Dane Pound

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY ATHLETES RECEIVE CHANCELLOR’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARDS Albany, N.Y. – State University of New York Chancellor Robert L. King announced on Wednesday, April 28 that five University at Albany student-athletes are recipients of the Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award. UAlbany athletes honored are Victor Camacho (football), Rhonda Corcoran (women’s field hockey), Jill Friedman (women’s golf), Kevin Rae (men’s lacrosse) and Paul Roche (men’s track & field). The Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award recognizes a combination of academic excellence and outstanding athletic achievement. The winners were selected by the athletic directors at SUNY’s Division I institutions. The awards program, co-sponsored by USA Today, takes place this evening at the State University Plaza in Albany. Camacho, a senior from New York City, has a 3.77 cumulative grade point average in business administration with a finance concentration. He had a team-high 94 tackles from his inside linebacker position in leading UAlbany to a share of its second consecutive Northeast Conference championship in 2003. An All-NEC selection, Camacho was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America national first team, and was the NEC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year in football. Corcoran, a senior from Camden, N.Y., has a 3.80 GPA in psychology. She served as a co-captain on the UAlbany field hockey team, and was a starter in 18 of 19 games played as a defender. She was chosen to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association National All-Academic Team. Friedman, a junior golfer from Liverpool, N.Y., posted a 3.64 GPA in business administration. She tied for 11th at last weekend’s Northeast Championships, and is averaging 85.4 strokes per round during the fall-spring schedule. The Great Danes will compete at the first-ever America East Conference championships on May 3-4. Rae, a junior goalkeeper on the men’s lacrosse team from Yorktown Heights, N.Y., is majoring in business administration/finance and owns a 3.28 GPA. He ranks 12th among the NCAA Division I leaders with a .600 save percentage, plus leads the America East in saves at 14.5 per game. Rae, who tied a season-best with 19 saves against Syracuse last Saturday, has twice been chosen as the conference’s player of the week this spring. Roche, a senior from Niskayuna, N.Y., has a 3.07 GPA in economics with minors in psychology and business administration. He won the long jump with a leap of 23-feet, 2.5-inches at the 2004 America East Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. Roche was also second in the 55-meter hurdles, as the Great Danes captured their second consecutive conference indoor team title.

Chatting with a trusted member of this board at one of the lacrosse games who told me the $iena-Albany women may not play this year. I was curious if anyone had heard anything about it. If it's not a double header you would think they could play that game at the RACC on a different day. I asked some of the $iena people I work with and of course they told me it was probably because $iena was upgrading it's strength of schedule.

I really don't know how much you can judge players long-term by their freshman year. Sweetland, Learn and Mookie all had terrific years last year. Their freshman seasons Learn averaged less than a point, Mookie 1.5 ppg and Sweetland had 1.8 ppg with 4 assists for the year and 14 turnovers. That said there is alot of room for improvement with James and Clark. I think James really has to develop substanially over the summer or it won't take alot for one of the freshman to grab the starting PG job. Other that Sherri Mikus there isn't alot of info out there on women's recruits so we'll have to wait and see what they can do next year. I do know that Gia Sanders comes from what appears to be a women's version of a basketball school. She goes to the Bullis School which in the last few years has produced a couple of ACC and Conference USA players as well as the CUSA Rookie of the Year and Monique Curry of Duke.

Patterson mentioned possibly signing another player. I'm not sure where this scholarship came from but it sounds like Thrower is a very good athlete. UALBANY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ADDS HOUSTON HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT FOR 2004-05 Albany, N.Y. -- University at Albany women’s basketball coach Trina Patterson announced on Tuesday, April 27 that Tanika Thrower, a 5-foot-6 point guard from Houston, Texas (Northbrook H.S.), has signed a national letter of intent to play for the Great Danes next season. Thrower, a three-year All-District 22-5A first-team selection, averaged 24.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game during her senior season. She shot 49.0 percent from the field and connected on 33.0 percent of her three-point attempts in her final season. On the AAU level, Thrower was a member of the Houston Hot Shots team that lost in the 2001 national championship game. "Tanika is extremely athletic, is a super competitor and has the ability to create off the dribble," Patterson commented. "Tanika is a quality individual and will fit well with our expectations of a student-athlete at the University at Albany." Thrower joins a group of four athletes who signed during the November period. Kelly Martinson, a 5-foot-11 shooting guard from Madison, Wis. (Madison Memorial), Sherri Mikus, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Harrisburg, Pa. (Susquenita), Kirsten Peterson, a 6-foot-4 center from Owego, N.Y. (Newark Valley) and Gia Sanders, a 6-foot guard/forward from Bowie, Md. (The Bullis School) all made commitments last fall.

