The Friday Fives

Welcome to the first edition of the AExtra Friday Fives. This will become your one stop shop for information you want to know from the week that was and what you need to know for the weekend ahead. All of this will be packaged in five quick lists of five so you can get caught up wherever you are. So without further ado...

1) Plays of the Week

2) Lights, Camera, Action
- UMBC's Steve Levy talked with men's soccer coach Pete Caringi about the week that was.

- The Boston U. women's soccer team is headed to Stanford this weekend. Check out footage from their last big road trip right here.

- On Tuesday we talked about the big weekend that Binghamton's Jake Keegan had. Watch him talk about it on the Bearcats Athlete of the Week feature.

- Vermont posted an awesome video recapping some of their greatest athletic moments. Definitely worth a view.

- It's only September 7, but it's never too early to think about basketball season. Check out this 2011-12 highlight piece Stony Brook did.

3) The Numbers Game
- Only the ACC and Big 10 (six each) have more teams ranked in the national field hockey poll than the America East with four.

- Raven Edwards is the only America East women's soccer player with two game winning goals this season.

- Boston U. holds a slight all-time edge over Boston College in field hockey. The series stands at 16-14-3 in favor of the Terriers as the two teams prepare to play tonight.

- UMBC's Brandan McGee set a personal record and school record last Saturday when he completed the Spider Alumni Open course in a time of 15:17.2.

- America East teams will play nine ranked teams over the weekend. The average ranking of those nine teams in their respective national polls is 8.89.

4) Linked Up: Friday Five version
- A great story out of Stony Brook: men's basketball coach Steve Pikiell and his family donated $50,000.

- The Minnesota Star Tribune has a story about how the Minnesota vs. New Hampshire football matchup this weekend has a bit of history to it.

- Albany named its men's basketball captains for the upcoming season.

- Boston.com had a nice list of things to the next time you visit Burlington for a Catamounts' game.

- Things are looking up for Binghamton's cross country squads.

5) #FollowFriday
@AmericaEast

@AEC_Commish -- America East Commissioner

@Shonna_Brown -- America East Senior Associate Commissioner

@mulvenna09 -- America East Associate Commissioner for Compliance

@Powers_AEC -- America East Assistant Director for Administration


Check back on Monday for a recap of all the weekend's America East action!

Daily Word: Weekend Warriors

As the work week winds to an end, it's time to start looking forward to the weekend's big games. Here at AExtra, you can count on a weekend preview that comes your way on Thursdays. Why not Friday, you ask? We've got something different planned for Friday (be sure to check back here tomorrow for that).

So let's dive right into it.

We'll start with field hockey, which will see five matchups of ranked opponents over the weekend. Albany will kick things off on Friday as it plays host to No. 15 Michigan. The Wolverines toppled Maine last weekend, so Albany will be looking to extract some revenge for the conference. Also on Friday, New Hampshire will host No. 2 Syracuse, already the Wildcats third ranked foe of the year. For the nightcap, the Battle for Boston is renewed between Boston U. and Boston College. Ranked 12th and 17th respectively, the two schools have more spots separating them in the polls than they do miles on Commonwealth Avenue. This one should be fun.

Sunday's matchups are nothing to scoff at either. Boston U. will kick off the day by hosting Syracuse, who will be fresh off their battle with New Hampshire. Later in the day Albany will host its second ranked opponent of the weekend when No. 7 Connecticut comes for a visit.

Men's soccer will see two matchups featuring ranked opponents this weekend, highlighted by Stony Brook challenging last year's national runner-up and current No. 7 team, Charlotte. This game will be played in Lexington, Ky. as a part of the UK Invite. Stony Brook will also take on St. Joseph's while in Lexington. The other big time game is Boston U. taking on yet another top 25 opponent, its fifth in eight games, when the Terriers travel to No. 4 Connecticut.

On the women's side of things, we have even more ranked action on the pitch. Boston U. is heading to Palo Alto for the Stanford Nike Invitational. The Terriers square off against No. 5 Stanford Friday night and battle a Santa Clara team on Sunday which was No. 17 in the preseason rankings. Also on Friday Stony Brook, currently riding a four game win streak, travels to No. 21 Rutgers.

Along with the above matchups, don't forget to keep an eye on our volleyball teams, who continue non-conference play, and the remaining opening cross country meets for Binghamton, Boston U., Hartford, Maine and Vermont.

