Monday, Nov. 12, 2007

 

FOURTEEN RECEIVE LITTLE EAST HONORS

Thirteen from soccer, and one from volleyball recognized

 

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Goalkeeper Jay Barney (Mansfield) repeated as Defensive Player-of-the-Year as one of eight Eastern individuals honored with a season-ending award by the Little East Conference in the sport of men’s soccer.

In all, 15 individuals were recognized in the sports of men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball. In addition to Barney, first-year head men’s soccer coach Greg DeVito was recognized with a major award as he was named Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Warriors to the regular-season title, as well as the post-season championship.

Men’s Soccer

All seven of the team’s full-time starters were named to the all-conference team as the Warriors achieved their highest all-conference total since commanding five picks on the 1992 team which won the program’s first outright regular-season title.

With Barney, DeVito and six additional all-conference selections, Eastern dominated the season-ending awards balloting. Among the team’s five first-team picks were Barney, and junior backs Kyle Bedini (Manchester), James Picarella (Brewster, NY), and Jimmy McConville (Manchester), junior forward Rukevwe Ehwarieme (Norwich), sophomore midfielder Nicholas Boretti (Marshfield, MA) and sophomore forward Maxim Fantl (West Hartford).

Barney, Bedini, Boretti, Fantl and Picarella were all named to the first team, with Ehwarieme and McConville second-team picks. Barney was also the 2006 Defensive Player-of-the-Year and a first-team pick after being named Rookie-of-the-Year and to the second team as a freshman in 2004. Fantl was last year’s Rookie-of-the-Year and a second-team all-conference pick. The year-ending honor was the first in the careers of the others.

Behind Barney and company, Eastern posted the lowest team goals-against average in the conference for the second straight year. The Most Outstanding Player of the conference playoffs, Barney repeated as the LEC leader in save percentage (.880) this year and also led in GAA (0.68) and shutouts (7). His GAA was 26 hundreths of a percentage point better than his nearest LEC rival. Heading into the NCAA tournament, Barney posted five consecutive shutouts and a scoreless streak of 546:06, and concluded his career with 23 shutouts in 62 starts.

McConville, Picarella and Boretti all totaled more than 1,800 minutes during the season in front of Barney, with Bedini averaging 87.3 minutes (he missed two matches with injury). In the second half of the season, Boretti moved to the backfield and Picarella took over in the midfield. Boretti shared second place on the team in scoring with Ehwarieme, both totaling 14 points. Four of Boretti’s six goals were game-winners, ranking him in a tie for third  in the LEC. Bedini contributed four assists and Picarella three, with both also scoring one goal.

Fantl and Ehwarieme were the team’s front-line starters. Fantl finished in a tie for third in the LEC in points (22) and goals (9), and Ehwarieme was tied for second (6) in the conference in assists. Fantl scored the team’s first four goals this year and assisted on the next two and later scored four consecutive Eastern goals again. He also scored the only goal in the team’s 1-0 win over Rhode Island College in the LEC semifinals. The biggest of Ehwarieme’s four goals came in overtime when the Warriors clinched the conference regular-season title with a 1-0 road win at Massachusetts Dartmouth on the final day of the regular season.

DeVito became the program’s first Coach-of-the-Year since 1991. A former two-year assistant, DeVito led the Warriors to their first regular-season conference title since 1992 and their first-ever LEC playoff title and NCAA tournament berth. The team finished with an 11-7-3 record after bowing out of the NCAA tournament with a 2-0 loss to Williams College.

 

Women’s Soccer

For the seventh straight year, Eastern was represented with at least five selections to the all-conference team.

Junior forward Nicole Gaudette (Colchester) was a repeat selection to the first team, senior keeper Megan Gloster (Agawam, MA) moved up to the first team after gaining second-team accolades last year, and sophomore midfielder Taylor MacDonald (Oak Bluffs, MA) was named to the second team for the second time in as many years. Named to the all-conference team for the first time were senior midfielder Megan Sheehan (Colchester) and sophomore back Christine Lemieux (South Windsor), both first-team picks.

The five all-conference selections trailed only LEC regulars-season and playoff champion Western Connecticut State University, which had five first-team picks and two second-teamers, as well as the Offensive, Defensive and Coach-of-the-Year.

