The Friday Fives

Welcome back, fans, to the fourth edition of the AExtra Friday Fives. We hope you've enjoyed it thus far and we certainly welcome any feedback you may have. In other news, if you haven't been following the America East on Facebook and Twitter, you've missed some awesome stuff this week. Today is Fan Friday, so make sure to check that out in edition to reading the Friday Fives. And now, without further ado...

Top Plays



Once you finish watching the plays, head over to our Facebook page and vote for your favorite!

Games to Watch

- FH: (12) Boston U. visits (23) Albany in an America East clash that features two teams which have combined to win six of the last seven conference titles. Check out the full preview on our website.

- FH: (24) Maine will visit Massachusetts with a chance for a seven game winning streak if they can get by Vermont on Saturday.

- MSOC: Hartford at Boston U. is a rematch from last year's America East semifinals. We took a little closer look at this game on the blog yesterday.

- VB: Binghamton and New Hampshire both won in the first week of conference play. If both squads win tonight, a pair of winning streaks -- three for Binghamton and five for New Hampshire -- will be on the line when the Bearcats travel to Durham.

- XC: Two weekends ago, five America East squads got together for the Pre-Conference Meet at New Hampshire. Today, four America East schools will run in the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh. That group includes the men's (Boston U.) and women's (Vermont) winner from the Pre-Conference Meet.

The Numbers Game

1,384: The average attendance at Stony Brook men's lacrosse games over the past eight seasons. The Seawolves were tabbed as the host for the America East championship in 2013 & '14 yesterday.

10/4: Amelia Pereira netted two more goals last night and is now in the midst of a serious hot streak: over Hartford's last four games, Pereira has racked up 10 points.

1.87: New Hampshire field hockey is outscoring its opponents by an average margin of 1.87 goals a game. Not only is that the best in the America East, it's 10th in the nation.

.872: That's the save percentage for Vermont keeper Conor Leland. He's been so good that he ranks 11th in that country in that statistic.

4.28: Freshman Melissa Rigo of Stony Brook has burst on the scene this year. That she is among the top 30 in the country with 4.28 kills per set comes as no surprise to us.

Linked Up: Friday Fives Edition

Vermont continues its weekly series, Catamount Weekly.

Another great video feature that made its premiere last week, make sure you check out the second week of Stony Brook's Get Your Red On Minute.

More from Vermont, as the women's basketball team will sponsor a series of free instructional clinics around the state.

The Pipe Dream has a nice story on the Binghamton volleyball team.

Some football here: a great story from the Bangor Daily News about a Maine player who draws inspiration from his late grandmother.

#FanFriday

Here are five ways you can interact with the America East today and throughout the weekend:

1) Tweet us a picture of you and some friends at a game. If we like it, you just might end up on our Twitter or Facebook page for #FanFriday or #MondayRewind

2) Vote for the America East Play of the Week on Facebook. The play the receives the most "likes" will earn the honor!

3) Follow all things America East this weekend by using our hashtags:

• #AmericaEast
• #AEWSOC -- Women's Soccer
• #AEMSOC -- Men's Soccer
• #AEFH -- Field Hockey
• #AEVB -- Volleyball
• #AEXC -- Cross Country

4) Subscribe to our lists on Twitter. Visit our index here and customize your America East news!

5) Last but certainly not least, if haven't followed us on Twitter or Instagram, liked us on Facebook or subscribed to our YouTube page, please do!

Daily Word: Weekend Preview

Pereira has been on a tear of late for Hartford.

It's been a quiet week in the America East. After weeks of non-conference play, only three weekday games have been played so far. But it's a trade we're willing to make for what's on tap this weekend: 21 conference games and some huge non-conference matchups in field hockey. It's the first full weekend of the conference schedule. And this is your weekend preview.