Box Scores, Recaps and Highlights

Women's Soccer

Albany got behind early and couldn't catch up: Colgate (Box/Recap)

Volleyball

UMBC came back to force a fifth set, but fell just short: George Washington (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Linked Up

To continue the weekend theme, check out these previews for our football schools: New Hampshire at Minnesota; Maine at Boston College; Albany at Robert Morris; Stony Brook vs. Pace.

Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant has a nice piece on Hartford senior forward, Amelia Pereira.

Vermont alum Charlene Begley, now a CEO, will speak to students.

A Binghamton watch party will be featured on DNC coverage.

Boston U. students were a part of the mayhem that is move-in weekend (as was I).

What's Next

Just one game on the slate tonight, as Hartford visits Rhode Island in volleyball. You find live stats right here.

Daily Word: Prominence in the Polls

Photo Credit: Greg Greene

2011 was a banner year for America East field hockey teams, which posted the third highest conference RPI in the country. Certainly this meant high expectations for the league coming into the new season. So far, so good, according to the national poll.

Four America East teams were ranked in the national preseason poll. After week one of the season, those four teams still find themselves among the nation's elite. Right now Boston U. leads the way, finding itself at No. 12 in the country after four consecutive wins to start the season. Three of the aforementioned wins were overtime thrillers. The Terriers will take part in one of the season's most anticipated battles on Friday, as they square off versus crosstown rival No. 17 Boston College.

Albany is cruising along at No. 21 after a 2-1 start to its season. While Albany hasn't played a ranked opponent yet, but that's about the change very quickly. The Great Danes will play host to not one, but two top 15 teams this weekend in Michigan and Connecticut. Keep an eye on those matchups for sure.

In the somewhat scuffling category are New Hampshire (No. 24) and Maine (No. 25). The Wildcats are 1-2 on the season, but both losses have come to ranked foes and both losses came by a single tally. They took out their frustration on Brown over the weekend, hitting the back of the cage nine times to record an easy win. Maine has also been through the gauntlet thus far in the young season, taking losses to three ranked opponents on its way to a 1-4 record. The Black Bears will look to get back on track this weekend when they take on Rutgers and Bryant.

Elsewhere in the conference, Stony Brook (No. 8) and UMBC (No. 10) make an appearance in the NSCAA Northeast men's soccer rankings. In women's soccer, the America East boasts two teams in the NSCAA Northeast rankings with Boston U. at No. 6 and Stony Brook at No. 9.

Box Scores, Recaps and Highlights

Since there were no games last night, how about a Scott Diamond update? Diamond yielded four runs on seven hits across five innings for the Twins last night. Far from his best start of the year, the effort was still good enough to net him a win, bringing his record to 11-6 on the season. Diamond now leads the Twins in wins and ERA (3.35). Additionally, he ranks third among all Major League starting pitchers in walks per nine innings, having surrendered only 23 walks in 142.1 innings pitched this season.

A Rule 5 draft pick from the Braves in 2010, Diamond never cracked the Twins top 10 prospects according to Baseball America, something that makes his 2012 season that much more impressive. You can check out the box score, recap and highlights from ESPN right here.

Linked Up

Boston U. has announced two new coaches for women's lacrosse.

Another women's lax coaching addition from UMBC.

Maine is doing a cool feature that highlights the top 10 moments of the football program. You can see moments 10-7 here. Also, Maine plays Boston College in football this weekend, which is pretty awesome.

A pair of UMBC students are blogging from the Democratic National Convention.

Stony Brook baseball put itself on the map for many people last year. That includes, evidently, Bucky Dent.

What's Next

For the second day in a row, there is nothing on the America East slate tonight. Our teams get back into the swing of things on Friday, when there will be a number of notable matchups. We'll have a primer for you tomorrow. In the meantime, you can go check out the weekly awards for cross country.

AExtra Reloaded

Welcome back, everyone, to another year of America East athletics. The 2011-12 season saw so many great things happen for the conference and we hope you followed along with it all right here. For the upcoming season, we have even more in store for you here at AExtra. From recaps, to highlights, to insider takes, we'll keep you up to date on everything you need to be an America East super fan. And while we're on that topic, if you didn't check out our Plays of the Week last Friday, you really should.

Now, onto the good stuff. Fall sports seasons continued to roll along over your Labor Day weekend and America East teams piled up the victories in men's soccer, women's soccer and field hockey, combining for a 24-14-1 mark across the three sports.

