DURHAM, N.H. -- Albany and UNH, the top two seeds in the America East Field Hockey Championship, will meet for the conference crown Sunday at UNH's Memorial Field at 12 p.m. Admission is free and can be watched for free at AmericaEast.com. Matt Janik (play-by-play) and Mike Murphy (analyst) will have the call of the Pack Network production starting at 11:55 a.m.
Championship Primer
• UNH and Albany will meet in the title game for the second time in three years and third in the last five. The Great
Danes won the previous two meetings (3-2 in OT in 2010; 2-1 in 2008).
•UNH (12-7) survived a scare to beat Fairfield 3-2 on Meg Flatley’s overtime
score in its semifinal game, while Albany (12-7) got a single-game
tournament-record tying three goals from Daphne Voormolen and a goal and
three assists, which also tied a tourney record, from Jessica
Longstreth to beat Maine, 4-1 in its semi. SEMIFINAL RECAP | HIGHLIGHTS
• This will be the fifth straight year and fifth time overall Albany and UNH will meet in the America East tournament. The Great Danes are 3-1 in the previous four meetings and won the first three matchups before UNH ended the streak in the 2011 semifinals, winning 2-1.
• The Wildcats are 10-15 all-time in championship play with four of those wins coming in the last three years. UNH is going for its third league title and trying to become the first repeat champion since Boston U. in 2007.
• The Great Danes are 7-5 all-time in America East tournament play and have reached the conference final in five of the last six years. Albany is going for its league title overall and third in the last five years.
• Both teams are red hot coming into the game. UNH, the 20th-ranked team in the nation, has won five straight while Albany, which is ranked 21st nationally, has won seven in a row by a combed score of 26-3.
• The all-time series is knotted 8-8 with UNH having won the last two get togethers. The last four matchups have all been one-goal contests, including an epic 2-1 comeback win by the Wildcats earlier this season. Albany dominated play for much of the game, but UNH scored twice in the game’s final 6:49 to steal the win as Casey Pohlmeyer tied the game with just 20 seconds left and Meg Flatley scored 6:29 into overtime to give UNH back-to-back wins over Albany for the first time since 2003.
• This game will pit the league’s top scoring team against the defensive squad. New Hampshire scores a conference-best 3.05 goals per game, while Albany allows a league-low 1.26 goals per contest.
• Six of the top league’s top nine scoring leaders will be on the field Sunday. Albany features the league leader in assists (Longstreth, 14) in addition to Co-Offensive Player of the Year Voormolen, Co-Rookie of the Year Laura Page and Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Kristi Troch. UNH’s Megan Bozek (10 G) was the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.
• America East has consistently been one of the best field hockey conferences in the country of late. It ranked third in conference RPI a year ago, trailing only the ACC and Big East and currently is one of five conferences with four teams ranked in the national poll (Boston U. - 15; UNH - 20; Albany - 21; Maine - T-23).