Women's Soccer

FINAL: Albany 4, Stony Brook 1, Thursday 1 p.m.
New Hampshire at Binghamton, Thursday 6 p.m.
UMBC at Hartford, Thursday 7 p.m.
Maine at Boston U., Thursday 7 p.m.
Maine at UMBC, Sunday 1 p.m.
Boston U. at Vermont, Sunday 1 p.m.
Hartford at New Hampshire, Sunday 2 p.m
Binghamton at Stony Brook, Sunday 2 p.m.

Notes

• The home team was 4-0 in the opening weekend of conference play.
• New Hampshire and Binghamton played in last year's America East quarterfinals, with the Bearcats winning 1-0.
• Boston U. is carrying a 25-game America East winning streak into this weekend. They have also won 43 of their last 44 America East matchups.
• Amelia Pereira has either scored or assisted on nine of the last 11 Hartford goals.
• Shayla Bergeron's goal earlier today gave her 17 points and tied her with Pereira for the America East lead.

The Big Game

New Hampshire will host Hartford on Sunday in a matchup of two teams projected to make the playoffs this season. Both schools were victorious to open conference play and both will put their two game win streaks on the line in Thursday's conference matchups. Try to look past New Hampshire's overall record, as they had six early season games on the road, where the Wildcats went 1-5. Playing Hartford on their home turf will be a great opportunity as they try to find a way to slow down Amelia Pereira.

Men's Soccer

Stony Brook at Albany, Saturday 5 p.m.
Hartford at Boston U., Saturday 7 p.m.
Vermont at UMBC, Saturday 7 p.m.
New Hampshire at Binghamton, Saturday 7 p.m.

Notes

• Both Stony Brook at Albany and Hartford at Boston U. are rematches of last year's America East semifinals. Stony Brook and Hartford went on from those matchups to play for the championship.
• Hartford finished 2011 on a three game regular season conference win streak.
• Yesterday, we took a closer look at the top two scorers so far this season.
• UMBC has taken 64 corner kicks this year, 18 more than any other team in the conference.

The Big Game

Hartford will be visiting Boston U. for the first time since marching in and upsetting the Terriers in last year's America East semifinals. The Hawks come into this matchup having played well in its non-conference slate, posting a 6-4 mark. Boston U. played a brutal non-conference slate and now they'll look to get the offense going after scoring just 10 goals to date.

Field Hockey

*(12) Boston U. at (23) Albany, Friday 3 p.m.
*(15) New Hampshire at Fairfield, Friday 3 p.m.
*(24) Maine at Vermont, Saturday 1 p.m.
Fairfield at Brown, Sunday 12 p.m.
(25) Louisville at (23) Albany, Sunday 1 p.m.
(15) New Hampshire at (20) Drexel, Sunday 1 p.m.
(24) Maine at Massachusetts, Sunday 2 p.m.
(5) Connecticut at (12) Boston U., Sunday 5 p.m.

*denotes America East contest

Notes

• The conference continues to rank among the nation's elite, putting four teams in this week's top 25.
• We took a look at New Hampshire's offensive attack in Tuesday's post.
• Maine is riding a five game win streak heading into conference play.
• Felicitas Heinen continues to lead the conference in scoring with 23 points.

The Big Game

While Boston U. at Albany, New Hampshire at Drexel and Louisville at Albany should all be excellent games to watch, there's another matchup that looms even larger. When Boston U. hosts Connecticut on Sunday, it will be the third America East team to take a shot at knocking off the undefeated Huskies. Both previous teams (Albany and New Hampshire) lost in one goal games, with the Wildcats becoming the first team to score twice against the nation's No. 5 team. Boston U. will be facing its sixth ranked team of the season.

Volleyball

New Hampshire at UMBC, Friday 7 p.m.

Hartford at Stony Brook, Friday 7 p.m.

Providence at Binghamton, Friday 7 p.m.

New Hampshire at Binghamton, Sunday 1 p.m.

Albany at Stony Brook, Sunday 1 p.m.

Providence at UMBC, Sunday 2 p.m.

Check out the full preview of Friday's action on AmericaEast.com.

