U N H w i l d c at s
Season Outlook
as sophomore Megan Bozek. Lyons has two years of starting experience and last year she had a breakout offensive year as part of the offensive penalty corner unit that merited a plethora of accolades, including NFHCA All-Region Team, America East All-Conference Team, America East All-Championship Team and Wildcat Invitational MVP. Lyons recorded 11 goals and three assists for 25 points to tie for the team lead in goals and rank third in points. Deck is a three-year starter whose collegiate accolades include NFHCA All-Region Team and America East All-Conference Team. In the 2010 season, she reprised her role as a stopper on the offensive penalty corner unit to rank second both on the team in assists (11) and in the conference in assists per game. In addition to being an integral part of the defensive unit, Bozek, an America East All-Rookie Team selection who started all 21 games, was an instrumental part of both penalty corner units. She tied for fourth on the team in goals (six) and ranked fifth in both points (12) and shots. At the other end of the field, Bozek was credited with a defensive save in both America East postseason games. Jess Sweeney enters her senior year with limited playing time in two seasons at New Hampshire since transferring from Hofstra University, where she did not see game action as a freshman in 2008. Sweeney played in six games, including two starts, a year ago. She was particularly impressive as an emergency substitute in the America East championship game while Lyons was sidelined by injury. Katie Walborn adds depth to the unit after a strong spring season; she did not see any game action last year as a freshman. New Hampshire welcomes two ‘Cats to the fold on defense. Christine Albertelli garnered All-Region and AllAcademic Squad accolades last year as a senior at Marquette High School, where she holds the school records for career games played by a back and single-season games started. Maegan Grew helped backbone Winnacunnet High School to a New Hampshire state title with an undefeated record in 2010, when she was named the state’s Player of the Year; Grew was also a three-time All-State selection. goalkeeper New Hampshire is not lacking experience in goal, where two-year starter Katherine Nagengast has played 99.3% of the minutes the past two seasons – she played every second in goal as a sophomore in 2009 and all but 19:30 of 1482:09 last year, when she recorded two shutouts and held the opposition to one goal nine times. Nagengast backboned UNH to the 2010 America East regular-season title with a 5-0 record, 1.20 GAA and .786 save percentage. Overall in 21 games (all starts), she went 14-7 with a 1.96 GAA and .703 save percentage; the 14 wins marked the highest total by a UNH goalie since 2000. Nagengast was impressive at defending the home field, where she was 8-2 with a 1.41 GAA and .767 save percentage in 10 regular-season games at Memorial Field. Incoming freshman Carlie Tarbell will be Nagengast’s understudy in 2011. Tarbell was named to the NFHCA High School All-Region Team as well as the Independent School League MVP in 2010, when she recorded a 0.60 GAA, .904 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 20 games for The Rivers School. the schedule New Hampshire plays eight home games at Memorial Field and the 2011 schedule includes 14 non-conference games in addition to the five America East league matchups. The Wildcats battle three teams that advanced to the 2010 NCAA tournament as well as four other teams that were ranked in the final NFHCA Coaches Poll. UNH starts the season with a road trip to The Ohio State University, where the ‘Cats open play Aug. 27 against Kent State University; the Golden Flashes won the MAC tourney title and lost to American University in an NCAA tourney play-in game. One day later, it doesn’t get any easier against the aforementioned Buckeyes, who advanced to the national semifinals a year ago. New Hampshire plays its home opener Sept. 2 against regional rival Brown University, which closed the ‘10 season by winning four of its last five games. The Wildcats have a home game vs. Rutgers (Sept. 10) sandwiched by road games against regional rivals Providence (Sept. 4) and Dartmouth (Sept. 11). Other teams coming to Durham in September are Holy Cross (16th) and Northeastern (18th), and the ‘Cats begin defense of their America East regular-season title when they play host to Fairfield on the 30th. In between, the ‘Cats travel to Louisville to play Northwestern and the host school, and afterwards they hit the road to battle Michigan State. UNH begins a stretch of 3-of-4 games at home Oct. 9 against Stanford University. After a trip to league rival Boston U. (Oct. 14), the ‘Cats play host to Boston College (Oct. 16) and then Maine for Senior Day on Oct. 21. The Wildcats close out the America East portion of the schedule Oct. 29 at Albany and end the regular season one day later at Harvard. New Hampshire looks to extend its streak of consecutive league postseason appearances to five when the America East Championship is held Nov. 4-6 at the site of the highest seed.
Tradition. Pride. excellence.
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