There must have been three finalists. Hamilton announced yesterday it hired former Cornell Coach Tobin Anderson. Anderson was also an assistant and Lemoyne. New Men's Basketball Coach Hired Hamilton Taps Clarkson's Anderson Contact: James Taylor (jtaylor) Phone: (315) 859-4685 April 26, 2004 Tobin Anderson, head men’s basketball coach at Clarkson University for the past five seasons, has been named the new head men’s basketball coach at Hamilton College. Anderson becomes the eighth person to lead Hamilton’s program in its 84-year history and just the third since 1951. Anderson’s Clarkson teams won 67 games in five seasons, including a 16-12 record in 2003-04. Clarkson competes against Hamilton in the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association in men’s and women’s basketball. Anderson coached the Golden Knights to a tie for the regular season conference title, the UCAA semifinals, and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Upstate New York Region tournament semifinals. “We are excited to have Tobin Anderson join the Hamilton College athletic department staff,” director of athletics Dave Thompson said. “He has developed Clarkson into one of the best programs in the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association in a short period of time. We are confident that coach Anderson will continue the outstanding tradition Hamilton men’s basketball has enjoyed for many years to come.” “I’m excited about the opportunity to coach what has traditionally been one of the best college basketball programs in the country,” Anderson said. “I’m following a legend, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and to the hard work that’s ahead.” In his career at Clarkson, Anderson led the team to the most wins in any five-year period of the program’s history. His 2001-02 team finished 19-10, which was the most wins in school history. That team advanced to the ECAC regional finals and was the third-most improved Division III men’s basketball team from the previous season. Anderson’s first team finished the 1999-2000 season with a 14-12 record -- its first .500 season in 25 years -- and captured the program’s first-ever postseason bid. Prior to becoming Clarkson’s head coach, Anderson was the top assistant at Le Moyne College from 1997-99. Those teams were 33-20 in his two years at the NCAA Division II school. Anderson was also the top assistant at Clarkson during the 1996-97 season. Anderson has been involved in more than 30 basketball camps and clinics. He was a lecturer, teacher and coach at the Five-Star Basketball Camp, which is regarded as the nation’s most prestigious summer basketball camp, from 1996-98. Anderson graduated from Wesleyan (Conn.) University in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in American studies. He was a four-year starter, a two-year captain and is the fifth all-time leading scorer at the school. Anderson earned his master’s degree in athletic administration from Florida State University in 1996. In high school, he was an all-state and All-American basketball player in Iowa. Anderson replaces Tom Murphy, who retired after coaching the men’s basketball program for 34 seasons. Murphy finished with a record of 602-262 (.697). He is one of just four Division III men’s basketball coaches to win 600 games in a career. Murphy’s teams won 20 games or more in a season fifteen times, captured 10 ECAC regional titles, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament eight times in the last ten years. The two-time national coach of the year has coached 13 different players to 20 All-America honors, which is the most among all Division III programs.

It will interesting to see what happens to Steve Sauers at Marist now that former $iena guard Matt Brady has taken over as head coach. The two are supposed to meet today. I kind of thought Sauers would lose his job but Brady has two other assitants jobs to fill. How appropirate would it be for a $iena guy to take over and fire the Albany guy? Hopefully Steve lands on his feet whatever happens. Po-town Journal article on Brady.

