BOODY, KESSEL: STUDENT-ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT & ROUNDUP

UNH WEEKLY ROUNDUP

October 26, 2009

DURHAM, N.H. – Leah Boody of the field hockey team and Blake Kessel of the men’s ice hockey team are featured in this week's Service Credit Union Student-Athlete Spotlight. This information and more can be found in this week's Wildcat Roundup.

LEAH BOODY

BLAKE KESSEL

STUDENT-ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Leah Boody, field hockey

     Leah, a senior forward from Amesbury, Massachusetts, came off the bench to match her career high of two goals as part of a personal-best five points that propelled the UNH field hockey team to a 6-0 victory against Fairfield University on Senior Day. She gave the Wildcats a 4-0 lead in the 49^th minute and closed the scoring in the 69^th minute; just 90 seconds earlier, Leah’s assist set up UNH’s fifth goal of the game.

Blake Kessel, men’s ice hockey

     Blake, a sophomore defenseman from Verona, Wisconsin, recorded a team-high five points last week with a goal and four assists. He tallied a career-high three assists to propel UNH to a 4-2 victory vs. Northeastern on Oct. 23, then had a goal and an assist in UNH’s 5-2 win vs. Maine the following night. He has 10 points in just four games to lead the nation in defenseman scoring (2.50 ppg) and rank second in overall scoring.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Football: Tom Manning, CAA Special Team Player of the Week

Men’s ice hockey: Dalton Speelman, Hockey East Rookie of the Week

Women’s ice hockey: Brittany Skudder, Hockey East Rookie of the Week

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS

Wednesday, Oct. 21

Men’s soccer: UNH 1, at Albany 0

Thursday, Oct. 22

Women’s soccer: UNH 3, at UMBC 2

Friday, Oct. 23

Men’s hockey: UNH 4, Northeastern 2

Women’s ice hockey: at Clarkson 6, UNH 2

Saturday, Oct. 24

Field hockey: at UNH 6, Fairfield 0

Football: UNH 18, at Hofstra 10

Women’s ice hockey: UNH 3, at St. Lawrence 3 (OT)

Men’s ice hockey: at UNH 5, Maine 2

Men’s soccer: at UNH 1, Stony Brook 1 (2 OT)

Sunday, Oct. 25

Women’s soccer: Binghamton 1, at UNH 0

THIS WEEK’S EVENTS

Wednesday, Oct. 28

Men’s soccer vs. Binghamton, 2:30 pm

Thursday, Oct. 29

Women’s soccer at Maine, 2 pm (America East quarterfinal)

Friday, Oct. 30

Volleyball at Albany, 7 pm

Men’s ice hockey at Wisconsin, 8 pm (Eastern)

Saturday, Oct. 31

Men’s and women’s cross country at America East Championships (at Vermont), 10 am

Football vs. Northeastern, 12 pm

Field hockey at Albany, 1 pm

Men’s and women’s basketball Tip-off Celebration, 3 pm

Women’s ice hockey vs. Connecticut, 5 pm

Men’s ice hockey at Wisconsin, 8 pm (Eastern)

Sunday, Nov. 1

Volleyball at Binghamton, 1 pm

Women’s ice hockey vs. Maine, 3 pm (White Out the Whit)

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

• The team did not compete this past week. The team returns to action Oct. 31 at the America East Championships (at UVM).

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

• The team did not compete this past week. The team returns to action Oct. 31 at the America East Championships (at UVM).

FIELD HOCKEY (10-6, 2-2 America East)

• UNH clinched a berth in the America East Championship tournament with its 6-0 win against Fairfield on Senior Day. It will be the Wildcats’ third consecutive league postseason appearance.
• Prior to this season, UNH last recorded double-digits wins in 2003.
• Katherine Nagengast (Westborough, Mass.) recorded her fourth shutout of the season with a three-save effort.
• Senior forwards Meg Shea (Melrose, Mass.) and Leah Boody (Amesbury, Mass.) both recorded two goals and an assist to propel the UNH attack. Boody matched her career high of two goals in establishing a personal-best five points.
• Shea, who has recorded a point in all 16 games, continued her ascension in the UNH record book and is now #2 on the single-season points list (49) as well as tied for second in single-season goals (21); furthermore, Shea is fourth in career points (93) and tied for fourth in career goals (40).
• Boody, Shea, Cally Cooke (Newburyport, Mass.) and Kiera Williams (Dover, N.H.) were the four seniors honored prior to the Fairfield game.

