America East Daily Word - October 28

Amidst all of the fall sport drama, bigger news came out of the NCAA yesterday that will impact Division I collegiate athletics across the board. 

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved proposals yesterday that “toughen academic standards and provide increased academic and economic support to student-athletes.” As part of the accepted proposals, a certain level of academic performance must be achieved in order for teams to participate in postseason competition. The eligibility requirement will begin a phase-in process beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year. 

Currently the Academic Progress Rate (APR) needed to participate in the postseason is 900 but the new plan calls for a 930 APR that will be phased in over the next four years. That jump would have kept a number of teams out of tournaments last year and will potentially keep them out until academic progress is up to standard. UConn men’s basketball team, for example, would be ineligible next season because it’s four year APR is below the required 900 and the two most recent years of data would be below 930. 

University of Hartford President Walt Harrison serves as the chair of the Committee on Academic Performance, the committee that recommended the tougher academic standards which were adopted yesterday. Here is a video of Harrison’s comments on the new standards and implementation process. 

In addition to the academic changes, the board also passed legislation allowing scholarship athletes to receive “athletics aid up to the full cost of attendance or $2,000, whichever is less.” That according the official NCAA release. That’s huge news on the long-debated “should collegiate athletes be paid?” front and will most likely cause even more debate now that the legislation allows it. 

In other news removed from the in-season sports, Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at tomorrow’s Stony Brook baseball game. The former Seawolf donated $500,000 to his alma mater to help construct the new venue and it is named in his honor – Joe Nathan Field. A 1997 graduate of Stony Brook, Nathan is the Twins’ all-time saves leader.   

It’s a pretty quiet night on America East campuses. Only volleyball teams are in action this evening as six teams deal with familiar foes in conference matchups. First-place Albany plays host to UMBC. Those two squads were the top two teams in the preseason poll back in August. Elsewhere, Providence travels to Hartford to take on the Hawks and a red-hot Stony Brook team plays at Binghamton. 

This weekend will see some of the most meaningful games of the season as we wrap up the men’s soccer regular season, see who will play for the women’s soccer championship, and find out where Maine and Albany wind up seed-wise for the field hockey championship next weekend. We’ve also got the cross country championship so it is a busy and important weekend in the America East. 

For the complete weekend schedule and live coverage links, head to AmericaEast.com and for your viewing pleasure here are some links from around the conference.

NCAA.com: DI Board adopts improvements in academic standards
NewsDay: Joe Nathan christening Stony Brook field
Troy Record: Albany women's soccer upends UVM in quarters
Press and Sun Bulletin: Women's soccer into semifinals
Bangor Daily News: Wheeler back on shelf, Burns on court
Burlington Free Press: UVM to play St. Michael's this weekend
Burlington Free Press: Albany ends UVM's season
Daily Free Press: Field hockey to conclude regular season against Fairfield
Daily Free Press: Better late than never for men's soccer
Daily Free Press: On night of honors, seniors shine bright
Vermont Cynic: John Becker takes over UVM men's basketball
WCAX.com: Honoring a fallen star
WPTZ.com: Vermont falls in return to postseason

Inside Look At Regular Season Champion UNH

What does the two-time reigning America East Regular-Season Champion University of New Hampshire field hockey program do to gear up for a big conference game?

Sing and dance, naturally.

The UNH video production team got an inside look at the Wildcat program, from locker room pregame, to on the sidelines with Head Coach Robin Balducci, a former Wildcat student-athlete herself. The cameras also caught up with seniors Hayley Rausch and Kendall Deck to talk about the team and the game of field hockey.

Next week's America East Field Hockey Championship -- which will feature the conference's four nationally-ranked top-20 squads -- will be on the UNH campus in Durham on Friday, November 4 and Sunday, November 6. Until then, take a closer look below at the #1 seed Wildcats and stay tuned for more field hockey news and features on AmericaEast.com and AExtra.


UNH Field Hockey from UNH Video on Vimeo.