Kate Fontana is rookie of the week in women's lacrosse, Andee Lingren was announced as pitcher of the week in softball and Merrick Thomson is rookie of the week in lacrosse. Battle between Thomson and Resitarsis for Rookie of the Year? Thompson, Lindgren, Blair Garner Softball Honors Nikki Thompson (West Seneca, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) of Hartford has been named the America East Player of the Week, while Albany’s Andee Lindgren (La Habra, Calif./Sonora) has been chosen Pitcher of the Week and Margaret Blair (Lake Peekskill, N.Y./Walter Panas) of Stony Brook is the Rookie of the Week (April 26). This week Lindgren continued to dominate opposing hitters, picking up two complete game wins against Maine, including a 2-0 shutout on Sunday. She allowed only one earned run in 14 innings, while striking out 13 for the Great Danes this week. Callahan, Thomson Earn Weekly Honors Brendan Callahan of Stony Brook and Merrick Thomson of Albany have been named America East Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively. The awards were announced Monday (April 26). Thomson (Stoney Creek, Ontario/Albany Academy) set a school record with eight goals in a 21-13 win at Hartford Wednesday and added three assists for 11 points. The rookie attackman also had a goal in the loss to No. 6 Syracuse. KATE FONTANA EARNS AMERICA EAST WOMEN'S LACROSSE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK Boston, Mass. -- University at Albany’s Kate Fontana has been named as the America East Conference Rookie of the Week in women’s lacrosse as announced on Monday, April 26 by the conference office. Fontana, a freshman midfielder, earned the weekly award for the third time this year. Fontana totaled six goals and two assists in a pair of America East games last week. She posted career-highs in goals (5) and points (7) in a 13-11 victory over conference-rival Vermont on April 23, plus has six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Fontana is seventh among the America East leaders in scoring at 3.14 points per game, and has 32 goals and 12 assists overall. She is also first in the league in ground balls (3.93 pg) and caused turnovers (2.29 pg).

Agree with your take on UMBC. They were picked to win the conference and Marr made mention of it at the March luncheon. Most people expected them to waltz through the conference schedule but should they lose to Vermont they won't even make the conference tourney. Things couldn't have worked out better in terms of the Bing game with everything on the line. Hopefully the weather is decent and the crowd is better.

It's hard to believe Brown would wade through the misfourtunes of the past few years only to go now when things are looking up. Equally hard to believe he would go from head coach to assocaite or assistant. He has a chance now to make his mark as a head coach and then if he wants move up in conferences as a head coach(or of course stay here and build us into a national power). Curious about the Prof elluding to bringing in another player. I'm assuming Hughes is not coming to Albany next year or ever but I have to wonder what kind of talent is available this late in the recruiting process if a scholarship became available. It seems it would be better to just hold it until next year unless they have someone terrific lined up. As to the hiring process you are right on Statefan. That would be an excellent question for McElroy. I'm curious too about after Beeten left they hired Brown without going through that whole process. Hopefully they have found some way around it because it takes a long time to recover a lost recruiting year. When I think of the delay I think more of the time between Hicks and Beeten. It didn't seem that long to me between Warner and Patterson but maybe I'm not remembering correctly.

As I'm sure most of you know $iena got a commitment yesterday from Kojo Mensah from Notre Dame Prep. I'd heard him mentioned on the $iena board before but I didn't realize he had played with Courtney at Bishop Louglin. They both graduated in the same class. Should be alot of fun to see Courtney go out and try and shut down his former teamate at the Pepsi next year. I'm not sure how much faith to put in the hoopscoop ratings but they rank Mensah pretty close to Stony Brook's Mitchell Beauford. In their class of 2003 NYC rankings they had Mensah 11th, Beauford 13th and Courtney 33rd.

Story and lots of photos in the TU about Fountain Day yesterday. Couple of injuries according to the story but nothing serious. Students Revel in a watery ritual of the season-TU Fountain Day Pics.

I agree it looks awkward in the paper but I can totally understand her decision. Although it's certainly worked for some people (like the Sauers) I think alot of people go away to college to get away from their parents and establish themselves. I can't see myself going to college and being coached by my dad but that's just me.