FOOTBALL (6-1, 3-1 CAA)

• Tom Manning (Rome, N.Y.) kicked a school-record 54-yard field goal and also made attempts of 44 and 30 yards in UNH’s 18-10 victory at Hofstra. The Wildcats’ defense made a goal-line stand in the closing minute of regulation to secure the victory.
• Kyle Maroney (Brockport, N.Y.) led the defensive effort with seven tackles – four for a loss, including two sacks – and two forced fumbles.

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY (2-2-1, 2-0-0 Hockey East)

• UNH opened its Hockey East slate last weekend with home wins against Northeastern (4-2) and Maine (5-2). The Wildcats are now 10-1-1 in the last 12 league openers.
• Dalton Speelman (San Jose, Calif.) was honored as Rookie of the Week by Hockey East. He scored his first two collegiate goals to give UNH a 2-0 lead vs. Northeastern and the ‘Cats never relinquished that advantage.
• Blake Kessel (Verona, Wis.), who tallied a career-high three assists vs. Northeastern, has 10 points in four games this season. He ranks second in the nation and first among defensemen in points per game (2.50).
• UNH has won six of the last seven – and 10 of 13 – against Maine.
• This weekend’s matchup at Wisconsin will be a homecoming for Kessel, Mike Sislo (Superior, Wis.) and Scott Pavelski (Plover, Wis.).

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY (5-1-2, 1-0-0-0 Hockey East)

• Third-ranked UNH went on the road for the first time in the 2010 season, and the Wildcats returned home with a loss (6-2 to Clarkson) and tie (3-3 vs. St. Lawrence).
• Senior forward and captain Kelly Paton (Woodstock, Ont.) has recorded a point in all eight games; dating back to last season, her point-scoring streak is 17 games.
• Freshman forward Brittany Skudder (Plainview, N.Y.) was named Rookie of the Week by Hockey East. She tallied a pair of power-play goals in UNH’s 3-3 tie at St. Lawrence.
• UNH returns to Hockey East action with home games against UConn and Maine this weekend; UNH is unbeaten in league home games (63-0-9) since the inception of Hockey East in the 2003 season.

MEN’S SOCCER (8-5-2, 5-0-1 America East)

• UNH clinched at least a share of the America East regular-season title – and the No. 1 seed in the league tournament – with last week’s 1-0 win at Albany and 1-1 tie vs. Stony Brook.
• It is UNH’s second league title. The Wildcats, who are unbeaten in six games (5-0-1), shared the 1994 crown.
• Colin O’Donnell (Springfield, Mass.) made seven saves vs. Albany to record his fifth shutout of the season. Overall, he had a 0.50 GAA and .929 save percentage for the week.
• Chris Banks (Westborough, Mass.) scored the game’s only goal against Albany to mark his fourth goal in a five-game span.

WOMEN’S SOCCER (4-13-1, 3-5-0 America East)

• UNH went 1-1-0 last week to clinch a berth in the America East Championship tournament for the ninth consecutive year – the longest active streak in the conference.
• UNH is the sixth seed and begins postseason play Oct. 29 at Maine.
• Morgan Keefe (South Burlington, Vt.) scored with 7:29 remaining in regulation to lift the Wildcats to a 3-2 road win vs. UMBC. Meg Wiley (Norwell, Mass.) tallied her first career point with an assist on that goal.
• UNH’s six seniors – Keefe, Wiley, Jenna Duncan (Ivyland, Pa.), Alex Hastings (Fort Collins, Colo.), Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass.) and Ally Yost (Langhorne, Pa.) – were honored on Senior Day prior to their final home game vs. Binghamton.

SWIMMING & DIVING (3-0)

• UNH did not have a meet last week. The Wildcats return to action Nov. 7 (2 p.m.) at home against Central Connecticut State.

VOLLEYBALL (9-13, 1-4 America East)

• UNH was idle last week. The Wildcats return to action on the road this weekend against Albany and Binghamton.
• Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta) enters the weekend with 975 career kills and is on the verge of becoming the sixth UNH Wildcat to reach the 1,000-kill milestone.