America East Daily Word - October 27

Thursday’s men’s soccer action took a lot of drama out of the playoff race with two more teams clinching spots in the postseason conference tourney. Vermont and Hartford join Boston U., Stony Brook and UMBC in the tourney field.

There is still plenty to be decided, though, in the final two days of the regular season.

We’ll start in Burlington where the Cats needed to win or tie Albany to earn a berth. UVM jumped out to a 1-0 first-half lead and went on to win, 3-1 over the Danes thanks to two second-half goals from D.J. Edler. Vermont could be seeded anywhere between No. 3 or No. 5 come quarterfinal action next week. Albany, meanwhile, still has life, needing to win its regular season finale against New Hampshire on Saturday. The winner of that game gets the final spot in the six-team field.

Thanks to the Albany loss, Hartford was in the playoffs if it could beat Binghamton. The Hawks did just that, notching a 2-1 win over the Bearcats to qualify for the postseason. It’s Hartford’s second conference victory in a row after having gone winless in America East play until last Saturday. Tom Poitras and company can be seeded No. 4 or No. 5 next week.

Boston U. is in the driver seat for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and the No. 1 seed in the tourney thanks to its 3-0 victory over New Hampshire last night. The Terriers got their highest scoring output of the season, on senior night no less. Boston U. will be the No. 1 seed with a win or tie on Sunday.

Look out for Stony Brook, though. Ryan Anatol has his Seawolves peaking at the righttime as they won again last night. This time, tough, they took out UMBC in convincing fashion, 3-0. Stony Brook climbs to second in the standings ahead of the Retrievers, who have dropped three straight. Both teams could be the No. 1 seed in the tourney with wins and a little help over the weekend.

Five teams are in. New Hampshire and Albany play in the biggest match of the year on Saturday. The winner gets to play at least one more game.

Women’ssoccer quarterfinal action starts this afternoon. No. 3 Albany hosts No. 6Vermont and No. 4 New Hampshire takes on No. 5 Binghamton.

UVM announced yesterday that it will retire the jersey of former men’s basketballplayer, Trevor Gaines. The 6-foot-7 forward played for the Catamounts from 1998 to 2002. Gaines died suddenly in July of 2010 while playing pickup basketball in Las Vegas. His jersey will be raised to the Patrick Gym rafters in a Dec. 17 ceremony before UVM hosts Iona.

Daily Free Press: Women's soccer looks to sweep AE titles
Maine Campus: Barron hopes to lead UMaine women's basketball
Maine Campus: UMaine men's basketball adds youth to AE contender

America East Daily Word - October 26

It’s time to get serious.

Every men’s soccer team is still mathematically alive for a playoff spot and three have already clinched a berth. Five teams battling for three spots means action on the pitch this week is going to be intense.

We’ve got four contests tonight that will start to shed some light on that final field of six.

The big game tonight takes place in Baltimore when UMBC hosts Stony Brook in a battle between two of the top-three teams in the standings. Both teams have clinched playoff spots but positioning is at stake. The Retrievers are coming off a rough 3-1 defeat at the hands of Hartford. UMBC could clinch the #1 seed with a win and a Boston U. loss. Stony Brook, meanwhile, is fresh off a 2-1 win over Binghamton and has gone 5-2-1 in its last eight games.

Boston U. is tied atop the standings with UMBC at 4-1 in conference and hosts New Hampshire tonight at Nickerson Field. UNH sits in fifth place right now (clinching with a win and an Albany loss) so three points would be huge for the Wildcats. Hartford clings to the final playoff spot (can also clinch with a win and an Albany loss) and the Hawks host a last-place Binghamton squad that is in desperate need of a victory. Lastly, Albany, on the outside looking in if the playoffs started today, travels to Vermont for an afternoon tussle in Burlington. The Catamounts will qualify for the playoffs with a win or a tie today.

A pair of non-conference volleyball matches also happening tonight. First-place New Hampshire travels to Holy Cross to take on the Crusaders while Hartford battles at in-state rival Central Connecticut.