Merrick Thomson set a goal scoring record in the process. MERRICK THOMSON SETS RECORD IN MEN'S LACROSSE'S 21-13 VICTORY OVER HARTFORD West Hartford, Conn. – Freshman attack Merrick Thomson set the school’s single-game record with eight goals and added three assists in leading Albany to a 21-13 America East Conference victory over Hartford on Wednesday, April 21 at Al-Marzook Field. The Great Danes moved into sole possession of second place in the league standings and clinched a berth in the upcoming conference postseason tournament. Albany (8-3, AE 4-1) led 11-9 midway through the third quarter, but then reeled off seven consecutive goals to take control. Thomson set up Luke Daquino with the man-advantage to begin the run with 6:51 left in the stanza. He then scored both unassisted and on an extra-man opportunity 56 seconds apart. The Great Danes, who have won four straight and seven of their last eight outings, led 15-9 after three periods, as sophomore attack Chris Martocchia, who had two goals and two assists, found the net off a feed from Daquino. Bakary Janneh’s unassisted goal with 9:34 remaining in the final quarter ended the scoring spree, and gave his squad a commanding nine-goal advantage. Hartford (0-12, AE 0-5), who are suffering through a winless campaign after reaching last year’s America East tournament championship game, responded with four unanswered goals to close within, 18-13. Sophomore midfielder Garrett Kikot, who had five goals and one assist, scored twice in that stretch. Albany’s Thomson then converted his eighth goal of the game off Frank Resetarits’ crossing pass with 4:20 remaining to end any threat. Thomson’s performance eclipsed a school standard that was previously held by three players, including Dan Small’s seven-goal effort against Boston College on April 8, 2000. Resetarits finished with three goals and two assists, as the Great Danes posted their highest offensive output against an America East opponent. Daquino, who had one goal and four assists, became the seventh player in school history to reach the 150-point mark in a career. He has 153 points (66 goals, 87 assists) as a collegian. Albany meets No. 6 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Saturday, April 24. Game time is 4:30 p.m.

We should probably recommend an addition to the tie-breaker rules. Any team that loses to $iena is automatically disqualified from the tie-breaker. If anything good can come out of the Bada-Bing loss it's that hopefully it prevents the Danes from taking Hartford and their poor record too lightly tonight. Over the past two years the top three teams in AE lacrosse have been Albany, Stony Brook and Hartford. Not that I'm saying there's a conspiracy or anything but UMBC came into the conference and got home games against all three this year. A pretty warm welcome to the America East if you ask me.

Wow, what an awful loss for Bing. They were at home too. Last week the Baltimore Sun had a story touting Bing's coach as a candidate for national coach of the year. That is right out the window now. I couldn't find the thread on laxpower but I thought I remember seeing that a three-way tie for first was Albany's only shot for the #1 seed. I think that's why Alumni92 is rooting for Bada-Bing to beat UVM. That way we can try and knock them off and set up a three way tie with everyone with one loss.

Probably an understatement to say most of us don't like Macarchuk. This doesn't seem like a terrific way to fire, or not fire, someone. I don't know if SB has any scholarships open for next year but this would have to play havoc with recruiting if they do.

Thanks Patch. I was expected baseball to pull in some awards this week. It's pretty funny to think last year we were talking about Mueller being out as baseball coach. Now he's got to be a serious contender for coach of the year. I guess McElroy knew something we didn't.

