EASTON, Mass. (October 30, 2024) – Stonehill College senior goalkeeper Shannon Conte has earned Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors the Conference office announced.

 

Conte

Conte earns the weekly honor for the second time in her career, while also being named an NEC Prime Performer for a team-leading fifth time this season, in leading Stonehill to a 2-0 week to stay alive for a spot in the upcoming NEC Tournament heading into Friday's season finale. She posted a 0.50 goals against average and a .889 save percentage while averaging four saves per game with a shutout for the week. Conte opened the week by making four of her five stops in Friday's 2-1 comeback win over Sacred Heart University in the fourth quarter, allowing the Skyhawks go-ahead goal to stand. She followed that up with three saves in posting her third shutout of the season for a 3-0 victory over Mercyhurst University on Senior Day Sunday as the Skyhawks finished off a 4-0 season at home on W.B. Mason Stadium.

Conte has played all but 15 minutes in the Stonehill cage during her senior season, posting a 2.05 goals against average and .720 save percentage with 5.3 saves per game in 1,025:55 over her 17 starts with three shutouts that are tied for third-most in the NEC this season. She also ranks fourth among NEC saves leaders (90), ranking fifth in saves per game, while playing the most minutes among any goalkeeper in the Conference. Conte has posted a 1.84 goals against average and .764 save percentage (3^rd NEC) in Conference play this fall, averaging 6.0 saves per game (3^rd) with two shutouts (2^nd) in 424:26 (2^nd) over seven starts.

 

Conte has earned NEC Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career (PHOTO BY Brian Foley)

Conte, an All-NEC second team selection as a sophomore when she led the Conference with 10.87 saves per game while ranking fourth with a .724 save percentage in Stonehill's inaugural NCAA Division I season has started 50 of her 51 career games played. She ranks second in program history behind Sara Freedman, '19 (466 saves) for career saves with 380, an average of 7.5 per game over her career, which is on pace to set the program mark, having posted double-digit saves in 16 games over her career, including her season-best 15 at the University of Maine on September 22.

Conte, who earned NEC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the first time as a junior, ranks sixth in program history for goalkeeper minutes played at 3,022:03, having posted a 3.00 goals against average and .716 save percentage with five shutouts, ranking sixth all-time in games played by a goalkeeper. Conte posted a career-high 18 saves at Fairfield University in 2022 and owns two of the top ten single-season save totals in program history, including a program-record 163 saves as s sophomore in 2022. A two-sport student-athlete at Stonehill, Conte is a three-year letter-winner on the Stonehill softball team and was named the College's Outstanding Junior Award recipient in May, having played 126 games over her career and is coming off a 2024 season in which she hit .305 with 16 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, four home runs and 24 RBI.

Stonehill (7-10, 4-3 NEC) returns to action on Friday when it wraps up the regular season with an NEC matchup at Fairfield at 3 p.m. The Skyhawks can clinch a spot in the NEC Tournament for the first time with a win and a loss by either Saint Francis University or LIU in their final regular season contests, also on Friday.

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