Cross Country

Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh (Boston U., New Hampshire, Stony Brook, Vermont) -- Friday

Mason Inivitational (UMBC) -- Saturday

UAlbany Great Danes Classic (Albany) -- Saturday

Linked Up

Hartford baseball and softball teamed up to do a great fundraiser with the Miracle League of Connecticut.

More from the Hawks today, as the Hartford Courant has a story about the men's soccer team and its desire to be a perennial contender.

WCAX has a "Campus Connection" video up focused on Vermont.

Here's an awesome story about Albany's punter, who is doing something pretty rare.

And just in cased you missed it, big news from the conference today, as Stony Brook was named the host for the 2013 and 2014 America East men's lacrosse championship.

What's Next?

Aside from the four women's soccer games we talked about earlier, there's just one game on the schedule tonight, as Albany visits Siena in volleyball for a 7 p.m. start.

Daily Word: The 30-Point Club

Keegan leads all America East scorers.

A pair of men's soccer snipers are knocking on the door of some pretty good company as we look towards conference play. Jake Keegan of Binghamton and Leonardo Fernandes of Stony Brook are both on pace to score 30 points this season. Keegan, who is fourth in the nation with 19 total points so far, has eights goals and three assists through nine games. Fernandes, tied for third in Stony Brook history with 28 career goals, has 16 points on the strength of six goals and four assists. While the race between these two marksmen will be entertaining enough, fans should be keeping a close tab on them for another reason.

Scoring 30 points in a season used to be a somewhat common feat in the America East/North Atlantic Conference. Prior to 2003, the leading scorer for the conference failed to reach that benchmark only twice ('90 and '89). However from 2003 on, only six players have reached the 30-point benchmark and the leading scorer has failed to reach the mark on five occasions (it probably isn't an accident that four of the top five all-time goals against averages were posted in this time frame).

Fernandes is looking to make school history in 2012.

So that we have two players on pace for 30 points this season is pretty notable as it has only happened twice since 2003 ('09 and '03). This would also be the first time since 2009 that two America East players ranked in the top 30 nationally for points per game. In 2009, Levi Houapeu and Andrew Bulls were incredibly ranked one and two in the country in that statistic, with 2.15 and 2.05 points per game respectively.

Since Binghamton began competing at the Division I level in 2001, Keegan is the progam's leader scorer for both goals and total points. He is also in the top 10 for both categories in the program's all-time history. Meanwhile, Fernandes came into 2012 with 22 career goals and 10 assists, good for 54 total points. Having already racked up six goals and four assists so far, it is all but certain that Fernandes will end up in the top three in Stony Brook history for all three categories. In fact, if he does end up with 30 points this season, there will be a new Stony Brook leader in career points.


Box Scores, Recaps and Highlights

Men's Soccer

UMBC held a big advantage in shots, but couldn't find the net in a scoreless draw: vs. La Salle (Box/Recap)

Volleyball

Melissa Rigo extended her streak of double-digit kills to 13, but Stony Brook couldn't pull out a victory: vs. LIU Brooklyn (Box/Recap)

Linked Up

Check out this awesome story about Binghamton men's lacrosse player Shane Warner and his 16-day summer trip to Uganda.

Also from Binghamton, the baseball team held its 11th annual scout day.

Vermont hired a pair of men's lacrosse assistants.

Three Village Patch has a cool piece about a Stony Brook "Super Fan".

Hockey East released its preseason poll yesterday. Check out where the America East schools that sponsor hockey ranked.

What's Next?

Just one game tonight, as New Hampshire hosts Adelphi in men's soccer at 4 p.m. Visit AmericaEast.com for links to live stats and stream.

Daily Word: New Hampshire Field Hockey and Efficiency

Hannah Richard is the leading scorer for UNH

The latest NFHCA field hockey poll came out earlier today and once again, the America East was well represented with four teams in the top 25. Boston U. leads the charge at No. 12, New Hampshire follows closely behind at No. 15, Albany checks in at No. 23 and Maine rounds it out at No. 24. And while America East teams haven't quite cracked the top 10 in the national rankings, one squad is making its mark in a different top 10.