LACROSSE’S KEVIN RAE NAMED AMERICA EAST CONFERENCE CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK Boston, Mass. – University at Albany’s Kevin Rae has been chosen as the America East Conference Co-Player of the Week in men’s lacrosse as announced on Monday, April 19 by the conference office. Rae received the award for the second time this season. In addition, Frank Resetarits was named the conference’s rookie of the week. Rae, a junior goalkeeper from Yorktown Heights, N.Y., made a season-high 19 saves, including eight in the fourth quarter, in last Saturday’s 9-6 America East victory over Vermont. He also stopped 15 shots in a 12-9 non-league win against Yale on April 14, as his team defeated the Bulldogs for the first time in five meetings. Rae has recorded 10 or more saves in nine of 10 starting assignments this spring. He is 14th nationally in save percentage (.623) and owns a 9.24 goals against average. Resetarits, a freshman attack from Hamburg, N.Y., totaled eight points (3 goals, 5 assists) in a pair of UAlbany victories last week. He tallied two goals and two assists in a conference win over Vermont, and earlier in the week had one goal and a season-high three assists against Yale. Resetarits is third among the America East scoring leaders with 35 points (22 goals, 13 assists). UAlbany (7-3, AE 3-1) is tied for second in the league standings. ANDEE LINDGREN & KELLY OGDEN EARN AMERICA EAST CONFERENCE SOFTBALL HONORS Boston, Mass. – University at Albany’s Andee Lindgren has been selected as the America East Conference Player of the Week in softball as announced on Monday, April 19 by the conference office. Lindgren earned the award for the second straight week. Freshman Kelly Ogden was also chosen the league’s rookie of the week. Lindgren, a senior from La Habra, Calif., leads UAlbany in both pitching and hitting with a 1.22 ERA and .441 batting average, respectively. She owns a 12-2 record with 11 complete games and one shutout. Lindgren has allowed only 17 earned runs this year and has amassed 114 strikeouts. The reigning America East pitcher of the year leads her team in hits (45), doubles (12) and RBI (22). Lindgren, a left-handed hurler, picked up two conference wins last week on the mound, allowing a total of only two earned runs on six hits with five walks and 18 strikeouts in 12.0 innings of work. She went 9-for-15 at the plate with a .600 average for the week. She drove in five runs with three doubles and scored six runs. Ogden, a third baseman from Pine Bush, N.Y., is second on the team with 21 RBI and is tied for first in home runs (3). She went 6-for-17 at the plate with a double, two homers and nine RBI. Ogden hit a two-run blast to give her team the lead in UAlbany’s 5-4 come-from-behind win over Vermont on April 12. Albany (23-13, AE 9-1) hosts Wagner on April 21 in a non-league doubleheader. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

A couple of players rank nationally as well. Joe Lamb is fourth in the country in runs per game and 12th in stolen bases. Schoonmaker is third in RBIs and 16th in slugging percentage. Murphy is 28th in ERA. Shawn Ryan is 10th in saves. Brad Daniels is 28th in triples. As a team UA is fifth in the country in batting average and seventh in scoring.

I stumbled across a new sports magazine the other day called Capital District Sprots. In it is a nice story about former Albany baseball player Mike Grasso. Grasso story.

I was on campus for the lacrosse game and was only able to stick around for about half the second baseball game. As GD84 mentioned in another post the field looks better. The last few games I've watched have been at Heritage Park and I like them better on campus. Unfortunetly my favorite seats on the hill (also close to the snacks) were taken mostly by Stony Brook fans. Team really looked as confident as you'd expect from a 21-4 team. Really aggressive on the basepaths although sometimes to their detrement. The thing I really loved was how many ground balls they turned into hits. In the few innings I saw their were two or three infield hits that were mostly a result of a guy steaming down the line to first. Pretty good showing of students (including Great Danes84 I guess) at the game. Saw Coach Patterson with her (literal) kids at the game. Also Hutch, Majors, Learn and Mookie from the women's team as well as Uli Delgado and what looked like several players from the football team. Great to see UA players out to support their fellow athletes in other sports.

I'd expect some scheduling conflicts if they played at another college. Everyone plays their games on Saturday afternoon. To be brutally honest they could move the "away" bleachers over to the practice field and scrounge some other bleachers from the other fields and you probably have a better place than University Field. There would at least be some sunshine on the fans that way. As an added bonus Sutter's and Across the Street Pub are right there for burger and a beer at halftime!

Nice story in today's TU about the upgraded baseball facilities and level of play. Nice to see them get some recognition. This weekend they could set a record for most D1 wins in a season-with 24 games left to play.

The game is today. They had a 3 point shooting contest last night but I didn't see anything about Bauman. They have a short bio on him on on the events website. According to that he wants to be a business major-he came to the right place. Also lists his favorite food as crab legs in which case he came to the wrong place-although he'll love the trips to UMBC and Boston.

I'm not ashamed to admit I didn't grow up with lacrosse and hadn't watched a game until a couple of years ago. I enjoy the goal scoring and the checking (especially the checking) but I'm pretty sure I'm missing out on some of the lingo and the subtler parts of the game. I dug up a link with some rules and explination of the game to help those like myself. Lacrosse rules of the game. Hopefully by the time the Bing game comes around I'll be able to spot an illegal crosse and yell at the officials about it.