First Posted: 9/20/2014

The record may not show it but Megan Conaboy is off to another big season with the Quinnipiac College field hockey team.

Senior Conaboy (Abington Heights) was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Co-Goalkeeper of the Year as a junior after posting a 14-7 record with seven shutouts for the Bobcats. She gave up 40 goals (1.89 goals against average) and had 114 saves (.740 save percentage).

Quinnipiac is just 1-5 to start but Conaboy was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week the first two weeks of the season. She had 21 saves in the first two games, a 3-0 loss to No. 13 Boston College and a 3-2 loss to Lafayette. And, she earned her second award after 22 saves in a 4-0 setback to No. 6 Penn State. The saves are the most by any keeper in Division I this season and a career high for Conaboy.

“Megan has put on some truly outstanding performances,” coach Becca Main said. “Her saves are not only high in quantity but the quality of her saves is jaw-dropping versus some of the top teams in the nation.”

In the first six games, Conaboy has allowed just one goal on a corner out of 40 attempts thus far.

“That’s impressive,” Main said. “Her ability to change her style in a game and to move from settled and at home to aggressive and stacking has made her very difficult for teams to play against.”

Fast start for Hollander

Freshman Nate Hollander (Abington Heights) is the leading receiver on the 1-1 Kutztown football team. The 5-foot-10, 173-pound wide receiver didn’t start in the team’s first game, a 37-26 loss to Slippery Rock, but he led the team with 10 receptions for 48 yards. In the second game, a 44-7 victory over Indiana in the PSAC opener, he started and had seven catches for 45 yards.

“Nate has been able to make an immediate impact because he worked tirelessly in the off season with me learning the plays,” student assistant coach Steve Heck said. “It is difficult for a true freshman to enter into our offense and have an immediate impact.”

Golden Bears receivers coach Matt Pirolli likes what he sees in Hollander.

“He is developing fast and it will be exciting to be part of his development over the next four years,” Pirolli said. “His biggest assets are his reliability and his coachability.”

Furneaux’s a starter

After seeing action in just two games off the bench as a freshman, sophomore Aliza Furneaux (Lackawanna Trail) is starting on defense for the Lafayette field hockey team which opened the season with a 4-2 record and having given up just eight goals in six games.

“Aliza’s hard work in the off-season showed in her performance so far this fall,” coach Dave Datz said. “She has improved significantly from last year and has solidified herself a role in our backfield. Her work ethic and dedication are just two characteristics that have taken her to where she is so far.”

Mecca leads the way

David Mecca (Abington Heights) is not only the top player on the Hofstra men’s golf team, but the senior is also the team captain.

Mecca played in all 12 matches for the Pride both as a sophomore and junior and saw his average fall from 77.41 for 27 rounds as a sophomore to 76.04 for 28 rounds as a junior.

The 5-foot-10 right-hander is off to an even bigger season this fall. In the opener, Central Connecticut’s Blue Devil Invitational, Mecca tied for 14th with rounds of 73 and 74 for a 147 total. In the second tourney, the Doc Grimmer Invitational at the tough Bethpage State Park course in Farmingdale, N.Y., he had rounds of 74, 67 and 70 for a 211 total to finish 23rd in a field of 75 golfers.

Tough foes for Dougherty

Sophomore Keirnan Dougherty and her Susquehanna teammates got battle-tested in their first two women’s cross country meets of the season.

Dougherty (Lackawanna Trail) opened the fall by finishing 38th in the Bison Open, the field made up mainly of runners from Division I Bucknell and St. Francis. Her 3-mile time was a personal best 19:15.

Dougherty followed that up by finishing 60th out of 131 runners at 10-team Penn State’s Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational in University Park. There were seven Division I teams in the field. She was fifth best on the Crusaders with a 6k time of 24.22.

Sabastianelli coming on

Freshman Anthony Sabastianelli (Abington Heights) shot an 83 in his first college competition with the Central Connecticut men’s golf team but since that round, he’s settled down and played the kind of golf of which he is capable.

That round came in the Blue Devil Open in Bloomfield, CT. He posted a 71 on the second day to finish tied for 31st with a 154 total.

In his second match, Sabastianelli had rounds of 70, 72 and 76 for a 218 total to finish 47th in the Doc Grimmer Invitational at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Honor for Meyer

Scranton senior Erik Meyer (Abington Heights) was named Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week in men’s golf after posting a one-under-par 70 in victories over Marywood and Wilkes at the Glenmaura National Golf Course. He had five birdies and an eagle in the round.

That effort came 48 hours after Meyer shot an 81 on the same course against Marywood, Misericordia and Elizabethtown.

The Royals opened with a 5-2 record after two weeks of the season.