New Hampshire narrowly missed out on beating the No. 5 team in all the land when they fell in double overtime to Connecticut on Friday. That they were able to give a top 5 such a scare should be no surprise to anyone who has followed Wildcat field hockey this year. Another fact that shouldn't surprise anyone is that New Hampshire became this first team to hang two goals on Connecticut all season long. That's right, not one team all year has done to Connecticut what the Wildcats did: not No. 6 Penn St. (which also leads the country in goals scored), not No. 17 Michigan and not fellow America East squad No. 23 Albany.

Though the win at Connecticut certainly would have been a banner win for New Hampshire leading up to conference play, their non-conference performance was such that teams have to be scared of (at least) one thing about the Wildcats: their ability to score goals. As of Monday, they ranked 10th in the country in goals scored with 32. And as amazing as that statistic is, it does not tell the entire story of their offensive attack to date.

If you look at the top 10 teams in the country in goals scored, it comes out like this:

1. Penn State (52)
2. North Carolina (50)
3. Virginia (48)
4. Syracuse (40)
5. Northwestern (40)
6. Princeton (36)
7. Massachusetts (35)
8. Kent State (35)
9. Maryland (33)
10. New Hampshire (32)

Now check out the shot totals for all of those teams compared to New Hampshire:

1. Penn State (265)
2. North Carolina (224)
3. Virginia (186)
4. Syracuse (194)
5. Northwestern (142)
6. Princeton (164)
7. Massachusetts (131)
8. Kent State (158)
9. Maryland (155)
10. New Hampshire (123)

Right away, there is a noticeable difference between the shot total for New Hampshire and the total for most of the other squads. Only Massachusetts and Northwestern are within 20 shots of the Wildcats, and Penn State has over 100 more shots than New Hampshire does. This may tell us a few things: first, it's reasonable to say that these teams may have more aggressive offensive styles or more scoring depth, which would afford them more shots. Or, it may tell us that New Hampshire has simply been more efficient than almost any school in the country when it comes to scoring chances.

Now, this stat is certainly simplistic and definitely has flaws, but check out how these other top 10 schools stack up in shooting percentage (SH%) which is simply goals divided by shots: 

1. Penn State: 52 goals, 265 shots, .196 SH%
2. North Carolina: 50 goals, 224 shots, .223 SH%
3. Virginia: 48 goals, 186 shots, .258 SH%
4. Syracuse: 40 goals, 194 shots, .206 SH%
5. Northwestern: 40 goals, 142 shots, .281 SH%
6. Princeton: 36 goals, 164 shots, .219 SH%
7. Massachusetts: 35 goals, 131 shots, .267 SH%
8. Kent State: 35 goals, 158 shots, .222 SH%
9. Maryland: 33 goals, 155 shots, .213 SH%
10. New Hampshire: 32 goals, 123 shots, .260 SH%

Again, this stat is of a very simplistic nature, but what it does show is just how efficient New Hampshire has been with its scoring chances this year. Only Massachusetts and Northwestern have been more efficient by this measure. By no means should any of these offenses be judged by this one stat, however, it helps us draw some conclusions about the style with which they play. To this end, it comes as no surprise that New Hampshire was able to defeat Northeastern, No. 7 at the time, while taking six fewer shots. In fact, Northeastern had previously been undefeated when outshooting its opponent. Something to keep an eye on as we enter conference play for sure.

No games yesterday, so let's hit the links...

Linked Up

Sarah Furminger of Binghamton was featured in the Press and Sun.

The Maine softball coach has brought on an assistant she is quite familiar with.

Another link about Binghamton's new facilities, this time from the student paper.

Check out the latest field hockey poll here.

The regional cross country rankings came out yesterday and five America East squads made the cut.

What's Next?

Just two games tonight, as UMBC plays host to La Salle (7 p.m.) in men's soccer and Stony Brook welcomes LIU Brooklyn (7 p.m.) in volleyball.

