April 30, 2012
Stony Brook women's lacrosse junior Demmianne Cook (Nesconset, N.Y.) and freshman Amber Kupres (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) were both recipients of weekly America East honors, the conference office announced Monday. Cook was named the America East Defensive Player of the Week, and Kupres was named the America East Rookie of the Week.
In addition, Stony Brook has re-entered the Inside Lacrosse deBeer Media Poll rankings at No. 20. This is the third time this season the Seawolves have appeared in the national rankings.
For Cook, it is her first defensive nod of the season and the fourth time overall she has been honored. She was a three-time America East Player of the Week Feb. 21 & 28 and April 23.
In addition to her usual prowess on offense (three goals and one assist), Cook had a season-high four caused turnovers, scooped up a season-high six ground balls and controlled five draws in helping Stony Brook knock off New Hampshire, 12-10, last Saturday. Cook was a big part of holding the Wildcats to one goal in the second half while helping the offense come back from a four-goal, halftime deficit.
Cook leads the nation in goals with 66 and is third in goals per game (3.88). She ranks at the top of America East in both categories, both overall and in conference games only (24, 4.00). In the six conference games, she also led the league in draw controls (31) and draw controls per game (5.17).
Kupres was also part of the defensive effort, causing two turnovers of her own as part of the team's 10 total caused turnovers. She also scored the first and last goal of the game, helping the Seawolves get on the board and then insuring the lead with a late tally.
Kupres ranks tied for fourth on the Seawolves in goals with 27 this season.
Stony Brook, which has engineered the best turnaround in NCAA Div. I this season with a nine-win improvement from 2011, will enter this week's America East Championship as the No. 2 seed and face No. 3 UMBC Thursday in Boston at 4 p.m. The winner of that game will play either No. 1 Boston University or No. 4 Albany for the league title and NCAA Tournament bid Saturday at noon.
