The Boston University women’s lacrosse team beat UNH 13-6 today in Boston to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. The Terriers finished off a 3-0 sweep of the Wildcats with the win. BU beat UNH 7-6 in the regular season and 9-8 in the finals of the America East tournament. All three games were played at BU. . . . No. 7 seed BU moves on to play No. 2 Penn, which knocked off Colgate 16-7. . . . UNH, which was in the NCAAs for the first time since 2004, closes the season at 13-6.
UNH basketball coach Bill Herrion signed a pair of players this week. Russell Graham, a 6-foot point guard out of Norristown, Pa., and 6-6 forward Abby Kabba, who is from Oklahoma City and played at Northern Oklahoma Junior College, signed their letters of intent and will be joining the Wildcats in the fall. . . . Graham scored 13 points and had eght rebounds and eight assists a game to help Norristown High School to a 32-2 record. Kabba had 10 points and five rebounds a game. He has two years of eligibility remaining. . . . UNH will in effect have five new players next season. Brian Benson, a 6-8 frontcourt player from Rochester, N.Y. signed during the early period in November. Radar Onguetou, who missed most of last year with a knee injury, will return. And Colbey Santos, a transfer from James Madison, will be eligible after sitting out last season.
The UNH women’s lacrosse team will try to avenge a couple of tough losses to Boston University on Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The teams meet at BU at noon. UNH lost a regular season game at BU, 7-6, on April 12 and two weeks later lost to the Terriers, 9-8 in overtime in the America East championship game. . . . BU, 17-2, is the No. 7 seed in the tournament. UNH, 13-5, drew one of the eight at-large berths in the event. UNH was the only team to hold the Terriers under double figures in a game all season. . . . The BU-UNH winner advances to the quarterfinals and will play the winner of a game between Colgate, 11-9, and Penn, 14-1.
James vanRiemsdyk, UNH’s third-leading scorer last season, has told coach Dick Umile that he intends to return to Durham for his sophomore season in the fall. . . . The Philadelphia Flyers picked vanRiemsdyk No. 2 overall in the draft least year. VanRiemsdyk said from the time he was drafted that he would play his freshman season and then take it year-by-year after that as far as when he might leave and pursue his professional career. . . . VanRiemsdyk recently informed Umile of the decision he and his family had reached, according to UNH sources. . . . His return is a major plus for the Wildcats. . . . VanRiemsdyk had 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points in 31 games last season and he finished the season strongly. He had eight assists in UNH’s four post-season games and assisted on all three of the team’s goals in its 7-3 loss to Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Had a chance to see and hear Jerry Moore, head coach of the Appalachian State University football team last night. The Mountaineers are the class of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as I-AA. They are also the team that went into Ann Arbor and stunned Michigan 34-32 last year to open the college football season. . . . Appalachian State ended its season by beating Delaware for its third straight national championship in the title game in Chattanooga. The Mountaineers took out three teams from UNH’s Colonial Athletic Association in the playoffs: Besides Delaware, they also knocked off James Madison and Richmond. . . . Two notes for the Wildcats, others in the CAA and anybody else looking to dethrone Appalachian come the fall: outstanding quarterback Armanti Edwards, who has led the team the last two years, is only a (gulp) junior; and Moore expects about 120 players, many of them walk-ons, to spend the summer at Appalachian State in Boone working out. UNH will likely have about half that number working out in Durham. . . . Boone is about two hours from Salisbury where the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association is holding its annual convention this weekend.
Mike Boyle, the wide receiver and return specialist from Plymouth, has been selected as one of UNH’s three football captains for next fall. The Wildcats voted for their captains yesterday and coach Sean McDonnell announced them before practice today. . . . Linebacker Matt Parent and offensive guard Eric Cumba join Boyle as captains. . . . “Any time your team votes for you for something like this, it’s a great honor,” Boyle said after practice today. “We’ve got a lot of leaders on this team so I’m sure we won’t be lacking in that area.” . . . Boyle caught 50 passes last season for 842 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had 246 yards and a score in kickoff returns. He has missed most of spring practice with a high ankle sprain and will sit out Saturday’s Blue-White game. . . . Parent had 81 tackles last season. . . . Cumba has started each of the past two seasons, Parent the last three. . . . Game time Saturday is 12:30.
Head football coach Sean McDonnell has been happy with the way much of his defense has come on through the spring, leading into Saturday’s Blue-White game that wraps things up. . . . “The defense, I think, is improving,” McDonnell said. “The linebacking corps has gotten better with Matt Parent, Sean Ware and Devon Jackson. They’re doing a nice job and they’re getting better every practice.” . . . He’s also been pleased with John Clements, a cornerback who has been getting time at free safety. “He really showed up on the film from our last scrimmage. He’s understanding what’s going on. He got guys lined up. He broke on the ball. He made tackles. He gives us some flexibility back there.” . . . Defensive backs Ryan Hinds and Dino Vasso have had good spring sessions and others in the mix in the backfield include Anthony Gorrell and Kyle Flemings. . . . “Johnny Clements can certainly play corner,” McDonnell said. “But if he keeps this up, he may be the guy starting back there at safety.”
The Kansas City Chiefs had four quarterbacks on their roster yesterday. Former UNH quarterback Ricky Santos, who has a free agent deal with the team, makes five. “As a free agent, you want to have a competition where the people going against you have no more what I call pedigree than you,” said Brad Blank, the agent for Santos. “Where they don’t have a million dollars invested in them, or they’re not draft picks.” . . . Brodie Croyle is at the top of the KC depth chart followed closely by Damon Huard, who has spent the last four years with the Chiefs after three years with the Patriots. Santos will take aim at the third quarterbacking position. . . . David Greene out of Georgia, who spent a couple of months on the Patriots practice squad last fall, and Tyler Thigpen, drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round out of Coastal Carolina last year, are the other two quarterbacks on the roster.
Joe Flacco, the 6-6 Delaware quarterback with the gun for an arm, kept rising on draft boards and was picked No. 18 overall in today’s NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He was the second QB chosen behind Boston College’s Matt Ryan. . . . Flacco and Delaware were 5-0 when they came to Durham and lost to UNH 35-30 last fall. The Wildcats led 35-10 through three periods. Flacco completed 40 of his 51 passes for 419 yards and two touchdowns and had no interceptions in the game. R.J. Toman came off the bench to replace the injured Ricky Santos and lead UNH to the win. . . . The Blue Hens bounced back and eventually advanced to the national championship game. Last season, Flacco completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 23 touchdowns and had five interceptions. Santos completed 73.1 percent of his passes and had 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. . . . Flacco, who transferred in to Delaware, lost his two career starts against UNH. In 2006, Santos had one of his best games as a Wildcat and led his team to a 52-49 shootout win at Delaware. Santos completed 21 of his 30 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two others. Flacco completed 28 of his 45 passes for 315 yards and three scores.
The UNH lacrosse team takes on Vermont tomorrow afternoon at 4 in a semifinal of the America East championships at Boston University’s Nickerson Field. . . . UNH is the No. 3 seed and Vermont the No. 2. BU, the No. 1 seed, and No. 4 Albany meet in the first game at 1. . . . Semifinal winners play in the championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday. . . . The Wildcats and others are trying to dethrone BU. The Terriers have won the last three titles and six of the last eight. . . . UNH and BU met in the finals five straight seasons from 2002-2006. UNH won the championship in 2004, BU won the other four title games. . . . UNH lost regular season games to Vermont, 9-8, and BU, 7-6, this year. The Wildcats beat Albany 17-7.
