Season Opens This Weekend On the Road at American and #2 Maryland

Friday, Aug. 30 ~ 3 pm ~ William I Jacobs Recreational Complex ~ Washington, D.C.
UNH (0-0, 0-0 AE) at American (0-0, 0-0 Patriot) ~ Video ~ Stats

Sunday, Sept. 1 ~ 11 am ~ Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex ~ College Park, Md.
UNH (0-0, 0-0 AE) at #2 Maryland (0-0, 0-0 Big 10) ~ Video ~ Stats

UNH vs. American

UNH has an 0-2 lifetime record against American.
The Eagles prevailed 5-2 in the most recent meeting at Maryland in 2010. Box
They also won 4-0 at home in 2008.

UNH vs. Maryland

UNH has an 0-6 lifetime record against the University of Maryland with a breakdown of four neutral-site matchups and two at Maryland.
In the most recent matchup, the Terps were 5-2 victors at home in 2015. Box

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE • Home page • Schedule • Roster • Stats

UNH opens the 2019 season with three consecutive road games beginning with this weekend's road trip to American and Maryland. The Wildcats were 1-6 on the road last year.
The 'Cats play seven teams ranked in this week's NFHCA Poll.
New Hampshire returns 13 letterwinners from last year's team that recorded two wins against nationally-ranked teams and finished 6-12 overall (3-5 in America East).
UNH welcomes eight newcomers – seven freshmen and one transfer – to the program.
There are two America East award winners among the returners: junior midfielder Bloem von den Brekel on the East All-Conference East Division Team and sophomore forward Finn Caron on the All-Rookie Team. van den Brekel was also named to the NFCHA Northeast Region Second Team.

SEASON OPENERS

UNH has a 25-18-1 overall record in season openers and that includes last year's 3-2 home win against UMass.
Each of the Wildcats' past five season openers has been decided by one goal, and the 'Cats have won each of the past three.
This will be the fourth time UNH faces off against Maryland in a season opener. The previous matchups were in 2013, 2003 and 2002 – all at neutral sites.

SENIOR CAPTAINS

Nicky Bajus and Kayla Sliz are the only two seniors on the roster and will serve as captains of the 2019 Wildcats.
Bajus is a third-year starter and leader on the defensive end of the field, as well as a key component on both the offensive and defensive penalty corner units. She accounted for two of the team's six defensive saves. As part of the 'Cat attack, Bajus recorded two goals and an assist for a total of five points, and she tied for second on the squad in shots (26).
Sliz has been a mainstay in New Hampshire's staring lineup and linchpin in the midfield since arriving as a freshman with 52 career starts in 58 games; that includes starting all 39 games the past two years. In addition to bridging the defense and offense, Sliz recorded three points on a goal and an assist last season.

POINT PRODUCERS

The top two goal scorers and point producers – Finn Caron and Bloem van den Brekel – are back to lead the 'Cat attack.
Caron recorded eight goals – including three game-winning tallies – and an assist for 17 points. The forward also topped UNH's leaderboard in both shooting percentage (.381), with eight goals on 21 shots, and shots on goal percentage (.905; 19 of 21)
van den Brekel has started all 39 games her two years as a Wildcat. Her stats from a year ago included seven goals and two assists for 16 points, as well as a team-high 40 shots.

THE FRONTLINE

Finn Caron is joined on the frontline by classmate Tia Raspante as well as freshmen Emily Eckels, Ava Mariani and Jaiden Wittel.
Raspante played in 15 of 18 games, all off the bench, last season; she scored a goal on her only shot and finished with two points.

MIDFIELD MASHUP

Kayla Sliz and Bloem van den Brekel lead a midfield ensemble that includes junior Isabelle Danahy (Chelmsford, Mass.), sophomore Tori Palumbo (Ayer, Mass.) and junior transfer Conner Allen (Centreville, Md.).
Danahy, with 17 starts in 18 games played, tallied two goals and two assists for six points a year ago.
Palumbo had one assist in 18 games (six starts).
Allen played 15 games at the University of Delaware and recorded one point for the Blue Hens.

