Field Hockey Sweeps America East Awards
November 4, 1999 | Field Hockey
Boston, MA (Nov. 4) - Boston University became the first school in the 11-year history of America East field hockey to earn each of the conference's top three honors.
Senior midfielder Jessica Alcorta (Demarest, NJ) was chosen Player of the Year, sophomore Jane Rogers (Watertown, MA) was named Rookie of the Year and head coach Sally Starr was selected Coach of the Year in a vote of the conference's coaches announced today.
Starr, now in her 19th season at Boston University, has a career record of 222-132-21 with the Terriers. She has guided Boston University to a 15-5 mark in 1999, including an 8-0 record in America East as the top seed in this weekend's conference championship at Boston University's Nickerson Field. The Terriers were ranked No. 14 in the most recent NFHCA national poll. It marks the fourth time in 11 years Starr has been named the conference's coach of the year.
Alcorta, who is eighth three-time first team all-conference choice in America East history, has nine assists in 15 games for the Terriers heading into Friday's night's America East Championship semifinal game with University of Delaware at 5 p.m.
Rogers leads the Terriers in scoring with 11 goals and six assists for 28 points in 19 games. Alcorta is joined on the all-conference first team at midfield by senior teammate Tina McDavitt (Walpole, MA) and Jackie Carl of Northeastern University.
Senior Kristin Iarusso of New Hampshire, who leads the America East in scoring with 14 goals and seven assists for 35 points, senior Danielle DeCoste (Fall River, MA) of Boston University, who is second on the Terriers in scoring with 10 goals and seven assists for 27 points, and sophomore Pamie Zukowski of Drexel University, who leads the America East with 15 goals and has five assists for 35 points, are the forwards.
Boston University senior Jackie Mele (Fairfield, NJ) and junior Robyn Kenney (Whitehouse Station, NJ) , sophomore Juli Byrd of Delaware and junior Kelly Stowe of New Hampshire are the backs. Mele leads the America East conference with 12 assists and has a team-high four game-winning goals. Kenney has a career-high eight points this season on three goals and two assists.
Junior Amy Agulay, who is 12-6-0 with a 1.90 goals against average and a .836 save percentage for New Hampshire, is the goalkeeper. She leads America East and ranks seventh in the nation with 173 saves.
Already with five first teamers, the Terriers add Rookie of the Year Jane Rogers and sophomore back Kerry Carney (Yorktown Heights, NY) to the second team.
Boston University, the No. 1 seed in the tournament plays No. 4 seed Delaware at 5 p.m. at Nickerson Field on Friday, November 5. Number two seed New Hampshire plays No. 3 seed Northeastern at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
The conference championship with an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament is Sunday, November 7 at 1 p.m.
