UMBC

Alicia Krause (above) and Jamie Fahey (below) are the first Retrievers to earn first-team honors since 2009.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Six Retrievers were named to the America East all-conference teams for women’s lacrosse, the conference announced Wednesday. Awards were decided by a vote of the league’s seven head coaches.

Junior midfielder Alicia Krause (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron/Duquesne) and sophomore defender Jamie Fahey (Baldwin, Md./Loch Raven) both earned first-team honors, while senior attack Erika Braerman (Fallston, Md./Fallston), senior midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) and senior defender C.J. Durham (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) were each tabbed to the second team. In addition, freshman midfielder Kristen Bilney (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) was a unanimous selection to the all-rookie team.

Krause and Fahey are the first Retrievers to earn first-team honors since former teammate Kate Quick in 2009, and the two first-team selections are UMBC’s most since placing three Retrievers on the squad in 2006. In addition, Bilney gives UMBC an all-rookie honoree for the eighth year in a row.

Krause leads the Retrievers with 35 goals, 50 points, 28 ground balls, 26 draw controls and 18 caused turnovers this season. She ranks fifth in the America East with 3.12 points per game, seventh with 2.19 goals per contest and eighth with 0.94 assists per game. Krause has scored at least one point in all 16 contests this season, with a goal in all but one. She has posted a team-best 14 multi-point performances and 10 multi-goal efforts on the year, including six hat tricks.

The 2010 America East Rookie of the Year and all-conference second-team honoree, Fahey led the Retrievers with 25 ground balls and ranked second with 18 draw controls and 12 caused turnovers through the first 13 games before suffering a season-ending injury. Even after missing the final three games of the year, she still ranks second on the team in ground balls and draw controls and third in caused turnovers. Fahey anchored a UMBC defense that allowed just 9.69 goals per game through 13 contests but has given up nearly a full goal more per game since.

Braerman leads the Retrievers with 18 assists and a .476 shooting percentage, and she is UMBC’s second-leading scorer with 30 goals and 48 points, earning second-team honors for the second year in a row. She ranks sixth in the America East in both assists per game (1.12) and points per game (3.00), and she is tied for third all-time at UMBC with 57 career assists. In addition, Braerman has scored at least one point in 15 of 16 contests this season, with 12 multi-point performances and 10 multi-goal efforts, including five hat tricks.

Like Braerman, Pappas repeats on the all-conference second team. She is tied with Krause for the team lead with 35 goals, and she ranks third on the squad with 40 points and second with a .473 shooting percentage. In addition, she has added 14 ground balls, 16 draw controls and nine caused turnovers on the year. Pappas ranks seventh in the America East with 2.19 goals per game, and she is ninth with 2.50 points per contest. UMBC’s active leader with 108 career goals and 134 points, Pappas has scored a goal in 12 straight games since March 5, and has posted a team-best seven hat tricks this season.

Durham has been a stalwart on the Retriever defense for four years, starting 57 games in her career, including all 16 in 2011, when she ranks second on the team with 14 caused turnovers to go along with 17 ground balls. A first-time all-conference selection, she is UMBC’s active leader with 70 career ground balls.

Finally, Bilney has started 13 games during her rookie campaign and ranks second on the team with 18 draw controls. She has scored eight goals and 11 points while adding 10 caused turnovers and nine ground balls in her initial season with the Retrievers.

The 2010 America East Player of the Year, Albany defender Nikki Branchini, shared Co-Player of the Year honors with Boston University attack Danielle Etrasco, while Vermont attack Sydney Mas was named Rookie of the Year. In addition, first-year Albany head coach John Battaglino was the unanimous choice as the league’s Coach of the Year after leading the Great Danes to an undefeated regular season.

The third-seeded Retrievers take on No. 2 Boston University in the America East Championship semifinals Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Albany’s John Fallon Field.