermont continued its sizzling start scoring a 3-0 win against Binghamton in Burlington.  Albany made things interesting against UMBC down in Baltimore, even taking a one goal lead in the second half.  Pete CaringiIII and Andrew Bulls had other ideas, though, rallying the Retrievers to a 2-1 win.  

Yesterday was full of women’s soccer action.  Undefeated Hartford hosted New Hampshire, which was coming off a big win over Albany.  The Hawks proved to be too stingy on defense and too dynamic on offense, earning a 3-0 shutout.  That is Hartford's ninth shutout of the season as they continue the best start in program history.  Boston U. kept pace with Hartford as the Terriers notched a 2-1 win in Orono against Maine.  Vermont and UMBC played to a 2-2 draw in Baltimore and neither Binghamton nor Stony Brook could find the goal-scoring magic in a 0-0 stalemate in Vestal.

After a rough non-conference season, the New Hampshire volleyball team probably couldn’t wait for conference play to start.  The Wildcats improved to 2-0 in conference by defeating Providence, 3-1 over the weekend.  Albany joins New Hampshire as the only other team unbeaten in conference thus far.  The Danes had to rally from two sets down to defeat UMBC in Baltimore on Sunday.  Stony Brook needed five sets to get past Binghamton as did Providence to knock off Hartford.  

Field hockey opened conference play on Friday when New Hampshire defeated Fairfield, 2-0.  The game of the weekend, however, came in Orono as No. 15 Maine hosted No. 17 Albany.  The Black Bears jumped out quickly taking a 2-0 lead into halftime.  Maine scored again in the second half but Albany tallied three times to knot the score and send the game to overtime.  The Black Bears didn’t wait long to get the game over with, though, scoring just three minutes into overtime to collect a big win over the Danes.  No. 18 Boston U. also started conference playon the right foot defeating Vermont, 1-0.  Fairfield closed the weekend with a non-conference win over Lock Haven and New Hampshire did the same knocking off Michigan State in East Lansing. 

The Bangor Daily News published a great article about Lelia Sacre, a defender for the Maine field hockey team.  After an All-American season in Orono in 2009, Sacre was diagnosed with Still’s disease.  After missing all of 2010, she is back on the field and contributing. 

For all of your news, notes and tonight’s schedule, head over to AmericaEast.com.  Here are some links to recap the weekend. 

Bangor Daily News: UMaine baseball fantasy camp
Portland Press Herald: Interim softball coach has lots of experience
Portsmouth Press Herald: Field hockey tops Michigan State
Maine Campus: Barron introduced as interim softball coach