A second-team all-region pick in her first season at Eastern last year after transferring from the Division I level, Gaudette led Eastern in scoring again this past fall. She led the Warriors in goals (10), assists (6) and points (26), currently ranking third in points, in a tie for fourth in goals, and in a tie for seventh in assists in the conference.  In 37 matches in two years at Eastern, she has 16 goals, ten assists, and 42 points.

Gloster enjoyed the finest season of her Eastern career, starting 16 matches in goal and amassing a 0.71 GAA and .900 save percentage and three full-match shutouts. She currently leads the LEC in the latter category – ranking second in New England Division III -- and is second in the former. Her first three full-match efforts of the year all resulted in shutouts. She blanked nationally-ranked Amherst College, 0-0 in double overtime Sept. 12 with a career-high 12 saves, and in the LEC semifinals, she shut out Keene State for the second time during the season, 1-0 in overtime.  Gloster compiled a shutout streak of 313 minutes and 31 seconds over eight appearances in October.

Lemieux was the backbone of a defense which tied program records for consecutive shutouts (6) and shutouts in a season (11) and which ranked second in the conference in shutouts, GAA and least goals allowed (15). A two-year starter at wing back, Lemieux started all 18 matches in which she appeared, leading all players in minutes per game

(88.4) and total minutes (1,591), and playing every minute in 14 of 18 starts (including thelast six). During the season, Lemieux was named the conference’s Defensive Player-of-the-Week Oct. 8 after helping the Warriors to back-to-back shutouts in which the opponents managed only nine shots.

Sheehan wrapped up a four-year career by starting 18 of the team’s 19 matches and contributing two goals and four assists. She was fifth on the team in minutes (1,438), averaging 75.7 per game. Her first goal of the year provided insurance in the 2-0 conference win at Keene State Sept. 29.

MacDonald becomes only the third Eastern player in 18 years of conference competition to be named to the all-conference team as both a freshman and sophomore. Also a second-team all-conference selection as a freshman in lacrosse last spring, MacDonald started 17 matches and was fourth in minutes (1,472), averaging 77.5 per match. She added four goals and three assists, with two of her goals proving to be game-winners.In the season-opener, she scored both of the team’s goals in a shutout of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

This year, Eastern finished with double-digit wins (11-6-2) for the seventh straight year under eighth-year head coach Chris D’Ambrosio. The appearance in the LEC championship match was the team’s fourth in the last five years, the Warriors winning titles in 2003 and 2005. The team was unbeaten (6-0-2) at home, where it outscored its eight opponents,17-3.

Women’s Volleyball

Junior outside hitter Sandra Jaques (Milford) represented the Warriors as a second-team selection to the 15-person team which was dominated by regular-season champion

Keene State College (four selections), Plymouth State University (4) and Western Connecticut (3).

It was the first all-conference selection for Jaques, a three-year letterwinner who was a key factor when the fifth-seeded Warriors won their third straight conference playoff title by knocking off fourth-seeded Rhode Island College, top-seeded Keene State, and second-seeded Western Connecticut in a five-day span to capture their seventh conference playoff title. Eastern had been beaten by all three of those teams during the regular season.

Jaques was one of the club’s top offensive and defensive players. She saw time in 34 matches for the 11-27 Warriors and led the team with 341.5 points (the sum of a player’s kills, service aces, block solos and half of their block assists) and in kills (301) and was second in digs (523) and serve receptions (678). She was one of  four players in the conference with as many as 500 digs.

On Oct. 1, Jaques was recognized as the LEC’s Defensive Player-of-the-Week in helping the team to a five-game win over Springfield College at the Bates College Invitational, where she recorded her 1,000th career dig. She will bring a career total of 1,228 digs – eighth all-time – into her senior season.

2007 Little East Conference Awards

MEN’S SOCCER

Defensive Player-of-the-Year

Jay Barney                       Sr.          K

Coach-of-the-Year

Greg DeVito (First year)

All-Conference

Jay Barney                       Sr.          K           First Team

Kyle Bedini                       Jr.          B            First Team

Nicholas Boretti              So.         MF        First Team

Maxim Fantl                     So.         F            First Team

James Picarella               Jr.          B            First Team

Rukevwe Ehwarieme     Jr.          F            Second Team

Jimmy McConville          Jr.          B            Second Team

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Nicole Gaudette             Jr.          F            First Team

Megan Gloster                Sr.          K           First Team

Christine Lemieux         So.         B            First Team

Megan Sheehan            Sr.          MF        First Team

Taylor MacDonald         So.         MF        Second Team

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Sandra Jaques             Jr.          OH        Second Team