Women’s soccer regular season awards will be released later this afternoon. Stay tuned to AmericaEast.com for the announcement of the all-conference teams and major award winners.

Over the weekend, Stony Brook junior and tennis player Nini Lagvilava made an impressive run to the quarterfinals of the 2011 USTA/ITA Division I Women's Northeast Regional Championships. Knocking off a pair of top-seeded performers en route to the quarters, Lagvilava is the first player in Stony Brook tennis history to make it this far at the Regional Championship. Unfortunately, her magical run came to an end on Monday falling to Hanna Yu of Yale. Lagvilava took the first set before dropping the final two. But still, what a run!

Albany softball continued its fall workouts with the ‘Long tee Challenge.’ Take a look and see what the Great Danes have been up to this year.

Press and Sun Bulletin: Binghamton men's basketball hopes to rise to the challenge
Bangor Daily News: UMaine women's basketball adjusting to new system
Bangor Daily News: Barron signals big changes for Maine women's basketball
Burlington Free Press: UVM Athletes Hold 95% Graduation Rate
The New Hampshire:'Cats shutout Black Bears
Retriever Weekly: Chattin With: Luke DiBlasi
Retriever Weekly: Spotlight: Erin Brown
Retriever Weekly: Spotlight: Michelle Kurowski

Retriever Weekly: A New Beginning
Retriever Weekly: AOTW - Iman Kennedy

Retriever Weekly: Spotlight: Chris De La Rosa
Retriever Weekly: Volleyball remains inconsistent

Retriever Weekly: Women's Swimming and Diving falls to Navy

Retriever Weekly: Men's Swimming and Diving falls to Navy
Retriever Weekly: Women's soccer finishes season winless

America East Daily Word - Oct 25

I can almost guarantee that when watching a game, you hear a name announced, and you think to yourself, “That is an awesome name.” You’ve also probably thought, “What were his or her parents thinking?”

Regardless of the emotion the name elicits, hearing some of the names of athletes from around the world is one of the most entertaining parts of athletics.

‘Ballin’ is a Habit: The Basketblog’ gave us moniker hunters a great read when it released the 2011-2012 B.I.A.H All-Name Teams. We are talking 100+ names from Division I basketball carefully placed onto teams with clever titles suiting the players that earned a spot on it. Every category possible from the generic All-Name Team, to the All-Bible Team and First Team All-Alliteration, found a place on the list.

Five America East basketball players found their way into the conversation by way of their unique handles. Vermont freshman guard Four McGlynn (yes, his name is Four and he wears #4) was named to the B.I.A.H All-Name First Team – quite an honor to be sure. Hartford forward Genesis Maciel got the nod on the All-Bible Team. Meanwhile, Storm Clonch, guard for the Binghamton men, made All-Name Fourth team and UMBC's Nate Basaglya earned First Team All-Sounds-Like-a-Disease honors. Albany's Logan Aronhalt, a preseason all-conference pick, can add First Team All-SEC-Frathouse to his resume, as well. 

It got me to thinking, who might B.I.A.H have missed on the basketball scene, but also from the fall sports, in the conference? Lucky for you, I have been hard at work going through rosters trying to uncover the best names we have. Here’s a couple for you to chew on… 

Sally Snickenberger – Vermont, field hockey. I would say First-Team All-Food. 

Karlijn van Dijsseldonk – Albany, field hockey. My favorite name in the conference. Sorry Four. 

Mathias Axelsson – Hartford, men’s soccer. It just has a nice ring to it, right? 

Evann Slaughter – Stony Brook, volleyball. She lives up to it on the court. 

Mac McGuire – Boston U., men’s soccer. I thought he was the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals?

Tweet us your thoughts on the best name in the conference (@AmericaEast) and we’ll retweet the best responses!