Daily Word: Weekend Roundup

Morgan Thatcher had a big weekend for UNH

There are many reasons to love fall: milder temperatures, foliage, pumpkin anything, the return of football, pennant race baseball and so on. Among the reasons that we love fall here at the America East is that conference play is again under way. Let's hope you celebrated fall equinox weekend by supporting your favorite school. Now that it's Monday, it's time to get caught up everything else you may have missed from around the conference.

Box Scores, Recaps and Highlights

Women's Soccer

Conference

Boston U. is now 14-0-0 all-time versus Albany after Sunday's game: Box/Recap/Highlights

Amelia Pereira netted a PK in the 86th minute to lift Hartford over Binghamton: Box/Recap/Highlights

Maggie Malone's game-winner propelled Maine over Vermont: Box/Recap

New Hampshire used a second half PK to down UMBC: Box/Recap/Highlights

Non-Conference

Albany dropped its final non-conference contest on the road: at Rhode Island (Box/Recap)

With a loss Friday, Binghamton finished at 6-3 out of conference: at Marist (Box/Recap)

Volleyball

Conference

Traci Vandegrift's double-double led Albany over Hartford: Box/Recap/Highlights

Binghamton used its home-court advantage to top UMBC: Box/Recap/Highlights

Morgan Thatcher racked up 14 kills to lift New Hampshire over Providence: Box/Recap/Highlights

Non-Conference

New Hampshire extended its win streak to four on Sunday: vs. Dartmouth (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Men's Soccer

Paul Marco got his 100th win as Binghamton's head coach: at Adelphi (Box/Recap)

Milo Kaper tallied a goal and an assist as UMBC won: at George Washington (Box/Recap)

Leonardo Fernandes netted his 28th career goal as Stony Brook played to a draw: at CCSU (Box/Recap)

Vermont continued its unbeaten streak to five games with a draw: at Quinnipiac (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Boston U.'s late push fell just short: at Hofstra (Box/Recap)

Hartford had its four-game win streak snapped with a late free kick: vs. Sacred Heart (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Albany was winless against a pair of in-state foes: at Buffalo (Box/Recap), at Siena (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Field Hockey

Albany played a pair of ranked opponents, earning a weekend split: vs. Lafayette (Box/Recap), at UMass (Box/Recap)

Vermont got its first win of the season: at UMass (Box/Recap/Highlights), vs. Siena (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Annabelle Hamilton's hat trick was the difference for Maine: vs. Quinnipiac (Box/Recap/Highlights)

New Hampshire took the nation's fifth-ranked team to double overtime before falling: at UConn (Box/Recap)

Boston U. lost a tough game to a top 10 team: vs. Virginia (Box/Recap/Highlights)

Felicitas Heinen notched two more goals, but Fairfield came up just short: at Columbia (Box/Recap)

Cross Country

New Hampshire at Maine (Men's Results/Women's Results): Kelton Cullenberg led the Maine men to a victory, while Cayla Pellegrini paced the New Hampshire women in a win. Corey Conner once again blew away the field in the women's 5k, this time winning by 1:27.

- Hartford's men and women both took third at the Ted Owen Invitational: (Men's Results/Women's Results)

- UMBC took third in the men's and women's races. Kirsten McGovern headlined the day with a third place finish: (Men's Results/Women's Results)

Linked Up

Stony Brook alum Tom Koehler was up to 97 MPH with his fastball against the Mets on Saturday and was also the subject of a Newsday feature.

The Burlington Free Press has a piece on the vision of Vermont.

Maine will begin renovations to the Field House early in 2013.

Binghamton officially unveiled new baseball, softball and tennis facilities. Visit the Binghamton website for their release, complete with video and photos, and also check out the Press and Sun's coverage of the ceremony.

While we're recapping, make sure you catch up on the football action from America East schools this weekend: 

• Stony Brook
• New Hampshire
• Albany at Maine

What's Next? 

No action tonight, but as always, be on the look out for the weekly releases. Also keep an eye on our social media accounts for the America East Picture of the Week.