First up is women's soccer, which had the weekend's busiest slate with 17 games over four days. Highlighting the weekend were Stony Brook and Maine, which both had perfect 2-0 weekends. Boston U. and Binghamton also had a nice weekends, with the Terriers going 1-0-1 and the Bearcats winning their only game of the weekend.

Five men's soccer teams had a perfect weekend, including 2-0 showings for Hartford, Binghamton and Albany. Preseason favorite Stony Brook was 1-0 on the weekend as was UMBC.

Field Hockey had a strong showing as well, as the America East went into the weekend boasting four teams ranked in the top 25 nationally. Boston U. and Fairfield were perfect, racking up two victories a piece, while New Hampshire and Albany both went 1-0.

Box Scores, Recaps and Highlights

Women's Soccer
Stony Brook netted two wins thanks to game winning goals from two freshmen: Army (Box/Recap), Yale (Box/Recap)

Maine felt right at home as they traveled to South Carolina: SCSU (Box/Recap), Francis Marion (Box/Recap)

Binghamton is off to its best start since 2008: Lehigh (Box/Recap/Video)

Boston U. had a nice weekend before it heads to the Stanford Nike Invitational: Monmouth (Box/Recap/Video), Harvard (Box/Recap)

Hartford bounced back on Sunday to earn a weekend split: Yale (Box/Recap/Video), St. Joseph's (Box/Recap/Video)

Albany spent the weekend in North Carolina, going 1-1: Western Carolina (Box/Recap), UNC Asheville (Box/Recap)

UMBC scored 5 goals in its first win of the season on Friday: St. Peter's (Box/Recap), (LIU Brooklyln (Box/Recap/Video)

Vermont's late push wasn't enough: Quinnipiac (Box/Recap)

New Hampshire lost a pair of one-goal games: Northeastern (Box/Recap), Brown (Box/Recap)

Men's Soccer

Hartford had a perfect weekend to get to .500 on the year: Fordham (Box/Recap), Central Connecticut (Box/Recap/Video)

Binghamton went 2-0 thanks to Jake Keegan's big weekend: Buffalo (Box/Recap), Army (Box/Recap)

Albany and Rookie of the Week Anthony Rozzano were perfect: Towson (Box/Recap), Yale (Box/Recap)

Raphael Abreu got his 5th career game winning goal for Stony Brook: Lehigh (Box/Recap/Video)

Pete Carigni was a one man show as UMBC won: Robert Morris (Box/Recap/Video)

New Hampshire went 1-1, including a double overtime victory: Marist (Box/Recap), Penn (Box/Recap)

Boston U. gave the number one team in the country a battle: Wake Forest (Box/Recap), North Carolina (Box/Recap)

Vermont lost a pair in the wolverine state: Michigan (Box/Recap/Video ), Oakland (Box/Recap)

Field Hockey

Boston U. had their first non-overtime victory this weekend: Providence (Box/Recap), Kent St. (Box/Recap/Video)

Felicitas Heinen powered Fairfield to two victories: Yale (Box/Recap), Monmouth (Box/Recap)

New Hampshire scored nine goals...in one game: Brown (Box/Recap)

McConville's two goals propel Albany: Hofstra (Box/Recap/Video)

Maine had a tough weekend in Michigan: Central Michigan (Box/Recap), Michigan (Box/Recap)

Vermont is still looking for its first win: Brown (Box/Recap)

Linked Up

Stony Brook alum Tom Koehler was called up to the Miami Marlins on Saturday. He's the fourth former America East standout currently in the majors, joining the Twins' Scott Diamond (Binghamton), the Rays' Carlos Pena (Northeastern) and the Rockies' Adam Ottavino (Northeastern). Rangers closer Joe Nathan also attended an America East school (Stony Brook) before it was a member.

The Binghamton women's soccer team is disregarding preseason expectations.

Hartford's overtime victory against in-state rival Central Connecticut was a lot of fun.

If you missed Boston's "Terrier Tailgate" over the weekend, you missed a good time.

In football news, New Hampshire and Maine gained some much needed stability when Stony Brook and Albany joined CAA in football.

One more bit of gridiron goodness: New Hampshire, Stony Brook and Maine are all in the FCS Top 25.

What's Next

None of the America East teams are in action tonight, but keep an eye out for our weekly releases!