CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Stony Brook University, University at Albany, University of New Hampshire and University of Vermont will compete this week for the 2013 America East Women’s Lacrosse Championship and for an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament’s field of 16 teams. The seeds and bracket for the conference tournament were finalized following Saturday afternoon’s regular-season conference finales.
All championship games will be held at Stony Brook’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y. Semifinals will be played Friday, May 3 beginning at 4:30 p.m. and will be streamed live for free on AmericaEast.com. The final begins at noon on Sunday, May 5 and will be available live nationally on ESPN3.
Stony Brook (14-2, 6-0) won its second overall and first outright America East regular-season title with a 17-6 win over Binghamton Saturday. It is the first regular-season crown for Stony Brook since 2007 and first unbeaten conference season in program history. The Seawolves are the sixth-straight team to go unbeaten in America East regular season play and earned the right to host the championship. Stony Brook is seeking its first America East tournament crown and own the nation’s top scoring offense and defense.
Back-to-back America East champion Albany (11-4, 5-1) looks to challenge the Seawolves, entering the championship as the No. 2 seed after a 21-9 win over Vermont on the final weekend of play. The Great Danes were a No. 4 seed last year and upset No. 1 seed Boston U. and No. 2 seed Stony Brook to win the conference title. Senior Rachael Burek has paced the Albany offense all season, ranking second in the nation with 3.62 assists per game. The Great Danes are also fourth in the country in scoring defense.
New Hampshire (6-10, 3-3), the three seed in the championship, clinched a berth in thrilling fashion with a 6-5 win over UMBC in Baltimore. The Wildcats and Retrievers were battling in a winner-take-all game, with the winner advancing to the championship and the loser needing help to qualify. UMBC led for the majority of the contest, including holding a 5-1 lead in the second half. New Hampshire stormed back and took its first lead of the contest with 33 seconds left, when Kayleigh Hinkle sliced through the UMBC defense and fired a low shot that sealed the win for New Hampshire.
Vermont (7-10, 2-4) advances to its first America East Championship since 2009, as the Catamounts came out on top of a three-way tie at 2-4 in the conference standings with UMBC and Boston University. All three teams were 1-1 against each other. The next tiebreak is record against conference teams in descending rank order. Since none of the teams beat either Stony Brook or Albany, the next team in rank order is New Hampshire. Vermont is the only team to beat the Wildcats in the regular season and therefore wins the three-way tiebreak and earns the No. 4 seed in the championship.
2013 America East Women's Lacrosse Championship
All games at LaValle Stadium, Stony Brook, N.Y.
Friday, May 3 - Semifinals
#4 Vermont at #1 Stony Brook, 4:30 p.m.
#3 New Hampshire vs. #2 Albany, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 5 - Final
Semifinal winners, 12 noon (ESPN3)