Weekend Split at BU (Fri.) & Home vs. Holy Cross (Sun.)

Friday, September 6

Boston, Mass.

5 PM

University of New Hampshire

Boston University

Photo by: Vincent Dejana

9/5/2019 5:34:00 PM | Field Hockey

Note: Friday's game time at Boston U. has been changed to 5 p.m.

UNH FIELD HOCKEY

Friday, Sept. 6 ~ 5 pm ~ New Balance Field ~ Boston, Mass.
UNH (0-2, 0-0 AE) at #23 Boston U. (1-1, 0-0 Patriot) ~ Video ~ Stats

Sunday, Sept. 8 ~ 1 pm ~ Memorial Field ~ Durham, N.H.
Holy Cross (0-1, 0-0 Patriot) at UNH (0-0, 0-0 AE) ~ Video ~ Stats

UNH vs. BOSTON U.

New Hampshire has an 18-23-3 lifetime record against Boston University, and that includes 7-14-2 on the road.
BU has won four straight in the series, including last year's 4-0 win in Durham. | Recap | Box
UNH's most recent win was Oct. 19, 2012 (1-0 at Memorial Field). | Recap | Box

UNH vs. HOLY CROSS

UNH has a 13-2 lifetime record against Holy Cross, and the Wildcats have won each of the past six meetings.
The last time these teams met, however, was in 2012, when UNH prevailed 8-3 on the road. | Recap | Box
The most recent meeting in Durham was in 2011; the 'Cats won 5-0. | Recap | Box

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

UNH concludes its season-opening stretch of three consecutive road games Friday at Boston University.
The Wildcats opened the 2019 season last weekend with losses at American (4-2) and #2 Maryland (5-0).
The 'Cats play seven teams ranked in the NFHCA preseason 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.

OPENING WEEKEND RECAP

American 4, UNH 2 | Recap | Box
#2 Maryland 5, UNH 0 | Recap | Box
Finn Caron scored both of UNH's goals last weekend. Both tallies came in the second half against American; the two goals and four points matched career highs she established in last year's conference tourney game.
Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Simkevich made four saves in her first career start, the season opener at American. She made eight saves (three goals allowed) in 30 minutes at #2 Maryland.
Freshman goalie Jemma Woods made her debut by playing the second half at UMD. She stopped 4 of 6 shots on goal.

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 BOSTON U. • Home page

Boston U. enters Friday's matchup with a 1-1 record. The Terriers were 4-1 victors at Ohio University in the season opener, then lost 3-2 to #14 Ohio State.

Ailsa Connolly has scored four of the team's six goals, and she was last year's leading scorer.
Caroline Kelly has a 2.07 GAA and .778 save percentage; she has played 116 of 120 minutes.

SCOUTING HOLY CROSS • Home page

Holy Cross has an 0-1 record and plays host to Merrimack College on Friday before traveling to UNH for Sunday's matchup.
The Crusaders lost 3-0 to Northeastern University last Friday. Marcia LaPlante, who was named to the 2019 Preseason All-Patriot League Team, made 14 saves defending the Holy Cross cage.
Holy Cross has to replace its top two goal scorers from last year; they accounted for 16 of 28 goals.
The Crusaders were 3-14 last year.