D-D-D-FENSE

Nicky Bajus anchors a relatively inexperienced defensive unit comprised of juniors Megan Borneman, Julia Chase and Erin Malone, sophomore Christina Hathaway, and freshmen Molly McAteer and Maura Verleg,
Malone has seen the most collegiate action of this group with nine starts in 12 games played a year ago, and she did have one defensive save to her credit.
The other three returning Wildcats played in a combined total of 10 games.

DEFENDING THE CAGE

The three goalkeepers on UNH's roster have a combined total of 64 minutes of collegiate action. Sophomore Rachel Simkevich claims all of that in two relief appearances last fall, when she stopped 6 of 8 shots on goal for a .750 save percentage and 2.18 GAA; she did not factor into a decision.
Freshmen Nikki Tredwell and Jemma Woods are the other candidates to become the starting goalie.
Woods has national experience playing with the England U-16 and U-18 squads the past three years; she has earned gold, silver and bronze medals with those teams.
Tredwell was the NH Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year at Winnacunnet High School (Hampton, N.H.), where she was also a two-time All-New England First Team and All-State First Team honoree.

BALDUCCI BIO

This is the 29^th season as UNH head coach for Robin Balducci.
She is the program's all-time winningest coach with 280 career victories
Balducci was inducted into the NFHCA Hall of Fame on Jan. 5, 2017.
She was inducted into UNH's Hall of Fame in 1998 and was also part of the 1985 NCAA national championship women's lacrosse team that was enshrined in 1994.
Balducci is a six-time America East Coach of the Year (1998, 2000-10-11-12-13).

WELCOME BACK

Cheryl Murtagh '81 joined the coaching staff as a technical director in July 2019.
Murtagh, who graduated from UNH in 1981 with a degree in Physical Education, was a 30-year head coach at Northeastern University spanning the 1988-2017 seasons and guided the Huskies to 10 America East titles and 16 NCAA tournament appearances, including three Final Fours.
She has been inducted into the Hall of Fame at both UNH (Class of 2000) and Northeastern, as well as the NFHCA Hall of Fame and Springfield Hall of Fame.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION

UNH was voted in a tie for fourth place in the East Division of the 2019 America East Field Hockey Coaches' Poll that was released in early August.
UAlbany, Maine and Vermont are ahead of the Wildcats, who tied with newcomer Monmouth. UMass Lowell completes the East Division.
The West Division rankings were Stanford, Cal and UC Davis.
With the addition of Monmouth to the East Division, those divisional teams play each other once to determine the conference standings.

SCOUTING AMERICAN • Home page

American University has five returning starters from the 2018 team that closed the season with an overall record of 9-9 (4-2 Patriot League). They ended the season in second place.
Junior Noor Coenen was selected as the Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. AU led the PL with three Preseason All-League Team members including Coenen as well as senior Jette Dieckmann and sophomore Georgia Davies.
Davies made an immediate impact on the Eagles during her debut season, starting all 18 games and earning 13 points (4g, 5a) and ranked fourth on the team.
The Eagles are predicted to finish the regular season in second again behind the terriers based on the conferences head coaches and sports information directors.

SCOUTING MARYLAND • Home page

Maryland is ranked No. 2 team in the latest Penn Monto/Division I Coaches Preseason poll released Aug. 27.
Graduate student Jen Bleakney, senior Madison Maguire and junior Bodil Keus earned Big Ten Preseason Honors.
Keus was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season and earned NFHCA First Team All-America honors. She scored nine goals with seven assists and three defensive saves in 2018.
Maguire scored seven goals, including an overtime game winner against No. 5 Connecticut. She had 12 assists last year and earned NFHCA All-Mid Atlantic Region honors.
The Terps went 22-3 in 2018, advancing to their second straight NCAA championship game after winning the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.
Eight of their 11 starters from last year are returning.

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