Stony Brook’s new women’s lacrosse head coach Joe Spallina led the Adelphi Panthers to the last three Division II Women’s Lacrosse National Championships. He’s bringing that winning attitude, and several of his former Panthers, to Stony Brook. Lacrosse Magazine featured the “new” Seawolves program in a fall ball brief this morning. It remains to be seen if Stony Brook has what it takes to contend with America East power Albany, but one thing is clearly not in doubt: Spallina’s confidence.

“We expect to win the America East,” Spallina said. “We can be a team in the top 20. We believe we can be that Albany type team.”

Conference action continues tomorrow with a full slate of men’ soccer and volleyball contests.

For all your conference news, check out AmericaEast.com.

Hartford Courant: Hartford women fall to BU, 3-0
Hartford Courant: NCAA Academic Plan
Bangor Daily News: Freshman forwards giving Black Bears a lift
Bangor Daily News: Masters looking to defend AE title, eyes nationals
Pipe Dream: Women's soccer sneaks into the playoffs
Pipe Dream: Men's soccer on verge of elimination
Pipe Dream: Bearcats fall to Albany in volleyball
Daily Free Press: One for the Thumb: Five in a Row for Women's Soccer
Daily Free Press: Terrier seniors dominate on Senior Day
Daily Free Press: Field Hockey breaks even against Albany, Northeastern

America East Daily Word - October 24

The America East regular season championship in women’s soccer came down to the final day of conference play – No. 16 Boston University and unbeaten Hartford. The final two playoff spots came down to the final day, as well. Who would join the Terriers, the Hawks, Albany and Vermont? Would it be Binghamton, Stony Brook, New Hampshire or Maine?

Boston U. left little doubt that it is the premiere team in the league dealing Hartford its first loss of the season, a 3-0 defeat at Nickerson Field. Hartford battled with the Terriers, however, toe-to-toe in a physical and emotional game. Boston U is the No. 1 seed in the conference tourney with Hartford getting the No. 2. Albany, having already locked up the three-seed, defeated Stony Brook, 2-1 on Long Island. UNH shutout Maine, 2-0 in Durham, to earn the No. 4 seed while Binghamton upended of UMBC by the same score to grab the fifth seed. Vermont rounds out the field as No. 6 with the way things shook out yesterday.

Here’s the schedule for the conference tourney:

Quarterfinals - Thursday, October 27
No. 5 Binghamton at No. 4 New Hampshire, 1 p.m.
No. 6 Vermont at No. 3 Albany, 2 p.m.

Semifinals - Sunday, October 30
New Hampshire/Binghamton winner at No. 1 Boston University, 1 p.m.
Albany/Vermont winner at No. 2 Hartford, 2 p.m.

Final - Saturday, November 5/Sunday, November 6
Semifinal Winners at Highest Remaining Seed, TBD

In men’s soccer, a tight race at the top of the standings is developing between UMBC, Boston U. and Stony Brook. UMBC holds the top spot despite the same conference record at Boston U. because of the Retrievers’ victory over the Terriers earlier this season. Stony Brook took care of Binghamton on Saturday to move to 3-1-1 in conference. Vermont and New Hampshire played to a 1-1 tie on Saturday, as well, while Hartford picked up its first conference win of the year against UMBC and Boston U. defeated Albany, 2-1.

Speaking of tight races, Albany and New Hampshire both sit at 6-1 in conference volleyball action while Stony Brook is not far behind at 5-2.

No. 10 New Hampshire will host the conference tournament after its 3-0 win over No. 13 Maine on Friday afternoon and No. 16 Boston U.’s double overtime victory against No. 15 Albany on Saturday. Also this weekend, Fairfield downed Vermont, 2-1, and Maine rebounded from its loss to UNH to defeat Rutgers, 3-0.

A head’s up for this weekend, the first 2011-2012 conference champions will be crowned as all 18 cross country squads hit the trails at the University at Albany.

 
Press and Sun Bulletin: Binghamton men fall at Stony  Brook
Baltimore Sun: UMBC's winless season ends
Maine Campus: Women's soccer explodes for 6 on Senior Day
Lacrosse Magazine: Stony Brook adjusting to new coach Nagle